LATN

This course examines the development of the Latin elegy from Catullus to Ovid. Our major themes are the use of motifs and topoi and their relationship to the problem of poetic persona.

This course is a reading of selections from a major monument of Roman literature, such as Vergil’s Aeneid. There will be discussion of the relationship between language and literary art, and the legacy of the work or works studied.

This course is a reading of selections from Roman poetry, especially the works of Ovid. The class involves discussion of poetic language, versification, and the literary and historical context of Roman poetry.  

Readings concentrate on works of Roman prose, especially Cicero. The aim is to improve reading skills, discuss key concepts in Roman history and culture, and study problems of grammar as necessary. 

This course is intended for students with some experience in Latin to quickly review what they know and upgrade their skills in reading and understanding Latin. In this course, students will expand their vocabulary, learn more advanced grammar, and practice extensive reading. "Students who complete this course and its follow-up LATN 103​ will be ready for the intermediate sequence (LATN 20100-20200-20300)."

This course continues the study of basic Latin. Course work involves reading Latin, translating from Latin into English and vice versa, and study of grammar and vocabulary. Throughout the course, students will encounter authentic Latin text. Students who complete this course will be able to track ideas across at least a paragraph of text, and will be ready to move into the intermediate sequence (LATN 20100-20200-20300).

This course continues the study of basic Latin. Course work involves reading Latin, translating from Latin into English and vice versa, and study of grammar and vocabulary. Throughout the course, students will encounter authentic Latin text. Students who complete this course will be able to understand complex sentences, and often to combine them into larger units of meaning.

This course introduces the fundamentals of the Latin language, and the Ancient Roman culture in which it developed. The focus is on developing interpretive reading ability, but other language skills are also employed to enhance the learning of vocabulary, culture, and grammar. This course is intended for students with no previous experience in Latin.

Augustine’s City of God is a major work of history, politics, and religion. Written after Rome was sacked by the Visigoths in 410, the work begins an apology (justification) of the Empire’s turn to Christianity and expands to offer a sweeping and deeply theological account of human history and society in terms of earth-bound versus heaven-centered community. Augustine’s citizenship and politics entails living out membership in either fellowship while commingled on earth with the other. Augustine analyzes Roman history and politics as well as the new religion first encouraged and eventually imposed in the wake of Constantine’s conversion.
We shall read the entire work in translation, attending to historical observations, political stances, and religious views. Augustine made arguments of his own but saved huge swaths of Varro and other otherwise lost sources to fashion his historical critique of Rome, social analysis, and many ultimately fresh views on matters like human sexuality in paradise and in heaven.
The class will meet once a week. A supplementary Latin reading group will also convene once a week for close reading of important and demanding selections in the original. There will be some invited international guest speakers.

There will be a weekly Latin reading group (F. afternoon, 90 minutes) for classics and other students who want to tackle Augustine's Latin. 

The course will emphasize the development of Latin handwriting, primarily as book scripts, from its origins to the waning of the Carolingian minuscule, ca. AD 1100. By mastering the foundational types of writing, the students will develop skills for reading all Latin-based scripts, including those used for vernacular languages and the subsequent Gothics and their derivatives down to the sixteenth century.