Latin Letters

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This advanced course in Latin prose literature examines the Roman epistolary tradition. Focusing on the letters of the younger Pliny, it studies them first as a self-conscious portrait for posterity of a prominent Roman senator of the early Antonine age, and second as a set of documents that reveal features of Roman social, political, economic, and cultural life. In addition to Pliny's letters, students will read selections from the letters of Cicero, Seneca, Augustine, or Jerome. Close attention will be given to the different prose styles of each author and his innovations within the genre. Latin language skills are necessary for this course.