CLU22449 Catullus and Cicero
The love-poet Catullus and the statesman, orator and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero were close contemporaries, but often display contrasting attitudes – towards love and sex, youth and maturity, public and private life, and morality in general. This module will involve close reading of selections from Catullus’ poetry and of Cicero’s law-court speech Pro Caelio, both as literary works in their own right and as a window on the ideals and values of the Roman elite of the first century BC.
- Module Organiser:
- Professor Monica Gale
- Duration:
- Semester 2
- Contact Hours:
- 33 (two lectures and one language lab per week)
- Weighting:
- 10 ECTS
- Assessment:
- 50% coursework (one written assignment, one in-class test), 50% written examination
- Course open to:
- Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology; TJH Latin; Columbia Dual Degree; Visiting
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
- Apply enhanced linguistic and analytical skills and consolidated grammatical knowledge through translation and close reading of substantial verse and prose text
- Comment critically on select passages from the prescribed texts, both orally and in writing
- Evaluate recent critical approaches to the poetry of Catullus, to Ciceronian oratory, and to the culture and ideology of the late Roman Republic in general