Latin Language

This course will examine various aspects of Roman daily life through an examination of literary sources, documentary and epigraphical evidence, and the archaeological remains of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Roman Egypt. It will include topics such as food and dining, sex, the house, baths and bathing, entertainment, work, and the life experience of slaves, freedmen, and women.

In this course students study the themes of social and political power and persecution as they relate to women. Roman texts on this many-sided subject typically involve learning about Roman gender roles across various categories of life, such as wealth status, inherited social rank, the public performance of emotion, among many others. Students consolidate their knowledge and appreciation of the Latin language and Roman culture by reading selected passages of prose and/or poetry in the original as well as in English.

How do Roman writers explore topics such as myth, history, science and the philosophy of nature - all associated with Greek intellectualism - and also address the aspirations and anxieties of their eras? Students consolidate their knowledge and appreciation of the Latin language by practicing close reading of Latin language texts about heroic and tragic figures of myth, the universe and natural world and humanity's place in it, and/or Roman historical accounts of its own past.