First year Latin courses give you direct access to the thoughts and writings of the ancient Romans and allow you to explore the dynamic and often dangerous cultural, social and political world in which they wrote. Learning to interpret and use an ancient language requires you to explore unknown areas and think in new ways. Our focus is on Latin as a literary language. Course activities are designed to foster a collegial and collaborative atmosphere and to encourage you to make strong connections between the ancient language and literature we are exploring together and your other interests, passions and pursuits.
This course counts for A&H if you are not using it to meet the foreign language proficiency requirement.
Course Goals:
Through your work in the course this term you will demonstrate that you can:
- Read and translate short selections from ancient Roman authors and compose simple sentences in Latin
- Understand and explain the literary, historical and cultural context of texts by ancient Roman authors
- Analyze and explain Latin grammar and syntax, including subordinate clauses and the uses of the subjunctive
- Analyze and describe the influence of the Latin language on subsequent languages and literatures
By completing the first year sequence (101-102-103) you equip yourself to read any Latin author. In our second year courses (304, 305, 306, 307) students read selections of Caesar, Horace, Catullus (305), Cicero and Ovid (306), and Virgil (307), and other authors (304).
Textbooks: Wheelock's Latin; Groton and May, 38 Stories