In a single year that assumes you have not studied Latin before, Latin 101 and 102 will teach you how to read major Latin works in their original language, substantially increase your English vocabulary (thousands of English words come ultimately from Latin), improve your writing skills in English, enhance your command of English grammar, and either build on your knowledge of Spanish, French, or Italian if you’ve already studied one of them or help you learn them if you haven’t (they are called “Romance” languages because they come from Latin, the language of the Romans). You’ll learn how to pronounce Latin out loud so you know how it sounds and you’ll acquire a reading knowledge, but we will not converse in Latin. Latin 101 covers roughly half of the year’s material, and by the end of the semester you’ll be able to read simple stories.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: Open to students who do not present Latin for admission or permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Starr
Typical Periods Offered: Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall
Notes:
Latin 102 builds on what you learned in Latin 101 in the fall (see the description of Latin 101 for details) and covers the rest of Latin. In the last month or so, we’ll turn from the textbook to reading actual ancient and medieval Latin texts, such as love poems, letters, and myths. Steady review throughout the term will reinforce what you learned in the fall at the same time you’re learning new material. A single year can take you from knowing no Latin at all to being able to read texts that shaped the western literary, philosophical, and political traditions. Studying Latin will also strengthen your English vocabulary, improve your command of English grammar, and enhance your writing skills.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 42
Prerequisites: LAT 101
Instructor: Freas
Typical Periods Offered: Spring
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring
Notes:
In conjunction with a thorough review of Latin grammar, we will make the transition to Latin literature and Roman culture. Selections in Latin may include Catullus (poetry), Ovid and the other love elegists, the emperor Augustus' The Deeds of the Divine Augustus, Perpetua (one of the earliest known women Latin authors) and the anonymous novella, The Story of Apollonius King of Tyre. Topics to be studied might include social status and identity (What defined you? Might your status/identity change, whether for better or worse?); Rome's relation to Greece, which Rome conquered but which long dominated Roman culture; or the nature and function of literature in Roman life.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: LAT 102 or Wellesley's placement questionnaire and permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Freas
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Typical Periods Offered: Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall
Notes:
Vergil wrote his epic poem the Aeneid as the origin story for Rome, as Aeneas escapes the fall of Troy and eventually reaches Italy, where he establishes what will lead to Rome. Vergil wrote this foundational story of Rome at a time of political upheaval and new beginnings, at the start of the reign of Augustus, the first Roman emperor, who won the civil wars that ended the Roman Republic. The epic responds to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, but also to Augustus and his new vision of Rome. We'll study the Aeneid as what became the Roman national epic and as an exploration of Roman values and what it meant to be Roman. Class sessions will focus on understanding both the Latin and broader questions of duty, love, patriotism, and responsibility though discussion, writing, recitation, Roman coins from Wellesley's collections, and even drawing.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: LAT 201 (formerly LAT 200) or Wellesley's placement questionnaire and permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Starr
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Typical Periods Offered: Spring
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring
Notes:
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 15
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring
Units: 0.5
Max Enrollment: 15
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring
Romans read Latin as quickly and with as much pleasure as we read English. They looked forward to a new book just as eagerly as we might pre-order a new novel by our favorite novelist. In this non-traditional Latin course you will read a variety of authors (many chosen by the class members), and you will learn to read Latin more like a Roman. Double or triple your reading speed, improve your comprehension, appreciate the language more richly, and simply enjoy it more. This course focuses not on reviewing grammar and forms but on learning concrete, practical reading techniques that go far beyond just looking up every word online or hunting for a verb. The specific interests of the members of the class will help determine what we’ll read, which might include some famous classics but also little-known but fascinating works like Perpetua’s autobiographical account of her own martyrdom (recently transformed into a graphic novel), Sallust’s portrait of scandals, Egeria’s record of her pilgrimmage, the wild adventure/romance novel Apollonius, King of Tyre, or medieval Latin texts. Homework assignments, some of them analogous to problem sets or labs, will help you develop specific reading techniques.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: LAT 202 or a 300-level Latin course, or Wellesley's placement exam and permission of the instructor.
Instructor:
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered
Notes:
How can we read Roman poetry the way a Roman would have read it, knowing what to expect in a poem and a poetry book? An exploration of features common to many Roman poems and books of poetry, with focused attention to the dramatic nature of Roman poetry (speaker, addressee, scene, monologue, dialogue), diction and poetic language, simile and metaphor, point of view, intertextuality (the relationship of one poem to another), ekphrasis, genre and generic composition (e.g., the song before the lover's closed door, the drinking song, the letter), the structure of a poetry book (opening poem, sphragis-or closing-poem, internal balancing), and the resonances of the various popular meters. Readings from major Latin poems in Latin and from various Roman works in translation; focused exercises to build the skills necessary for reading Latin poetry. Course includes hands-on sessions for learning to make papyrus sheets and ancient ink and to practice writing on papyrus with tools like those used in the ancient world.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 16
Prerequisites: LAT 202 (or equivalent) or a 300-level Latin course or Wellesley's placement questionnaire and permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Starr
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered
Notes:
In this course, we will study three literary genres—Roman comedy, historiography, and elegy—each with its own characteristic view of women, from comedy’s scolding wives and young lovers, to history’s villains and heroines, to elegy’s mistresses. Taking into account authorial perspective, context, language, and style, we will identify how male authors in different genres construct woman as the imagined “other” in society. From Plautus to Ovid, we examine the ways a literary genre reflects cultural perceptions of women and gender in Roman society from Republic to Empire.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 20
Prerequisites: LAT 202 (or equivalent) - or a 300-level Latin course, or Wellesley's placement exam and permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Staff
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring
Notes:
Latin literature flourished in the Imperial period, even though it is referred to as "Silver" instead of "Golden" Latin Literature. We'll explore various authors and genres, including such authors as Seneca (philosophy and drama), Lucan (epic), Tacitus (history), Pliny (letters), Juvenal (satire), and Martial (epigrams). We'll also examine the impact of rhetoric on the writing of Latin prose and poetry.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: LAT 202 (or equivalent) or a 300-level Latin course or Wellesley's placement questionnaire and permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Freas
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered
Notes:
Romans based their history in myth and made their history into myths. This course includes reading from major authors such as Livy, Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Propertius, and Tacitus, focusing on historical myths such as Romulus and Remus, the Rape of the Sabine Women, Tarquinius Superbus, and Hercules and Cacus. We will then examine how later Romans reworked those myths to serve current political purposes and how they transformed historical events into powerful myths.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: LAT 202 (or equivalent) or a 300-level Latin course or Wellesley's placement questionnaire or permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Starr
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature; HS - Historical Studies
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall
Notes:
Petronius' Satyricon and Apuleius' The Golden Ass are two novels from ancient Rome, filled with characters from all walks of life, from aristocrats to professors to poets to former slaves to robbers to ghosts and werewolves and even a human in a donkey's body who returns to his original form and becomes a priest of the Egyptian goddess Isis. Their wild and sometimes preposterous plots range from magic spells and love triangles to an outlandish dinner party to the tale of Cupid and Psyche, the ancestor of the Beauty and the Beast. We'll look at the novel as a literary genre and its relationship to satire, epic, and comedy; its potential audiences in the ancient world; the language of the characters; the real life behind the narratives; and the reception of the Roman novel in modern literature and film, such as Fellini Satyricon.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 18
Prerequisites: LAT 202 (or equivalent) or a 300-level Latin course, or Wellesley's Latin placement questionnaire.
Instructor: Freas
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered
Notes:
Ovid is among the most notorious and playful Roman poets, a figure who enjoyed literary success at a young age only to be later exiled by the emperor Augustus before finishing his epic poem The Metamorphoses. In this advanced Latin course, students will study Ovid in his cultural and literary context by reading selections from his works such as the Ars Amatoria, Amores, Met., and Fasti. Students will also learn about the metric conventions and stylistic features of Ovid's poetry. Possible course themes may include gender and sexuality, Roman and Greek myth, or Ovid’s Rome.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: LAT 202 (or equivalent) or a 300-level Latin course, or Wellesley's placement questionnaire and permission of the instructor.
Instructor: Freas
Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered
Notes:
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. Open to juniors and seniors.
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring
Units: 0.5
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor.
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: Permission of the department.
Instructor:
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring
Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. If sufficient progress is made, students may continue with Senior Thesis (370) in the second semester. Does not count toward the minimum major in Classics or Classical Civilization.
Units: 1
Max Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: LAT 360 and permission of the department.
Instructor:
Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall
Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Fall; Spring
Notes: Students enroll in Senior Thesis Research (360) in the first semester and carry out independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. Does not count toward the minimum major in Classics or Classical Civilization.