Love and Empire in Roman Literature

3 credits · Undergraduate

Roma (Rome) spelled backwards is amor, the Latin word for love. This popular ancient palindrome discloses an uncanny relationship in Roman culture between the forms of desire that bring individuals together and those that build up the state and sustain empire. This class explores diverse experiences of love as reflected in Roman lyric and elegiac poetry from the tumultuous years of the late Republic and early Principate (c. 80 BCE-18 CE). We examine how shifting perspectives on gender identity, sexual expression, political freedom and artistic autonomy inform the poetry of Catullus, Horace, Tibullus, Propertius, Ovid and Sulpicia (the only extant woman poet of ancient Rome) as they lived and wrote in the capital of an increasingly autocratic imperial order. In addition to reading selections from these poets in English translation, students will read brief illustrative excerpts from other authors and genres, and some secondary works at the instructor’s direction. FORMATS: Lecture