2023-24

Working together, we’ll try to produce an (at least partial) answer to why the western classical canon ended up taking the shape it has at present.  What were the historical, cultural, educational, political (etc) factors that gave us what we have today?  What has been lost, and why? Our goal will be to develop answers that take us beyond “imperialism.” The course’s final product will be a collaborative paper on the topic.  

Course readings include satires of Horace and Juvenal in Latin together with selections in English from the long tradition of their European reception history. 

Several months after the death of his beloved daughter and just two years before his own death in 43 BC, Cicero composed a dialog with an imaginary interlocutor arguing that death, pain, grief, and other perturbations were an unimportant part of the big picture.  A reading of this famous contribution to the genre of consolation literature (all of it to be read in English, selections in Latin) affords an opportunity to weigh his many examples and his arguments for ourselves.  

In this class we’ll read through the fascination second book of Livy’s history of Rome, the Ab Urbe Condita.  Book 2 covers Rome directly after the fall of the kings, including the foundational Roman accounts of Horatius Cocles and Coriolanus.  

Course readings include satires of Horace and Juvenal in Latin together with selections in English from the long tradition of their European reception history. 

Several months after the death of his beloved daughter and just two years before his own death in 43 BC, Cicero composed a dialog with an imaginary interlocutor arguing that death, pain, grief, and other perturbations were an unimportant part of the big picture.  A reading of this famous contribution to the genre of consolation literature (all of it to be read in English, selections in Latin) affords an opportunity to weigh his many examples and his arguments for ourselves.   

Immerse yourself in real writings from Ancient Rome, and the long subsequent tradition of Latin literature. This course involves reading selections from a major monument of Roman literature (for instance, Vergil’s Aeneid). There will be discussion of the relationship between language and literary art, the legacy of the work or works studied, and study of grammar and vocabulary as necessary. 

Immerse yourself in real writings from Ancient Rome, and the long subsequent tradition of Latin literature. Readings this quarter concentrate on selections of Roman poetry (for instance, by Ovid). The class involves discussion of poetic language, the literary and historical context of Roman poetry, and study of grammar and vocabulary as necessary.  

Immerse yourself in real writings from Ancient Rome, and the long subsequent tradition of Latin literature. Readings this quarter concentrate on selections of Roman prose (for instance, by Cicero), with an aim to improve reading skills, discuss key concepts in Roman history and culture, and expand knowledge of grammar and vocabulary 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