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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