Advanced Latin

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course is an intermediate course designed to provide you with practice in reading and translating Latin literature, as exemplified by selected passages of authentic Latin letters. Much of the course will focus on selections from the ten books of Epistulae written by Pliny the Younger, composed at the end of the first century CE and the beginning of the second century CE. While class time will primarily be devoted to reading and ensuring the comprehension of the text, features of style and the genre will be addressed. The selected texts will emphasize the representation of the daily activities of ancient Romans, concerns of a member of senatorial class, communication between Rome and the provinces, and groups of ancient Roman individuals that are less visible within text such as women, freedmen, slaves, and foreigners. While there will be a short period of review in the beginning, this course assumes a working knowledge of the fundamentals of Latin grammar, syntax, and vocabulary, and so we will focus primarily on proficiency in reading comprehension and translation into English. Attention will be given to the recognition of new vocabulary and syntactical structures to improve reading proficiency and sight translation. The course will feature elements of Roman history and culture as it relates to the selected authors and their works, as this knowledge is essential to understanding the context of the passages. By the end of the course, the successful student should be prepared for advanced study in the reading of authentic Latin text and likewise will have developed a basic knowledge of the epistolary genre.