This seminar explores ugliness in Roman literature in two areas: writing meant to discomfit, displease, and disgust—i.e. an ugly style—and writing about ugly bodies. We will explore ugliness in literature as it relates to disgust, fear, ridicule, and laughter, including where ugliness blurs with monstrosity. Readings in Latin will emphasize humor, invective, and satire (including Horace, Persius, Petronius) but will also include readings from Cicero, Seneca, Lucan, and Pliny. In addition to familiarizing ourselves with contemporary scholarship on disgust and horror in Roman literature, we will read reflections upon ugliness from outside the field (e.g. Eco, Hilal). In addition to weekly readings, students will be responsible for presentations, midterm exam, work-in-progress workshop, and final research paper.

This course will be an introduction to the literature of the Latin Middle Ages. Our readings will range from the early Christian era (beginning with the Latin Vulgate translation of Scripture) and early medieval poetic philosophy (Boethius) to medieval receptions of classical myth, funny and poignant Latin poetry of the later Middle Ages, literary love letters, autobiography (Abelard), and other selections from the rich fields of medieval Latin literature. The purpose of this course is to offer a big picture of the Latin literature of the Middle Ages and to engage with some key themes that medieval Latinity offers up to us: how to engage with antiquity, how to imitate and innovate, how to be persuasive, how to value poetic effect for its own sake, how to negotiate the sacred and secular domains of Latinity. We'll be particularly interested in how medieval teachers taught Latin to non-Latin speakers (students whose native languages were French, English, German, etc.), a parallel to our modern situation. 200-level Latin or equivalent is a prerequisite for enrollment.

Tacitus’ De vita Iulii Agricolae focuses on his father-in-law’s life, especially his military role in Britain. Initially, it appears to depict an exemplary Roman life marked by military successes. However, the text raises questions: Is Agricola’s life truly exemplary, or does Tacitus use it to reflect his own life under Domitian? The work’s genre, blending biography and eulogy, prompts discussions on historiography and rhetoric. This seminar will explore these themes, closely reading the text to understand its structure, content, and stylistic features, and examining its place within Tacitus’ larger historical works.

This course will be an introduction to the literature of the Latin Middle Ages. Our readings will range from the early Christian era (beginning with the Latin Vulgate translation of Scripture) and early medieval poetic philosophy (Boethius) to medieval receptions of classical myth, funny and poignant Latin poetry of the later Middle Ages, literary love letters, autobiography (Abelard), and other selections from the rich fields of medieval Latin literature. The purpose of this course is to offer a big picture of the Latin literature of the Middle Ages and to engage with some key themes that medieval Latinity offers up to us: how to engage with antiquity, how to imitate and innovate, how to be persuasive, how to value poetic effect for its own sake, how to negotiate the sacred and secular domains of Latinity. We'll be particularly interested in how medieval teachers taught Latin to non-Latin speakers (students whose native languages were French, English, German, etc.), a parallel to our modern situation. 200-level Latin or equivalent is a prerequisite for enrollment.

Prerequisite(s): LATN 0300 or equivalent (such as placement score of 600). Continuous reading of several Latin authors in poetry (e.g., Ovid, Virgil, Horace) as well as some more complex prose, in combination with ongoing review of Latin grammar. By the end of the course students will have thorough familiarity with the grammar, vocabulary, and style and style of the selected authors, will be able to tackle previously unseen passages by them, and will be able to discuss language and interpretation. Note: Completion of Latin 0400 with C- or higher fulfills Penn's Foreign Language Requirement.

Prerequisite(s): LATN 0300 or equivalent (such as placement score of 600). Continuous reading of several Latin authors in poetry (e.g., Ovid, Virgil, Horace) as well as some more complex prose, in combination with ongoing review of Latin grammar. By the end of the course students will have thorough familiarity with the grammar, vocabulary, and style and style of the selected authors, will be able to tackle previously unseen passages by them, and will be able to discuss language and interpretation. Note: Completion of Latin 0400 with C- or higher fulfills Penn's Foreign Language Requirement.

Prerequisite(s): LATN 101 or equivalent. Completes the introduction to the Latin language begun in 101. By the end of the course students will have a complete working knowledge of Latin grammar, a growing vocabulary, and experience in reading simple continuous texts.

Prerequisite(s): LATN 101 or equivalent. Completes the introduction to the Latin language begun in 101. By the end of the course students will have a complete working knowledge of Latin grammar, a growing vocabulary, and experience in reading simple continuous texts.

Designed to prepare graduates in any aspect of study in the ancient world to prepare for the dissertation prospectus. Course will be centered around individual presentations and group critique of prospectus' in process, as well the fundamentals of large-project research design and presentation.

This seminar series explores many media and kinds of Roman private and public things, images and monuments (and, sometimes, ancient texts about them) in a range of physical and cultural settings, through an interdisciplinary lens. Special topics range between ca. 400 BCE and 800 CE, from the Hellenistic/ Republican age into the Empire and Late Antiquity, using multiple methodological and theoretical approaches to explore the global Mediterranean world, and its interaction with its neighbors in space and time. Modern archaeologies and the museum institution receive critique. The query "what is Roman about Roman art" continually recurs.