Spring 2010

LAT 365 • Livy's Ab Urbe Condita

Course Description

Course Description: Livy's Ab Urbe Condita is the ultimate mega biblion of antiquity - so long that even contemporary readers struggled to finish it. Even today, most of the attention it garners revolves around the first five books and this despite the fact that Livy is our major source for the middle Republic. This class aims at providing close familiarity with Livy’s work beyond the First Pentad, through attention to matters of style, structure, themes, characterization, narrative techniques, and historical content. Students will also gain familiarity with current trends in Livian scholarship, as well as some more general issues in historiography. Our focus will be on the Third Decade, Livy's account of the Hannibalic war, perhaps Rome's most difficult military struggle. We will read Books 21 and 22 of the Ab Urbe Condita in Latin, the Third Decade in English, and a few items of secondary scholarship. We will divide class time accordingly between close reading of the Latin and discussion of the text and scholarship. Assessment will be made based on participation, regular quizzes, a final exam, and a short paper.  D

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