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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.

 

Schedules of texts

Learning and teaching are organised around the following schedules of texts (the Target Texts). For 2023-2024 these are:

For candidates taking Paper 1:

  • Michaelmas: Iliad 1 and Odyssey 8.1-95, 423-end (8.96-422 to be read in English translation); Homeric Hymn to Apollo;
  • Lent: Plato Ion; Herodotus 3.61-138; Euripides Hecuba;
  • Easter: Gorgias Helen

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

  • Michaelmas: Iliad 1; Odyssey 8 (to be read in English translation); Homeric Hymn to Apollo (to be read in translation);
  • Lent: Plato Ion (to be read in English translation); Herodotus 3.76–89 (3.61-75 and 3.90-138 to be read in English translation); Euripides Hecuba 1–67, 484–628, 657–904 (rest of the text to be read in English translation. Note that the choral odes will not form part of the body of text relevant for examination);
  • Easter: Gorgias Helen

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

  • Michaelmas: Iliad 1 and Odyssey 8.1-95 (the rest of the text to be read in English translation); Homeric Hymn to Apollo 1-178 (the rest of the text to be read in English translation);
  • Lent: Plato Ion 535e-end (530b-535e to be read in English translation); Herodotus 3.67–99 (3.61-66 and 3.100-138 to be read in English translation); Euripides Hecuba 1–67, 216–443, 484–628, 657–904 (rest of the text to be read in English translation. Note that the choral odes will not form part of the body of text relevant for examination);
  • Easter: Gorgias Helen

For candidates taking Paper 3:

  • Michaelmas: Virgil Aeneid 8; Sallust Bellum Catilinae; Augustus Res Gestae;
  • Lent: Cicero Pro Milone; Ovid, Metamorphoses 3;
  • Easter: Lucretius 5.925–1527.

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

  • Michaelmas: Virgil Aeneid 8; Sallust Bellum Catilinae; Augustus Res Gestae;
  • Lent: Cicero Pro Milone 1-6, 24-71 (rest of the text to be read in English translation)Ovid, Metamorphoses 3;
  • 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

Homer Iliad 1
The prescribed edition of the Greek text is D.B. Munro and T.W Allen, Homeri Opera. Tomus I. Iliadis Libros I-XII continens. Editio Tertia [Oxford 1920 and often reprinted]. 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: S. L. Schein, Homer. Iliad: Book I [Cambridge 2022]. Detailed assistance with the language is provided by P.A Draper, Homer. Iliad Book 1 with notes and vocabulary [Ann Arbor 2002] and J.A. Harrison and R.H. Jordan, Homer. Iliad I, with introduction, notes and vocabulary [London 2005]. 

Homer Odyssey 8
The prescribed edition of the Greek text is D.B. Munro and T.W Allen, Homeri Opera. Tomus III. Odysseae Libros I-XII continens. Editio Altera [Oxford 1917 and often reprinted]. This will be used in Faculty reading classes, for which a copy will be provided.
The recommended commentary is: A. F. Garvie, Homer. Odyssey Books VI-VIII [Cambridge 2008].

Homeric Hymn to Apollo
The prescribed edition of the Greek text is D.B. Munro and T.W Allen, Homeri Opera. Tomus V. Hymnos Cyclum Fragmenta Margiten Batrachomyomachiam Vitas Continens [Oxford 1912 and often reprinted]. This will be used in Faculty reading classes, for which a copy will be provided.
The recommended commentary is: N. Richardson, Three Homeric Hymns [Cambridge 2010].

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].

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, 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; J. Gregory, Euripides: Hecuba, Atlanta, 1999.

Gorgias Helen
The prescribed edition of the Greek text is D. M. MacDowell, Gorgias. Encomium of Helen [London 1991]. This will be used in Faculty reading classes, for which a copy will be provided. Vocabularies and other language materials will also be provided.

 

LATIN

Cicero Pro Milone
The prescribed edition and recommended commentary is Thomas J. Keeline, Cicero. Pro Milone [Cambridge 2021]. 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.

Sallust Bellum Catilinae
The prescribed edition and recommended commentary is John T. Ramsey, Sallust’s Bellum Catilinae [New York 2007]. 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.

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].

Ovid Metamorphoses 3
The prescribed edition and recommended commentary is: D. E. Hill, Ovid. Metamorphoses I–IV [Warminster 1985]. 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 important: Ingo Gildenhard and Andrew Zissos, Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3.511-733 [free at https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0073].

Lucretius De rerum natura 5
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]. Vocabularies and other language materials will also be provided.

 

Scope and structure of the examination papers 2023–24

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. Candidates should answer three questions, one from each section. Section A will contain a choice of essays on the Greek set texts. Section B will contain a choice of essays on the Latin set texts. Section C will contain a choice of questions, each comprising a pair of passages from the set texts for discussion; each pair will be accompanied by a brief title (e.g. 'What it means to be human’, or ‘How to win friends and influence people’).

 

INTRODUCTION TO GREEK LITERATURE

GAGNÉ/WHITMARSH
(8 L: Michaelmas)

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 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.

 

HOMER AND HIS ANCIENT RECEPTIONS

SPELMAN/LAEMMLE/BASSO/MALTAGLIATI 
(8 L: Michaelmas; 8 L: Lent; 4 L: Easter)

The Iliad and the Odyssey long remained the dominant texts of the canon across centuries of ancient Greek literature. They were used as models and foils: imitated, modified, activated, and contested throughout the genres of poetry and prose. Foundations of common education in Greek-speaking lands, their enduring prestige and authority made them the ultimate figures of reference for countless generations of poets and writers. Aeschylus, we are told, called his tragedies "slices from the great banquets of Homer". With an eye to the fact that variations on that theme can inform the history of ancient Greek literature more generally, this course of lectures will serve as an introduction to "the great banquets of Homer" and the idea of a canon in Greek literature. Michaelmas lectures will focus on Homeric diction and narrative and the emergence of Homeric poetry as canonical literature in the Archaic and Classical Periods. Lent lectures will look at Classical engagements with Homeric models and authority in both poetry and prose. Their focus will be on writing war, disorder and conquest through Homer in Euripides and Herodotus. Easter lectures will be devoted to the presence and uses of Homer in Classical and postclassical rhetoric and paideia. 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 1-6 Homer Iliad and Odyssey (selections)

MT weeks 7-8 Homeric hymn to Apollo 

LT weeks 1-6 Plato Ion and Euripides Hecuba

LT weeks 7-8 Herodotus 3 (selections)

ET weeks 1-4 Gorgias Helen

 

INTRODUCTION TO LATIN LITERATURE

GILDENHARD
(8 L: Michaelmas)

This course of lectures is designed to serve as a general introduction to the study of Latin literature. Our time frame is comprehensive: we will start with the beginnings of Latin literature around 240 BCE and trace the story of Latin as a literary language down to the present day. Particular attention will be given to the Latin literature of the late republic and early empire, but we will also look at Christian writings in late antiquity, touch upon the humanists’ revival of classical Latin in the Renaissance and take a brief glance at neo-Latin. One concern throughout is the question of how to write ‘literary history’ and associated issues such as periodization and canon formation. No preliminary reading is necessary, but you may enjoy dipping into Susanna Morton Braund, Latin literature, Routledge 2002 or Stephen Hinds, Allusion and Intertext, Cambridge 1998.

 

ORDER AND DISORDER IN THE LATIN LITERATURE OF THE LATE REPUBLIC AND EARLY PRINCIPATE

BUTTERFIELD/SUTTON/WHITTON/GOWERS 
(8 L: Michaelmas; 8 L: Lent; 2 L: Easter)

The Latin texts you will be studying in 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 (Virgil, Ovid), autobiography (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 civilization 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; Philip Hardie (1986), Virgil’s Aeneid: Cosmos and Imperium; 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 1-3 Virgil Aeneid 8

MT weeks 4-6 Sallust Bellum Catilinae

MT weeks 7-8 Augustus Res Gestae*

LT weeks 1-4 Cicero Pro Milone

LT weeks 5-8 Ovid Metamorphoses 3*

ET weeks 1-2 Lucretius 5 (selection)

* 4-year students are expected to attend the lectures on Augustus Res Gestae and Ovid Met. 3 in their first (Prelim.) year.

 

INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY THEORY 

WHITMARSH
(6 L: Easter)

All scholarly reading and writing about literature is ‘theoretical’, in the sense that it rests upon ideas about what literature is, what it is for, and what it means. The aims of this course are three-fold: firstly, to allow students to understand better what are the hidden assumptions that underpin the way that they have been brought up to read; secondly, to help them understand the range of alternative options available; and thirdly, to give them practical tips to allow them to expand their literary-critical toolkits. The lectures will be accessible — no prior knowledge is assumed — and will benefit any student with any interest in reading ancient literature either as literature or in historical terms. The lectures will cover the more established areas of theory, including narratology, deconstruction and feminism, and also newer fields like ecocriticism and new materialism. A good place for the curious to start is Jonathan Culler’s accessible Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2011).

 

PLATO ION

SHEFFIELD
(4 L: Lent)

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.

 

LUCRETIUS DE RERUM NATURA 5

WARREN
(4 L: Easter)

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/97801987558...

 

NON-IG READING CLASSES

GTA
(16 C: Michaelmas; 16 C: Lent; 8 C Easter)

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.

 

IG READING CLASSES

OMITOWOJU ET AL.
(16 C: Michaelmas; 16 C: Lent; 8 C Easter)

In these classes, taught in small groups, 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 2. Weeks 1-3 of Michaelmas term will be devoted to finishing Reading Greek. Attendance is mandatory.

 

IG GREEK GRAMMAR LECTURES

WEISS
(8 L: Michaelmas; 8 L: Lent; 4 L Easter)

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.

 

IG GRAMMAR CLASSES

BASSO
(8 C: Michaelmas; 8 C: Lent; 4 C Easter)

In these classes Grammar (both morphology and syntax) will be reviewed and consolidated in an interactive mode (with students’ active participation required) and while also practicing the unprepared translation of passages of increasing level of difficulty in both prose (from Lysias, Xenophon, Plato and Herodotus) and verse (from Homer and Euripides). The classes will also provide an opportunity for students to revisit and ask questions about the features of Grammar presented in the Grammar Lectures. Weeks 1-3 of Michaelmas term will be based on Reading Greek Sections 11-14. Attendance of these classes is mandatory.

 

ADVANCED GREEK SYNTAX (NON-IG)

BASSO
(8 L: Michaelmas)

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.

 

ADVANCED LATIN SYNTAX

 WEISS
(6 L:  Michaelmas)

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.

 

GREEK ACCENTS

SPELMAN
(4 L: Lent)

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).

 

CRITICAL DISCUSSION OF GREEK AND LATIN TEXTS

VAN NOORDEN
(2 L: Lent)

How to ‘discuss critically’ the literary aspects of passages from ancient texts. Examples and hands-on practice drawn from Part IA texts. Photocopies supplied.

This course may discuss any passage from the IA set texts and the issues raised.

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