LATIN 405 A: Undergraduate Seminar in Classics

This summer class is available to students with as little as one year of ancient Greek and/or Latin. The biblical texts are fairly easy to read because of their limited vocabulary and simple grammatical structure. Characters and stories from the Hebrew Bible often parallel stories from other ancient traditions, including Greek and Roman myths, and provide fascinating insight into folkloric modes of storytelling. The New Testament is surprisingly intertextual in that it incorporates into the narratives elements from the Hebrew Bible, both specific quotations and scenes (e.g., multiplying of the loaves and fish). Students will also be introduced to the Hebrew alphabet to observe how significant names and certain concepts have been transliterated or translated into Greek and Latin (e.g., Yehoshua’ – Jesus, Shalom – Pax, Εἰρήνη). Students can sign up for either Classics 405 (if they have both languages), Greek 405 (if they have only Greek), and Latin 405 (if they have only Latin). But note that this is a language class.

We will use on-line texts, so no textbooks need to be purchased for this class.