Course Catalog 2024-2025

Latin

LAT 100Y Elementary Latin (5 Credits)

The Latin language has had an extraordinarily long life, from ancient Rome through the Middle Ages to nineteenth-century Europe, where it remained the language of scholarship and science. Even today it survives in the Romance languages that grew out of it and in the countless English words derived from Latin roots. This course prepares students to read Latin texts in any period or area of interest through a study of the fundamentals of classical Latin grammar and through practice in reading from a range of Latin authors. Some attention is also given to Roman culture and Latin literary history. This is a full-year course and cannot be divided at midyear with credit for the first semester. Enrollment limited to 30.

Fall, Spring, Annually

LAT 212 Introduction to Latin Prose and Poetry (4 Credits)

Practice and improvement of reading skills through the study of a selection of texts in prose and verse. Systematic review of fundamentals of grammar. Prerequisite: LAT 100Y or equivalent. {F}{L}

Fall

LAT 214 Introduction to Latin Literature in the Augustan Age (4 Credits)

An introduction to the "Golden Age" of Latin literature which flourished under Rome's first emperor. Reading and discussion of authors exemplifying a range of genres and perspectives such as Virgil, Ovid and Horace, with attention to the political and cultural context of their work and to the relationship between literary production and the Augustan regime and its program. Practice in research skills and in reading, evaluating and producing critical essays. Prerequisite: LAT 212 or equivalent. {F}{L}

Spring

LAT 330ve Topics: Advanced Readings in Latin Literature-Vergil, Eclogues and Georgics (4 Credits)

Before he produced ancient Rome’s greatest work of literature, the Aeneid, the young poet Vergil began his career with two very different works: the Eclogues, a collection of ten short pastoral poems, and the Georgics, a learned instructional poem ostensibly about agriculture. Through close readings of the Latin, translations and modern scholarship, the course explores major stylistic and thematic elements of each work, such as: how they depict the natural world, how they interact with Greek and Latin poetic models, and how they speak to the shifting cultural and political landscape of Rome as it transitions into the Augustan Age. Prerequisites: One intermediate Latin course. {F}{L}

Fall, Spring, Variable

LAT 400 Special Studies (1-4 Credits)

For majors and honors students. Prerequisites: Four advanced courses in Latin. Instructor permission required.

Fall, Spring

LAT 430D Honors Project (4 Credits)

Department permission required.

Fall, Spring