Primary Set Texts in English for all students (essential reading)

• Catullus Poems 63, 64, 65, 66, 68

• Virgil Georgics 4
• Apollonius of Rhodes Argonautica

• Ovid Metamorphoses

Recommended translations:

If you wish to use translations other than those listed above, this may well be fine as there is often more than one good translation. Please check with the module tutor.  

Ideally all of you (even non-Latinists) should at least look at the Latin of the texts we are studying. The relevant texts (with facing translations) are all published by the Loeb Classical Library.

PRIMARY SET TEXTS IN LATIN FOR STUDENTS TAKING THE COURSE IN LATIN (ESSENTIAL READING)

• Catullus poems 63, 64, 65, 66 and 68: available in Catullus Poems 61-68 by John Godwin (Aris and Phillips 1995); Fordyce’s OUP commentary is easily available - more advanced but very good.
• Virgil Georgic 4.315-567: there is a commentary by R. F. Thomas on Georgics  3 and 4 (Cambridge University Press 1988)
• Ovid Metamorphoses 1.1-567: commentary by A.G. Lee (Bristol Classical Press 1984)
• Ovid Metamorphoses 8.1-546: available with a commentary by A.S. Hollis (OUP 1983)

These Latin texts are to be read in addition to the primary set texts in English above. The primary set texts in English subsume the Latin prescriptions ­– they should be read for comprehension of how the prescribed part in Latin fits into the whole text to which it belongs.

OTHER PRIMARY TEXTS (USEFUL BACKGROUND FOR ALL STUDENTS): 

• Homer Iliad
• Homer Odyssey
• Virgil Aeneid

Other epyllion texts include:

• Callimachus Aetia, Hecale
• Theocritus Idylls
• ps-Virgil Ciris and Culex
• Ovid Fasti  

EXAMPLES OF EPYLLION IN EUROPEAN LITERATURE

• Pope,  The Rape of the Lock
• Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis; The Rape of Lucrece
• Gongora Polyphemus and Galatea  

Clarification of programme of study for Latin students

Advice on Examination and Assessment

Essays (see above) — ensure that quotations from prescribed texts (and where appropriate non-prescribed texts) are given in Latin in all your essays.

Examination (see above) — quoting in Latin in examination answers is a hazardous business. It is safest to memorise a selection of useful phrases (3-5 words) from set authors to illustrate points. Although it is better not to quote at all than to misquote, essays which display familiarity with set texts in the original language give a very good impression.

Specific help for Latin students

Your lecturers fully appreciate that for second years or for third years coming in from the Virgil or Ovid or equivalent levels that the prescription for this course represents a significant increase in the amount of Latin required from you. This is the result of deliberate design: this module will ensure you acquire experience in reading Latin, without so much intensive guidance.

Thursday passages for class discussion will frequently concentrate on parts of the Latin prescription which you can read in advance. Take advantage of this opportunity to help your coverage of prescribed texts.

In addition, specific sessions will be arranged for coverage of the material in Latin, and you are welcome to contact the Module tutor in office hours with specific queries.

lectures and seminars

Autumn Term 2010

Week 1

Introduction to course.

Week 2

Lecture: Epic, epyllion, and genre: Beginnings
Seminar: Epic, epyllion and the idea of genre

Week 3

Lecture: Introduction to Catullus
Seminar: Art and text in Catullus 64

Week 4

Lecture: Introduction to Alexandrian poetry and Callimachus
Seminar: Making sense of Catullus 63

Week 5

Lecture: Introduction to the Argonautica
Seminar: Epyllion and the realm of the personal -Catullus 68 and the long poems

WEEK 6 READING WEEK (FIRST ASSESSED ESSAY DUE)

Class. Civ./AHCA students read Argonautica. Classics/Eng. and Lat.  students should go through Catullus poems  63,64, 65,66 and 68. If there is any time, it is worth looking ahead to Virgil Georgics 4.315-567

Week 7

Lecture: Themes in the Argonautica
Seminar: Gods in the Argonautica

Week 8  

Lecture: Virgil and the Georgics
Seminar: The Aristaeus Epyllion in Georgic 4

Week 9 

Essay returns

Week 10

Class: Callimachus Hecale - the first epyllion?
Class: Use of Myth and Literature in Epyllion

Spring Term 2011

Week 1

Lecture: Introduction to Ovid (i)
Lecture: Introduction to Ovid (ii): The Metamorphoses

Week 2 (SECOND ASSESSED ESSAY DUE)

Lecture: Metamorphoses Book 1 Structure and Overview
Seminar: Metamorphosis and the Metamorphoses

Week 3

Lecture: Poetry and Visual Art in the Metamorphoses
Seminar: Daedalus and Icarus

Week 4

Lecture: Gods, and fictional design
Seminar: Myth and storytelling in Books 1 and 8

Week 5

Essay returns

WEEK 6 READING WEEK

Week 7

Lecture: Ovid, Augustus and Rome 
Seminar: Orpheus in Ovid

Week 8

Lecture: Virgil in the Metamorphoses
Seminar: Heroines in the Metamorphoses

Week 9

Lecture: Epic and Epyllion after Ovid
Seminar: Exploring the Culex

Week 10

Lecture: Ekphrasis
Seminar: Ekphrasis (ii)

Summer Term 2011

Weeks 1-4 Revision classes