Papers 1-5: Greek and Latin Language and Classical Texts

Aims and objectives

1. To offer students help in reading a variety of types of Greek and Latin, and to develop their knowledge, abilities and skills towards the independent reading of authors of whom they have prior experience.
2. To enhance students’ understanding of the structure and functioning of the Greek and Latin languages.
3. To further students’ command of Greek and Latin vocabulary.
4. To further students’ ability to write perceptively about passages that they study
5. To develop the practice of literary interpretation and analysis of classical texts.

Lists of texts

Learning and teaching are organised around the following lists of texts (the Target Texts). For 2026-2027 these are:

For candidates taking Paper 1:

• Michaelmas: Lysias 1, Plato Ion;
• Lent: Homer, Iliad 1, Herodotus 3.61-138;
• Easter: Euripides, Hecuba.

For candidates taking Paper 2A (Intensive Greek - Option A):

• Michaelmas: Lysias 1: 6-28, 37-40; Plato, Ion: 531c-532a2, 533c9-535a5, 540d1-542b4 (rest of the text to be read in English translation);
• Lent: Homer, Iliad 1: 1-120, 172-244, 318-427, 493-611, Herodotus 3.76-89 (3.61-75 and 3.90-138 to be read in English translation;
• Easter: Euripides, Hecuba 1-67, 484-628, 657-904 (rest of the text to be read in English translation).

For candidates taking Paper 2B (Intensive Greek - Option B):

• Michaelmas: Lysias 1, Plato Ion 535e-542b (rest of the text to be read in English translation);
• Lent: Homer, Iliad 1, Herodotus 3.67-99 (3.61-66 and 3.100-138 to be read in English translation);
• Easter: Euripides, Hecuba 1-67, 216-443, 484-628, 657-904 (rest of the text to be read in English translation).

For candidates taking Paper 3:

• Michaelmas: Virgil Aeneid 8; Sallust Bellum Catilinae; Augustus Res Gestae;
• Lent: Cicero Pro Archia; Ovid, Amores 1;
• Easter: Lucretius 5.925–1457.

For candidates taking either Paper 4A (Intensive Latin - option A) or Paper 4B (Intensive Latin - option B):

• Michaelmas: Virgil Aeneid 8; Sallust Bellum Catilinae 1-25 and 55-61 (the remainder to be read in English translation); Augustus Res Gestae;
• Lent: Cicero Pro Archia;Ovid, Amores 1;
• Easter: Lucretius 5.925–1241 (1242-1457 to be read in English translation).

Editions and Commentaries:

Any extracts from set texts presented in exams will follow the prescribed editions listed here.

GREEK

Lysias 1
The prescribed edition and recommended commentary is C. Carey, Lysias: Selected Speeches (Cambridge, 1989). Also recommended is S.C. Todd, A Commentary on Lysias, Speeches 1–11 (Oxford, 2007).

Plato Ion
The prescribed edition of the Greek text is J. Burnet, Platonis opera. Tomus III. Tetralogias V-VII continens [Oxford 1903 and often reprinted]. This will be used in Faculty reading classes, for which a copy will be provided.
The recommended commentary is: P. Murray, Plato on Poetry, Cambridge, 1996. Further assistance with the language is provided by A.M. Miller, Plato's Ion: Text in Greek, Commentary in English [Bryn Mawr 1981].

Homer Iliad 1
The prescribed edition is P.A. Draper, Homer, Iliad1 (Ann Arbor, 2002). This is very close to D.B. Monro and T.W. Allen eds. Homeri Opera vol. 1, 3rd ed. (Oxford, 1949), which may also be used. The recommended commentaries are Draper (2002), which offers help with reading the text; and, for more interpretative approaches, S. Pulleyn, Homer, Iliad1 (Oxford, 2000) and S. Schein, Homer, Iliad 1 (Cambridge, 2022).

Herodotus 3
The prescribed edition of the Greek text is N.G. Wilson, Herodoti Historiae. Libri I-IV [Oxford 2015]. This will be used in Faculty reading classes, for which a copy will be provided. Vocabularies and other language materials will also be provided.
Assistance with the language is provided by S.T. Newmyer, Herodotus Book III [Bryn Mawr 1986]. The recommended historical commentary is: D. Asheri, A.B. Lloyd, A. Corcella, O. Murray and A. Moreno, A Commentary on Herodotus Books I-IV, Oxford, 2007.

Euripides Hecuba
The prescribed edition of the Greek text is J. Diggle, Euripidis fabulae. Tomus I. Insunt Cyclops, Alcestis, Medea, Heraclidae, Hippolytus, Andromacha, Hecuba [Cambridge 1984]. This will be used in Faculty reading classes, for which a copy will be provided. Vocabularies and other language materials will also be provided.
The recommended commentary is: L. Battezzato, Euripides. Hecuba [Cambridge 2018]. Further assistance with the language is provided by C. Collard, Euripides: Hecuba, [Warminster, 1991] and J. Gregory, Euripides: Hecuba [Atlanta, 1999].

LATIN

Virgil Aeneid 8
The prescribed edition and recommended commentary is: K.W. Gransden,Aeneid. Book VIII (Cambridge 1976). This will be used in Faculty reading classes, for which a copy of the text will be provided. Vocabularies and other language materials will also be provided. Also useful: James J. O’Hara, Vergil. Aeneid 8 (Focus Vergil Aeneid Commentaries) (Newburyport, MA, 2018).

Sallust Bellum Catilinae
The prescribed edition and recommended commentary is A.J. Woodman, Sallust Bellum Catilinae (Cambridge 2026). This will be used in Faculty reading classes, for which a copy of the text will be provided. Vocabularies and other language materials will also be provided.

Augustus Res Gestae
The prescribed edition and recommended commentary is Alison E. Cooley, Res Gestae Divi Augusti (Cambridge 2009). This will be used in Faculty reading classes, for which a copy will be provided. Vocabularies and other language materials will also be provided. Students should also be aware of the Greek translation of the Latin text but they are not expected to be able to translate the Greek directly. If a passage from Res Gestae is set in an examination paper, it will be presented in both Greek and Latin.

Cicero Pro Archia
The recommended text and commentary is Steven M. Cerutti, Cicero. Pro Archia poeta oratio (Mundelein, IL), 3rd edn, 2014. (The 1st and 2nd editions, well represented in Cambridge libraries, will serve equally well.) This will be used in Faculty reading classes, for which a copy of the text will be provided. This edition will be used in Faculty reading classes: where possible, copies of the text will be provided.

OvidAmores 1
The recommended edition is W. Turpin’s online text and commentary, which can be found here: https://dcc.dickinson.edu/home-page-latin. This edition will be used in Faculty reading classes: where possible, copies of the text will be provided.

Lucretius De rerum natura5
The recommended edition and commentary is: Monica R. Gale, Lucretius. De rerum natura V (Warminster 2008). Also useful for reference: Gordon Campbell, Lucretius on creation and evolution: a commentary on De rerum natura, book five, lines 772-1104 (Oxford 2005; online access through iDiscover). This edition will be used in Faculty reading classes: where possible, copies of the text will be provided.

Scope and structure of the examination papers 2026–27

Paper 1: the paper will last for three hours and will consist of three questions. Q. 1 will be a passage of Greek prose, previously unseen, for translation into English. Q. 2 will be a passage of Greek verse, previously unseen, for translation into English. These passages will be selected from the works of authors studied at Part 1A (i.e. Herodotus, Plato, Homer and Euripides) or Lysias or Xenophon. Q. 3 will offer two passages from the schedule of texts prescribed by the Faculty Board for study at Part 1A, of which one must be chosen for critical discussion.

Papers 2A and 2B: these papers will last for three hours and will consist of three questions. Q. 1 will be a passage of Greek prose, previously unseen, for translation into English. Q. 2 will be a passage of Greek verse, previously unseen, for translation into English. These passages will be selected from either works by the authors studied at Part 1A (i.e. Herodotus, Plato, Homer and Euripides) or Lysias or Xenophon.  Q. 3 will offer two passages from the schedule of texts prescribed by the Faculty Board for study at Part 1A, of which one must be chosen for critical discussion.

Paper 3: the paper will last for three hours and will consist of three questions. Q. 1 will be a passage of Latin prose, previously unseen, for translation into English. Q. 2 will be a passage of Latin verse, previously unseen, for translation into English. These passages will be selected from the works of authors studied at Part 1A (i.e. Ovid, Virgil, Cicero, Augustus, Lucretius, and Sallust). Q. 3 will offer two passages from the schedule of texts prescribed by the Faculty Board for study at Part 1A, of which one must be chosen for critical discussion. (If a passage from Augustus, Res Gestae is chosen, it will be presented with its Greek translation).

Papers 4A and 4B: the paper will last for three hours and will consist of three questions. Q. 1 will be a passage of Latin prose, previously unseen, for translation into English. Q. 2 will be a passage of Latin verse, previously unseen, for translation into English. These passages will be selected from the works of authors studied at Part 1A (i.e. Ovid, Virgil, Cicero, Augustus, Lucretius, and Sallust). Q. 3 will offer two passages from the schedule of texts prescribed by the Faculty Board for study at Part 1A, of which one must be chosen for critical discussion. (If a passage from Augustus, Res Gestae is chosen, it will be presented with its Greek translation).

Paper 5: the paper will last for three hours and will consist of three sections, A, B and C. Candidates should answer three questions, one from each section, including at least one of questions A1 and B1. All questions carry equal weight.

Section A will contain a choice of essays on Greek set texts. Section B will contain a choice of essays on Latin set texts. Section C will contain a choice of essays, some or all of which will be associated with the themes ‘Homer and his ancient receptions’ and ‘ROMA / AMOR: from Republic to Empire’. Answers in Section C must refer to any two or more of the set texts, Greek and/or Latin. 

Questions A1 and B1 will be accompanied by a passage of a set text presented in the original language; answers should include reference to that passage. Where necessary, different passages will be presented to Paper 1, Paper 2A and Paper 2B candidates (in the case of Greek texts), and/or to Paper 3 and Paper 4 candidates (in the case of Latin texts).

Paper 5 (MML): MML candidates will be presented with the same paper as Classics candidates, except that Questions A2 and B2 will also be accompanied by a passage from a set text presented in the original language; answers should include reference to that passage. MML candidates who study Greek should answer two questions from Section A, including at least one of A1 and A2, and one question from Section C. MML candidates who study Latin should answer two questions from Section B, including at least one of B1 and B2, and one question from Section C.

This structure differs from Paper 5 as set in 2023 and 2024 but remains the same as in 2025 and 2026. Specimen papers are available on Moodle.

This course of lectures is designed to serve as a general introduction to the study of Greek literature. The lectures will focus on the cultural and social contexts in which literature was produced and on the varieties of critical approaches which Greek literature invites. They will also offer a chronological overview of key moments and figures in the history of ancient Greek literature, from the early Archaic period to Late Antiquity. No preliminary reading is necessary, but a first orientation to the whole subject may be found in O. Taplin (ed.), Literature in the Greek & Roman Worlds (Oxford, 2000) or T. Whitmarsh, Ancient Greek Literature (Cambridge, 2004). A more extensive guide can be found in F. Montanari, History of Ancient Greek Literature, 2 vol. (Berlin 2022), which is available online through IDiscover.

The Iliad and the Odyssey were the dominant texts of the Greek literary canon for centuries, and the foundations of the Greek educational system. They were used as models and foils: they were imitated, modified, activated, and contested throughout the many genres of poetry and prose. Aeschylus, for example, called his tragedies "slices from the great banquets of Homer". This course of lectures will serve up a menu from one of those banquets. Michaelmas lectures will begin in fifth-century Athens: Lysias 1 shows how in the law-courts of the classical city, Homeric-style story-telling underpins a legal defence, and Plato’s Ion focuses on Socrates’ dialogue with a performer of epic who believes that Homer offers the key to all knowledge and expertise. In Lent Term we will meet Homer himself, reading Iliad 1, before proceeding to another writer of Ionic Greek, Herodotus. In Easter Term we shall read Euripides’ masterpiece Hecuba, a devastating and brutal drama set in the aftermath of the Trojan War.

General orientations to the subject may be found in Fowler, R. L. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Homer, Cambridge, 2004; Cairns, D. (ed.), Oxford Readings in Homer’s Iliad, Oxford, 2001; Hunter, R., The Measure of Homer: The Ancient Reception of the Iliad and the Odyssey, Cambridge, 2018; Porter, J. I., Homer: The Very Idea, Chicago, 2021.

The lecture course will be organised as follows:

MT weeks 1-4:  Lysias 1

MT weeks 5-8: Plato, Ion

LTweeks 1-5: Homer, Iliad 1

LT weeks 6-8: Herodotus 3

ET weeks 1-4: Euripides, Hecuba

These lectures will set the Part IA set texts in the context of half a millennium of Latin literature, and introduce some of the essential approaches taken to literature by modern scholarship. History, culture and genre will all make an appearance, as will texts from the Part IB and Part II schedules and more. For introductory reading, try Susanna Braund’s Latin Literature (2002), or dip into Stephen Harrison’s Blackwell Companion to Latin Literature (2005).

The Latin texts you will be studying in Part IA all come from a period in Roman history that saw the collapse of the republican commonwealth in civil war and the emergence of a new autocratic normal (initially precarious, always problematic) under the first princeps Augustus. They all engage with and help shape these developments by articulating visions of order and disorder, at the level of the individual human self, (civic) society, and the wider cosmos. Using distinctive generic lenses – courtroom oratory (Cicero), historiography (Sallust), epic and elegy (Virgil, Ovid), epigraphy (Augustus), and didactic poetry (Lucretius) – the authors you will read thus address a shared set of questions to do with the origins, principles, and prerequisites of human or Roman civilisation and (the threat of) its disintegration in moral chaos and physical violence, to which they give often conflicting answers. Recurrent themes include the problematic and topical figure of ‘the enemy within’, potential ways of justifying violence up to and including homicide, the use of (gendered) binaries to make sense of the world, modes of ‘othering’ adversaries, the role of the supernatural in human affairs, and, most generally, civilization and its discontents. The aim of the series is to let each of the texts sparkle on its own, while also putting them into dialogue with one another by bringing out some of their common themes and concerns.

For a first orientation, dip into the following: Valentina Arena, Jonathan Prag, Andrew Stiles (eds.) (2022), A Companion to the Political Culture of the Roman Republic; Andrew Lintott (1999), Violence in Republican Rome; Stuart Gillespie & Philip Hardie (eds.) (2007), The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius; Karl Galinsky (ed.) (2005), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus; Philip Hardie (ed.) (2002), The Cambridge Companion to Ovid; Alison Cooley (2009), Res Gestae Divi Augusti: Text, Translation and Commentary.  

The lecture course will be organised as follows:

MT weeks 1-4 Virgil Aeneid 8

MT weeks 5-7 Sallust Bellum Catilinae

MT week 8 and LT week 1 Augustus Res Gestae*

LT week 2-4 Cicero Pro Archia

LT weeks 5-8 Ovid Amores 1

ET weeks 1-4 Lucretius 5 (selection)

* 4-year students are expected to attend the lectures on Augustus Res Gestae in their first (Prelim.) year.

After an introductory lecture devoted to ‘theorising theory’, we will spend the following three sessions visiting the major ‘sites of meaning’ in literary and cultural studies: the reader, the text, the author and the context. We’ll look at the theoretical inflections these variables have attracted, from antiquity to the present, with some illustrative examples from contemporary classical scholarship. The final lecture will place recent developments in theory in relation to the history of (classical) philology and the modern knowledge industry. The overall aim of these lectures is threefold: (a) to stimulate critical engagement with the basic categories on which we all rely in making sense of texts (and culture more generally); (b) to provide a first mapping of theoretical positions; and (c) to facilitate independent study of a domain of thought and practice that can seem daunting or even off-putting, but is fundamental to everything we do. All are welcome, especially the curious novice.

Those wishing to get into the spirit beforehand could do worse than sample Jonathan Culler’s eminently readable Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2011).

Plato's Ion depicts an encounter between the philosopher Socrates and a celebrated rhapsode (Ion), in which Socrates tries to persuade Ion that his ability to expound Homer comes not from skill or craft (techne) but from divine inspiration. Though Ion may speak beautifully, he does so without knowledge. Socrates attempts to sever the connection, central to much of the Greek poetic tradition, between divine inspiration and the transmission of truth. The work calls into question the status and authority of poetry as a purveyor of knowledge and offers an alternative account of poetic creativity. This lecture course will introduce students to this work and assess the plausibility of its arguments against rhapsody and poetry.  Read the dialogue in translation in advance.

In the fifth book of his great Epicurean poem Lucretius sets out nothing less than a history of the cosmos which ends with an account of the origin and development of human communities. We will set this account in the context of Epicurean philosophy and similar accounts of ‘politogony’, drawing attention in particular to the ethical lessons Lucretius wishes his audience to draw from this story.  Please read in advance as much of book 5 as you can, at least in translation. The Loeb volume edited by W. H. D. Rouse and M. F. Smith is a convenient place to start.  Use the online resources from Oxford Scholarly Editions for further assistance: https://www.oxfordscholarlyeditions.com/view/10.1093/actrade/9780198755869.book.1/actrade-9780198755869-div2-26

In these classes we will translate selections from the set texts. We will devote attention to the grammatical features of the passages and discuss their interpretation in preparation for the ‘Critical Discussion’ question in Paper 1.

In these classes, taught in small groups, we will translate the majority of the material from the set texts. We will devote attention to the grammatical features of the passages, consolidating material from the Grammar Lectures and we will also discuss the interpretation of the set texts in preparation for the ‘Critical Discussion’ question in Paper 2. Attendance is mandatory.

This course of lectures is devoted to consolidating and expanding your knowledge of Greek grammar on a weekly basis. All examples are taken from this year's set texts. Every lecture has a pre-recorded video, slides and handouts (all on Moodle). Supplementary material from Palmer's Intermediate Ancient Greek Language will be found on Moodle as well. Attendance is mandatory.

In this series of lectures all main features of Greek syntax will be illustrated, using examples drawn from the works of Lysias and Xenophon (authors designated specifically for the setting of Part 1A examination passages for Unprepared Translation) as well as from the works included among the Set Texts (Homer, Iliad 1, Plato, Ion, Herodotus 3, Euripides, Hecuba, Gorgias’ Helen) and from whose authors other passages can also be set in the examination for Unprepared Translation. The lectures will aim to advance students’ existing knowledge of Greek Grammar by analysing in detail the complexities of unadapted texts but the series is meant to be of use to students of all levels of experience and each lecture will begin accordingly with a basic illustration of each construction before moving to finer points. Reference will be made throughout the course to W. Smyth, Greek Grammar (Harvard, 1956). All Part IA non-IG students are strongly encouraged to attend.

This set of lectures is designed to help you have a better understanding of Latin grammar by looking at some familiar features of the language more closely. We will cover major structures such as accusative + infinitive, uses of the subjunctive, conditional sentences and the beloved Latin gerundive. All examples will come from your set texts where possible and all materials (including recommended reading) can be found on Moodle.

The first two lectures will explain the general principles of Greek accentuation; the latter two will take the form of practical classes. Handouts will be provided.

Introductory reading: Philomen Probert A New Short Guide to the Accentuation of Ancient Greek (Bristol, 2003).

Practical guidance in approaching and structuring critical discussion of passages from ancient Greek and Latin texts. Examples and hands-on practice drawn from Part IA set texts.

This course may discuss any passage from the IA set texts for Michaelmas and the issues they raise.

A detailed survey of all the main Greek and Latin metres. After the principles of prosody and scansion have been set out, these metres will be examined roughly in ascending order of difficulty or unfamiliarity. Lecture 1 will focus on the basic principles; Lecture 2 on hexameters and pentameters; Lecture 3 on iambics; Lecture 4 on lyric / strophic metres.

Students may find it useful to read the following as an introduction: https://antigonejournal.com/2021/05/long-short-latin-poetry/

Useful reference works:

A.M. Dale, The Lyric Metres of Greek Drama (Cambridge, 1968, 2nd edition)

J.W. Halporn, M. Ostwald, and T.G. Rosenmeyer, The Meters of Greek and Latin Poetry (1980, Norman OK)

P. Maas, Greek Metre (Oxford, 1962, transl. H. Lloyd-Jones)

D.S. Raven, Greek Metre: An Introduction (London, 1962)

D.S. Raven, Latin Metre: An Introduction (London, 1965)

M.L. West, Greek Metre (Oxford, 1982)

M.L. West, Introduction to Greek Metre (Oxford, 1987)