Paper 1: Latin Texts and Paper 2: Latin and Greek Language

Aims and objectives

1. To introduce students to the Latin language and to develop their knowledge, abilities and skills towards the supported reading of original Latin texts and the independent reading of short passages from a variety of Latin authors.
2. To foster and enhance students' understanding of the structure and functioning of the Latin language.
3. To support students' acquisition and understanding of Latin vocabulary.
4. To offer guidance in the reading of texts in connection with students' work for Papers 1 to 4.

Scope and structure of the examination papers 2023–24

Paper 1. Latin texts. This paper is a 3-hour exam. It consists of Section A (1 hour): 2 short translations of passages from the set texts; Section B (1 hour): 1 critical discussion from a choice of 2 passages from set texts; Section C (1 hour): 1 passage from set texts for linguistic structures questions.

Paper 2A. Latin and Greek Language (option A) is intended for candidates who did not have GCSE (or equivalent) Latin on admission to the University. This paper is a 3-hour exam. It consists of Section A: 2 unseen translations (45 minutes each); Section B: five English-into-Latin sentences (45 minutes); Section C: Greek exercise(s) appropriate to the level up to Reading Greek 7 (45 minutes). In exceptional circumstances, on proposal of the relevant Director of Studies, the Language Teaching Committee may decide to recommend to the Education Committee that a candidate be allowed to take different option of Paper 2 than the one which they would normally be entitled to.

Paper 2B. Latin and Greek Language (option B) is intended for candidates who had GCSE or AS-level (or their equivalents) but not A-Level (or equivalent) Latin on admission to the University. This paper is a 3-hour exam. It consists of Section A: 2 unseen translations (45 minutes each); Section B: five English-into-Latin sentences (45 minutes); Section C: Greek exercise(s) appropriate to the level up to Reading Greek 7 (45 minutes). In exceptional circumstances, on proposal of the relevant Director of Studies, the Language Teaching Committee may decide to recommend to the Education Committee that a candidate be allowed to take different option of Paper 2 than the one which they would normally be entitled to.

Passages from the set texts presented in examinations will follow the prescribed editions listed below.

Course descriptions

All candidates for the Four Year Course receive one grammar lecture and one grammar class per week for MT and LT. All examples are taken from this year's set texts. Every lecture has a pre-recorded video, slides and handouts (all on Moodle). In Michaelmas candidates receive three hours of reading classes per week, in Lent and Easter candidates receive two hours of reading classes per week plus one hour for unseen practice. The schedule of set text reading breaks down as follows: Augustus Res Gestae in Michaelmas, Ovid Metamorphoses 3 in Lent, Catullus (1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 15, 29, 32, 35, 48, 50, 51, 58, 70, 72, 75, 83, 85, 87, 100, 101) in Easter.

The prescribed edition for Augustus Res Gestae is Rex Wallace Res Gestae Divi Augusti (Bolchazy Carducci). Please bring a copy to class. The prescribed edition for Ovid Met. 3 is Richard Tarrant's Oxford Classical Text; copies will be provided in class. The prescibed edition for Catullus is John Godwin, Catullus: the Shorter Poems (Aris and Phillips). In Lent and Easter term these classes will also include an introduction to Greek.

These two lectures, given in weeks 7 and 8 of Michaelmas Term, form part of the IA course ‘Order and disorder in the Latin literature of the late republic and early principate’ (see here). Prelim. students are expected to attend the lectures on Res Gestae in their first (Prelim.) year. The Res Gestae will also features variously in introductory lecture courses on history, art and archaeology, and linguistics.

Catullus is one of the best-loved and most influential of all Roman poets. This series of lectures introduces his poems, with special attention to the selection prescribed for Prelim. candidates; topics include poetic tradition and innovation, Lesbia and other loves, and the politics of Catullus’ poetry. The recommended commentary is John Godwin’s Catullus. The shorter poems, Warminster (Aris & Phillips), 1999. For introductory reading try Marilyn B. Skinner A companion to Catullus, Malden, MA (Blackwell), 2007.

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).