CHC2610

Roman life and literature

A C Romano

8 points
* 3 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton

Objectives The subject aims at introducing the students to the main institutions and social practices of a very different society.

Synopsis The subject aims at analysing three aspects of Roman life, approaching them through literary texts with the support of historical and archaeological sources. The aspects are (a) Public life and spectacles: theatre and public games on festive days; oratory on working days; (b) Education: philosophical and rhetorical training; moral and civil edification and correction of the mores and (c) Private life: institutions pertaining to private life, seen through lyric poetry and personal correspondence.

Assessment Tutorial paper (1000 words) and Essay (3000 words): 60%
* Examination (2 hours): 40%

Prescribed texts

Plautus Amphitryo in The Rope and other plays tr. Watling, Penguin
Cicero Selected works tr. M Grant, Penguin
Lucretius The way things are Bk III, tr. Humphries, Indiana U P
Horace The satires of Horace and Persius tr. Rudd, Penguin
Horace Odes tr. Clancy, Phoenix Books or U Chicago P
Juvenal The sixteen satires tr. Green, Penguin
Ovid The Art of Love tr. Humphries, Indiana U P
Propertius The poems of Propertius tr. Watts, Penguin
Tibullus The poems of Tibullus tr. Dunlop, Penguin