Seminar StructureAn Online NEH Summer Seminar, July 12-30, 2021 for K-12 Teachers

Each day of the seminar will begin with a morning session of the entire group to translate passages of Petronius’ Satyricon from Latin to English. The Scholars will have prepared these passages for translation the night before. The morning session is an opportunity to show each other the fruits of that preparation, to ask questions about the Latin, and to engage in discussion of the particular topic of daily life. The topic of the day is coordinated with the Latin passages from Petronius and there will be supplementary readings in English, both primary and secondary sources. In the afternoon we build on the morning discussion with a consideration of the archaeological evidence from Pompeii and small group translation of the graffiti. In addition, each week will feature the participation of one of the visiting faculty. At the beginning of the week they will give an overview lecture of their particular area of specialization. They will then join in the daily reading sessions during the rest of the week.

Scholars will have access to various online resources such as the Digitial Classical Loeb Library, other library collections and websites, and google folders organized around the particular topics of daily life that we will consider.

Each Scholar will also give a 20-minute oral presentation at the end of the seminar on something they have researched and prepared relating to the topics we have studied. The specific nature of the project is left up entirely to each Scholar: it can focus on a more traditional research question, be a creative project, or be entirely related to converting material we have studied in the seminar to classroom use. The only guiding principle is that it be a useful and worthwhile endeavor to the Scholar.