Semester 03

KΦL03-MΦL03-ΓΦL03: Latin Epic: Vergil’s Aeneid

Introduction to the Aeneid. The poet and his times. The epic genre. Vergil and Homer. The Aeneid and the Age of Augustus.

The instruction of the epic in the course of the semester will be based on the study of selective passages from all 12 books of the Aeneid, while the students are encouraged to read the entire epic in translation.

Semester 04

ΚΦL04- Roman Oratory

1. Roman oratory as historical reality and as ideological model. Conditions, terminology (rhetorica, eloquentia, ars dicendi, elocutio, inventio), historical overview of the genre up to the 2^nd c. AD, the emperor-orator, theoretical treatises, the system of the art of rhetoric.

2. Cicero, Pro Marcello : Political overview of year 46 BC at Rome. The Pro Marcello as a case study of a rhetorical sub-genre, its time-based structure, the employment of political terminology (esp. clementia Caesaris and magnanimitas) and its significance. Interpretation and translation.

ΜΦL04-ΓΦL04 Roman Oratory

This course will focus on Cicero’s First Speech against Catiline. We will explore the social and political background of the conspiracy as well as the rhetorical techniques employed by Cicero; we will discuss the way in which these are related to Cicero’s ultimate goal. Special emphasis will be placed upon the syntax and the grammar of the speech. At the same time, we will make a general introduction to the history of rhetoric in Ancient Rome.

Semester 05

KΦL05-ΓΦL05: Roman Lyric Poetry: Horace’s Odes

The genre of lyric poetry, its development in Greece and in Rome. The life and work of Horace, his epoch, the historical, ideological and political environment, in which he lived and worked. We will be discussing Horace’s themes, motifs, literary art, ideology, philosophy, style, language and meter through the study of selected poems from all four books of his Carmina.

Semester 06

KΦL07-ΜΦL07-ΓΦL07: Medieval Latin Literature

Introduction to Medieval Latin Literature: Periods and main literary representatives.

The course focuses on the four main literary genres flourishing in the medieval era, and examines selections from representative pieces of each genre. These include:

Historiography of the 6^th c. AD in the West: Gregory of Tour, Historia Francorum (the fragments on the Frankish kings of the Merovingian dynasty)

Medieval religious poetry: Sequentiae, Stabat Mater and Dies Irae. Medieval Latin metrics; rhythm and scansion.

Medieval poetry: Venantius Honorius Fortunatus (Ad Radegundem); Carmina Burana.

Medieval religious drama: Ludus passionis. Religious drama and its influence on western drama.

Semester 07

ΚΦL06: Latin Love Elegy

Ovid’s Remedia amoris. The ideology of sexuality in Roman love poetry according to the theory of M. Foucault. Principal characteristics of the Augustan elegy. Ovid as epigone and heir to the elegiac tradition. The place of Remedia amoris in the elegiac corpus of Ovid. Analysis and commentary of selected passages that reflect the ovidian poetic metalanguage. The persona of Ovid as vates, tenerorum lusor amorum, magister amandi and medicus amoris. Ironic distance and parody as a result of the generic categorization of the poem as a work of love elegy as well as didactic poetry. 

ΚΦL10: Latin Seminar  (on topics that are decided on annual basis)

Recent Seminars have focus on a variety of different specialized topics, including

a. Quintilian

b. Lucretius and Philosophical epic

c. Latin paleography

d. Medieval Drama

e. From Catullus to Augustan Love Poetry

f. Ovid’s Heroides

g. Latin epyllion

h. Apuleius’ Metamorphoses

Semester 08

KΦL08: Roman Drama

In the course of the term we shall read and discuss in detail at least Roman comedies, one by Plautus (Miles Gloriosus) and one by Terence (Eunuchus). We shall pay particular emphasis on the following topics, among others: How is Comedy defined? How does it differ from tragedy? What makes one describe a text as ‘comic’ or ‘funny’? How is Roman Comedy different from Greek Comedy? What are the differences between Plautus and Terence? How is Roman Comedy related to Roman Society? How are the Roman comedians approaching contemporary social and political issues, including class, race and gender difference, religion and politics? Emphasis will also be paid to the study of dramatic techniques, comic style and language, metatheater and metadrama.