Unit information: Latin Language Level C2 in 2012/13

Unit name	Latin Language Level C2
Unit code	CLASM0037
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. O'Gorman
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Classics & Ancient History
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

The poet Lucan committed suicide under the emperor Nero, leaving behind a ten book epic poem of the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, an “anti-Aeneid” which subverts the readers’ expectations, plunging them into a world of doomed ethical choices, mangled bodies, and a world in ruin. A generation later, the historian Tacitus vividly narrated the chaos which broke out after Nero’s death, the “year of four emperors”, when violence once more erupted in the city of Rome. This unit will examine these two narratives of civil war, paying close attention to the style of post-Augustan Latin, themes of memory and trauma, and issues of writing, reading and political partisanship.

Assessment Information

Mode of assessment for Second, Third years and MAs will be as follows:

• 1 essay of 2,500 words (2nd years), 3,000 words (3rd years) or 4,000 words (MAs). Weighted at 50%.

• 1 examination of one and a half hours at the end of the relevant Teaching Block, consisting of a passage of 10-12 lines for unseen translation (30% of exam mark) with passage summary, a passage of 10-12 lines for prepared text translation (30% of exam mark), and a passage of 20 lines with specific questions for comment (40% of exam mark). No choice of questions will be offered and no reference texts or dictionaries will be allowed in this exam. Weighted at 50%.

Reading and References

Reading List/Set Texts:

In Latin (1500 lines in total) Lucan De Bello Civili Book II, ed. Elaine Fantham, Cambridge University Press 1992 Tacitus Histories Book I, ed. Cynthia Damon, Cambridge University Press 2002 - We will read all of Lucan Book II, and chapters 1-49 of Tacitus Book I. In English Lucan, Pharsalia, trans. S.H. Braund, Oxford World’s Classics Tacitus, Histories, trans. W.H. Fyfe, Oxford World’s Classics