Syllabus, Fall 2010
Faculty Consultant: Richard Tarrant (Harvard University)
Course Director: Molly Pasco-Pranger (University of Mississippi)
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Syllabus Authors:
• David Sick, Rhodes College
• Sanjaya Thakur, Colorado College
• Megan Drinkwater, Agnes Scott College
• Hal Haskell, Southwestern University
• Miriam Carlisle, Washington and Lee
• Molly Pasco-Pranger, University of Mississippi
• David Guinee, DePauw University
• Richard Tarrant, Harvard
• Jeannine Uzzi, University of Southern Maine
Included in this syllabus: a course overview, a bibliography, a schedule of assignments, and study questions.
COURSE OVERVIEW
Course Policies
Description and Objectives:
Making extensive use of the latest electronic resources available, this course will focus on the literature of the age of Nero, as well as the social, cultural, and political milieu in which it flourished. Primary readings include selections works of Seneca, Petronius and Lucan. Students will participate in a weekly collaborative class session with students and faculty from nine institutions via Elluminate video-conferencing technology. These sessions will include live broadcast lectures by participating faculty, with live question and answer opportunities. This course also includes an on-line weekly discussion, which will be moderated by participating faculty. In addition, classes will meet at least twice weekly in on campus tutorials with home campus faculty for translation and discussion of the readings for the week. This course is specifically designed for advanced students and will include a rigorous study of the cultural and historical context during the Late Roman Republic. All components of this course have been devised to help students become familiar with current interpretative approaches to original material, to build facility in reading Latin, and to develop skills in various methods of communication.
Course Requirements:
The course consists of several elements: readings, online discussion, online common session, and meeting with the campus mentor. Each week readings and online discussion will precede and prepare for the coming online common session. Class meetings on individual campuses are arranged by local faculty and students, and so will vary by school. The course will also include a midterm exam, administered online and graded collaboratively by the intercampus teaching faculty.
Preparation:
This course is intended for advanced, mature students, who can effectively and conscientiously work through the readings and fulfill the assignments with minimal supervision. Participating faculty members presuppose that students will come to each event prepared to participate actively. Students should take advantage of every resource to ensure that they thoroughly understand the readings and have a command of the interpretive issues that will form the basis of the lectures, discussions, and tutorials. All students are expected to complete all readings in Latin and English, to be present in the Elluminate classroom for all common sessions on Wednesday evenings, and to post responses to all weekly study questions posted on the course Sakai site.
Exams:
The midterm exam will be a shared online experience, but the timing and requirements for final exams and papers for this course will be determined differently on individual campuses, as will the grading of each element of your work.
Details of weekly assignments and lectures are outlined on the Syllabus document available on the Sakai course site.
Elluminate:
To enter the Elluminate Classroom, use the link below before class time and type your name on the sign in page:
https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?password=M.EED952BD32B75F1D891EF1D30E924E&sid=voffice
A few days before you first lecture, go to the Elluminate instructions posted on the Sakai site, and configure your computer for this new adventure.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Edwards, Catharine. “Dying in Character: Stoicism and the Roman Death Scene" Death in Ancient Rome. Yale University Press (2007): 144-160.
- Edward J. Champlin, "Stories and Histories," in Nero (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003), pp. 36-52.
- Elsner, Jas “Constructing Decadence: The Representation of Nero as Imperial Builder.” Reflections of Nero: Culture, History, & Representation. Duckworth (1994): 112-127.
SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNMENTS
NB: All lectures will occur on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 EST. Weeks are listed starting on Thursday and ending on Wednesday with the lecture. Listed readings should be completed in the week before the lecture; study questions will also be posted and addressed during the week before the lecture as preparation.
Week I (September 9-15)
1. Lecture: “Nero and the Historians,” Prof. Sanjaya Thakur (Colorado College)
2. Latin Readings: students should start reading selections for Week II
3. English Readings: Suetonius’ Nero, Champlin “Stories and Histories”
Week II (September 16-22)
1. Lecture: “Stoicism in Seneca’s Letters,” Prof. Megan Drinkwater (Agnes Scott College)
2. Latin Readings: Seneca Ep. Mor. 7;47
3. English Readings: Seneca Ep. Mor. 1 "On Saving Time",12 "On Old Age", 56 "On Quiet and Study", 80 "On Worldly Deceptions", and 84 "On Gathering Ideas".
Week III (September 23-29)
1. Lecture: “Slavery and Social Status,” Prof. David Sick (Rhodes College)
2. Latin Readings: Petronius XXIX-XXX, LXXV.10-LXXVII(= pp. 37-43, 187-199 in Lawall)
3. English Readings: Petronius Cena Trimalchionis
Week IV (September 30-October 6)
1. Lecture: “Stuff That No Longer Exists, or Making Yourself Sexy,” Prof. Hal Haskell (Southwestern University)
2. Latin readings: Petronius CX.6-CXIII.6 (=Lawall, pp. 206-26)
3. English reading: Elsner “Constructing Decadence: The Representation of Nero as Imperial Builder”, Martial De spectaculis II (+ Latin in case you want it)
Week V (October 7-13) MIDTERM
1. Lecture: There will be no lecture this week.
2. Latin readings: added as needed by individual campuses
3. English readings: none
Week VI (October 14-20)
1. Lecture: There will be no lecture this week.
2. Latin readings: added as needed by individual campuses
3. English readings: none
Week VII (October 21-27)
1. Lecture: “Spectacular Lucan,” Prof. Miriam Carlisle (Washington & Lee)
2. Latin readings: Lucan I.1-66, VI. 138-262 (to be finished in the next two weeks)
3. English readings: Lucan I.67-182, VII-VIII (to be finished in the next two weeks)
Week VIII (October 28-November 3)
1. Lecture: “Lucan and the Augustans,” Prof. David Guinee (DePauw University)
2. Latin readings: continue readings from Week VII
3. English readings: continue readings from Week VII
Week IX (November 4-10)
1. Lecture: “Getting death right,” Prof. Molly Pasco-Pranger (University of Mississippi)
2. Latin readings: Seneca Thyestes [dialogue sections; this in preparation for Week X]
3. English readings: On the death of Cato: Seneca Ep. Mor. 70, 104.29-34; de Providentia 2.6-12.
On Neronian deaths: Tac. Ann. 15.49-70, 16.9-19
On the death of Nero: review Suet. Nero 40-57; Cassius Dio 63.26-29.
Optional secondary reading: Edwards, "Dying in Character: Stoicism and the Roman Death Scene" (Death in Ancient Rome, 144-60).
Week X (November 11-17)
1. Lecture: “Thyestes,” Prof. Richard Tarrant (Harvard University)
2. Latin readings: Seneca Thyestes [dialogue sections (cont’d.)]
3. English readings: Seneca, Thyestes (all)
STUDY QUESTIONS
Week 1:
There are three threads in this forum, each beginning with a study question from Dr. Thakur. Please choose two to answer and post your responses in the appropriate thread by Monday evening; please be as specific as you can in pointing to the texts in question. You're strongly encouraged to return to the forum early next week to read your peers' posts and continue the discussion by adding your comments and further questions.
1. Champlin attempts to dissect the major sources for our accounts of Nero's reign; at what points in his discussion do you think he over-extends himself and draws conclusions beyond the evidence available?
2. In Suetonius' biography of Nero, we see what may be termed "sympathetic" and "antagonistic" sources upon which Suetonious bases his account. Can you identify a possible source (broadly speaking) for a negative depiction/episode? Where can you see a reflection of a sympathetic source? To what degree do you think an accurate understanding of Nero the person is possible?
3. Suetonius ends his account of Nero's reign (as he does with the other emperors) with an account of Nero's physical appearance (section 51). Why do you think he includes such details and how do they relate to specific accounts he has previously related?
Week 2:
Students should answer both questions briefly, and be sure to provide specific examples from the letters to illustrate their points.
1. Why Stoicism? Why now? Given what you now know about the Neronian period, why would Seneca’s chosen doctrine of Stoicism be especially appealing at this specific time?
2. Keeping in mind Champlin’s article on source criticism and Dr. Thakur’s remarks about how we create the picture we do of Nero from the sources available to us, think over the letters of Seneca (including 7 and 47 and this week’s readings English) to tease out what kind of picture of Stoicism they present. What are some of the chief themes and concerns that Seneca, and hence Stoicism, seems to address? Is Stoicism as it appears here what you expected?
Week 3:
Professor David Sick of Rhodes College asks you to answer both questions succinctly with careful reference to our readings.
1. The figure of the dispensator comes up several times during the feast of Trimalchio. See sections 29, 30 (2x), 45, and 53 (2x). How are these individuals described? What seems to be the role of the dispensator in the household? How might that role be related to the characterization of the individual dispensatores in Petronius?
2. Given a choice of one or the other, would you prefer to be a slave serving in Seneca's dining room or Trimalchio's? Explain your preference. (This question does allow you to speculate and make conjectures. You may want to cite the evidence behind those conjectures.)
Week 4:
Professor Hal Haskell at Southwestern asks you to please answer both of the following questions.
1. Cicero inde Officiis(1.138-139) says:
I must discuss also what sort of house a man of rank and station (hominis honorati et principis) should, in my opinion, have. Its prime object is serviceableness (usus). To this the plan of the building should be adapted; and yet careful attention should be paid to its convenience and distinction (commoditatis dignitatisque)…. [Gnaeus] Octavius, then, was the first of his family to bring the honor of a consulship to his house; Scaurus, though the son of a very great and illustrious man, brought to the same house, when enlarged, not only defeat, but disgrace and ruin. The truth is, a man's dignity (dignitas) may be enhanced by the house he lives in, but not wholly secured by it; the owner should bring honor to his house, not the house to its owner.
From what you know of Roman domestic architecture, in what ways might the house of an elite Roman citizen reinforce and enhance (and perhaps detract from) social and political ambitions?
2. Choose a major contemporary public building which has parts open to the public but also has restricted spaces. What elements, be they visual, perceptual, or strictly physical (e.g. barricades, walls), signal to the visitor what is accessible to all, accessible to some, and accessible to the few?
Week 7:
From Professor Miriam Carlisle of Washington & Lee asks you to choose one question to answer. See full description for more.
1. Choose one combat scene that you have read in Lucan and consider the following questions: Does this scene seem realistic to you? Would it have seemed realistic to Lucan’s Roman readers? What in Lucan’s personal experience might have informed his descriptions of such scenes? Do you notice any details in this scene that seem to intersect or compare in some way with any other text you have read (at any point in your career, Greek or Latin), and, if so, do you think these intertextual references inform such scenes in Lucan? How?
2. In his very interesting 1997 book, Lucan: Spectacle and Engagement, Matthew Leigh stated that “Spectators in the amphitheatre take an attitude to violent death, which they do not take even to peaceful death in real life. They no longer abhor it, but look on at close range and take pleasure in what they are doing. . . The death of the young man you lament so tenderly when reading the Aeneid, now you can enjoy as a spectacle and a wonder.” Can this observation apply as well to Lucan’s descriptions? Discuss in the light of at least one scene in Lucan that you have read.
Week 8:
Please respond to one of the two study questions about Lucan's place in Latin literary history.
1. How does Lucan's epic fit with your preconceptions of epic, derived from your previous readings of Homer, Vergil, or others? Point to some specific passages that illuminate ways in which, for you, Lucan's writing accords with or defies the tradition.
2. Look at the idea of the gods in Lucan (such as the use of "deis" in 1.35) -- how does the idea of the gods compare to that in Vergil or other classical writings you have read before? How does Lucan deal with the issue of divinity, and how do you connect that to his experience in life?
Week 9:
Choose at least two of the following Neronian death scenes for analysis: What does it say about the dying/dead person?Think about details like mode of death, last words, wills, manner of burial, motivation or cause of death, etc.What does the author’s presentation say about the role of a person’s death in revealing character?
Pompeyin Lucan 8
Trimalchioin Petronius (not a real death, but a death-scene, surely)
Pisoin Tacitus,AnnalesXV (p. 374 in Grant’s translation)
EpicharisinAnnalesXV ( p. 373)
SenecainAnnalesXV (pp. 375-77)
Subrius FlavusinAnnalesXV (pp. 377-78)
VestinusinAnnalesXV (pp. 378-79)
LucaninAnnalesXV (pp. 379)
The family of L. Antistius VetusinAnnalesXVI (pp. 385-86)
Petroniusin Tacitus,AnnalesXVI(pp. 389-90)
Week 10:
Professor Richard Tarrant asks you to respond thoughtfully and specifically to both of the following questions.
1. Thyestes is unusual among Seneca's plays in opening with a dialogue rather than amonologue. What is the effect of having two characters appear in the first scene, and moregenerally how does that scene relate to the body of the play?
2. Both Atreus and Thyestes are introduced with entrance monologues (lines 176-204 and 404-420). How do the content and style of their first speeches establish their respective characters and the differences between them?