LATIN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE ΙI

Anthology of adapted passages from Roman prose writers (Cicero, Caesar, Cornelius Nepos, and Tacitus) in which significant aspects of political life in Rome are revealed, as well as fundamental Roman virtues. The main aim of the course is for the students to improve their command of Latin through the study of Latin literature.

Upon successful completion of the course, the student will be able to:

• to understand the basic rules of Latin grammar and syntax
• to be familiar with basic Latin vocabulary
• to translate passages from Latin into modern Greek
• to comprehend the main causes of the Roman civil wars during the 1st century BCE and the impact of these civil conflicts on Rome until the rise of Octavian to power
• to identify the roles of the consuls, the Senate, and the magistrates during the last decades of the so-called Roman Republic
• to distinguish various types of historiography and recognize the historical value of each source

Week 1: Introduction to the major historical events of the 1^st century BCE.

Week 2: Cicero’s De amicitia 103 (Cic. Amic. 103) – The relationships between politicians in Rome should not exist solely in the political sphere; they should also be observed on a personal level.

Week 3: Cicero’s De amicitia 91, 93, Ad Atticum 1.18 (Cic. Amic. 91, 93, Att. 1.18) - Flattery as a scourge in human relationships.

Week 4: Nepos’ Atticus 2, 4 (Nep. Att. 2, 4) - The first civil war of the 1^st century BCE, between the supporters of Marius and Sulla. Examination of the concept of dignitas ("prestige").

Week 5: Nepos’ Atticus 7 (Nep. Att. 7) - The 2^nd civil war, between the forces of Pompey and Caesar. Impacts on the civilian and non-citizen population of Rome.

Week 6: Nepos’ Atticus 8 (Nep. Att. 8) - The aftermath of Caesar’s assassination and the unique position of the conspirators and Roman knights.

Week 7: Tacitus’ Agricola 1 (Tac. Agr. 1) and Cicero’s Ad Familiares 5.12 (Cic. Fam. 5.12) - Divergent opinions on the genre of biography and its significance as a historical source.

Week 8: Caesar’s Bellum Civile 1 (Caes. BCiv. 1) – The consuls’ bias against Caesar at the beginning of the civil war in 49 BCE.

Week 9: Caesar’s Bellum Civile 2 (Caes. BCiv. 2) - The role of the Senate in ancient Rome, especially during the civil war between Caesar and Pompey.

Week 10: Caesar’s Bellum Civile 5 (Caes. BCiv. 5) - Restriction of the political power of the tribunes of the people by dismantling the democratic procedures.

Week 11: Caesar’s Bellum Civile 6 (Caes. BCiv. 6) - Turmoil in Rome and a display of cowardice by the senators due to fear of Caesar’s imminent invasion of the city.

Week 12: Caesar’s Bellum Civile 7 (Caes. BCiv. 7) – Caesar’s reaction to the injustices he perceives he has suffered up to that point.

Week 13: Caesar’s Bellum Civile 10 (Caes. BCiv. 10) - Unsuccessful attempts at reconciliation between Pompey and Caesar due to a lack of sincere intentions for compromise.

Βράκας, Α. (2008), Λατινική Θεματογραφία, Αθήνα.

Bortolussi, B. (2014), Λατινική γραμματική, Μετάφραση Δ. Γ. Μπενέτος, Επιμέλεια Α.Η. Μιχαλόπουλος, Σ. Γ. Παπαϊωάννου, Β. Α. Φυντίκογλου, Αθήνα

Rose, H. J. (1978), Ιστορία της λατινικής λογοτεχνίας, Τόμος Β’, Αθήνα.

Γιαννακόπουλος, Π.Ε. (1971), Λεξικόν Κορνηλίου Νέπωτος: Περιλαμβάνει απάσας τας λέξεις των βίων του Κορνηλίου Νέπωτος, Αθήνα.

Καλογεράς, Κ. (1977), Απομνημονεύματα: περί του εμφυλίου πολέμου: βιβλία Α, Β, Γ, εισαγωγή-κείμενον-μετάφρασις-πλήρες λεξιλόγιον-ευρετήριον κυρίων ονομάτων, Αθήνα. 937.06 ΚΑΛ

Καρακάση, Κ., Σπυριδοπούλου, Μ. και Κοτελίδης, Γ. (2015), Ιστορία και θεωρία των λογοτεχνικών γενών και ειδών, Αθήνα. https://repository.kallipos.gr/handle/11419/1989

Κεκροπούλου, Μ. (1997), Περί φιλίας / Κικέρων, Αθήνα. 820.11 CIC

Evenepoel, W. (2007), “Cicero’s Laelius and Seneca's letters on friendship”, L’Antiquité Classique 76, 177-183. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41665644

Geiger, J. (1985), “Cicero and Nepos”, Latomus 44, 261-270. www.jstor.org/stable/41534935

Grillo, L. 2011. “Scribam ipse de me: The personality of the narrator in Caesar’s Bellum Civile”, American Journal of Philology 132, 243-71. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41237466

Kenney, E. J. & Clausen, W. V. (2015), Ιστορία της Λατινικής Λογοτεχνίας, Μετάφραση Θ. Πίκουλα, Α. Σιδέρη-Τόλια, Αθήνα. 870.109 ΚΕΝ

Marincola, J. (1997), Authority and Tradition in Ancient Historiography, Cambridge & New York. 930.072 MAR

Mackay, C. S. (2007), Αρχαία Ρώμη: στρατιωτική και πολιτική ιστορία, Μετάφραση Δ. Γ. Ζάννη, Επιμέλεια Ι. Κ. Ξυδόπουλος, Αθήνα. 937.06 MAC

Titchener, F. (2003), “Cornelius Nepos and the biographical tradition”, Greece & Rome 50, 85-99. www.jstor.org/stable/3567822

Each class will take place in the form of both lectures and dialogues using the Herbartian approach and Socratic/maieutic methods. One week before each lecture, in addition to the texts under examination, tables with the basic vocabulary of the texts will be provided, allowing students to have their first contact with the texts and thus be better prepared for their interpretive and linguistic analysis.

Starting from the second lesson and onwards, each lecture will commence with a recap in the form of questions to the students on the key points discussed in the previous lecture to reinforce the material covered.

Throughout the course, extensive use of PowerPoint presentations with the instructor’s notes and audiovisual material will be made for the discussion of images and for displaying maps and videos related to the examined text. To achieve a better understanding of the vocabulary of the texts studied in the classroom, online sources will be utilized, which provide information regarding the translation and declension of terms within a sentence.

Online sources:

Online access to Latin texts: https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/

Online access to Latin texts (with translations of ancient works into English): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/

Online dictionaries (with translations of Latin words into English): •http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=amo&la=la#lexicon •https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amo#Latin

Abbreviations of scientific journals as well as of ancient authors and their works: Hornblower, S. & Spawforth, A. (2003)⁴, Oxford Classical Dictionary, 4th Edition, Oxford. https://oxfordre.com/classics/page/3993

Additionally, email exchange will be used to communicate with students outside of the instructor’s office hours.

Written or oral examination. 
Optionally, students will have the opportunity to either a) present a paper on the contribution of a Roman author to Latin literature or b) translate and perform a grammatical-syntactic analysis of an unknown Latin text. The optional assignment will be added to the final grade of the course.