Learning basic Latin while reading Horace
Salvete! A bit of shameless self-promotion by academic precariat, hope it's fine with you guys. We invite you to our Slow Horace Mondays. Supposedly, at some point in the late 40ies or, more likely, early 30ies of the first century BCE a party of travellers, consisting of some of the most prominent poets of the time – Horace himself and Virgil among others – and their patron, Maecenas, embarked on a way to the ancient transport hub of Brundisium on an important political mission. The travel that, for some of its participants, started at Rome, with others joining the party later en route, lasted anywhere from 12 to 17 days, and its events were compressed by Horace in 104 lines of his famous 5th satire of the first book (Serm. 1,5), often referred to as Iter Brundisinum. So starting from September 19 we are going to join Horace in his travels and dis volentibus make it to finis chartaeque viaeque (‘end of the tale and the way’) in 14 online meetings of close reading and commenting of the original. No previous knowledge of Latin required - we will be covering the basics of Latin from scratch as we go. The goal of this mini-course apart from having fun is an introduction to Latin while reading a fascinating original text full of vivid details of everyday life in Ancient Rome. It is, however, advised to read the Satire in English before considering whether to join us to make sure that it does not contain anything that you might not feel comfortable listening to during a zoom meeting (NB there will be a private recording for people who can’t make it Mondays, so if it bothers you please join under assumed name and switch off your camera). What we offer in a typical meeting:
- Detailed vocabulary and grammatical commentary to the text (written materials) in advance of each 90 minute session
- A brief talk on a subject related to the lines we will be reading, be it an introduction to the culinary realia (roasting blackbirds or rather thrushes in line 72) or what the magnae res (the important political business that lines 28-29 are alluding to) might possibly be
- Some fun grammar and vocabulary practice, made as accessible as possible
- In-depth person-place-profession commentary; discussion of the text’s literary models; etc.
- Roman visuals (plenty of mosaics, wall-paintings etc.)
- Actual reading – very close and slow (about 7 lines per class)
- Answers to your questions :)
Who are we? Antonina Kalinina is an independent researcher based in Oxford, teacher of Latin, author of a monograph on Porphyrio's commentary to Horace. https://oxford.academia.edu/AntoninaKalinina Sasha Grigorieva is an independent researcher (Classics and Food History) and teacher of Latin based in Helsinki. https://helsinki.academia.edu/AlexandraGrigorieva Her article on Roman mosaics has been recently published by Bloomsbury https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/seafaring-and-mobility-in-the-late-antique-mediterranean-9781350201705/ .
When? Zoom sessions Mondays 8-9.30 pm Oxford time from September 19 to December 19, 2022.
How to join and how much? Please email me at sashaonredmi10@gmail.com, pm me, or contact me via telegram @gasterea). If you really can’t afford to pay but want to join we have reserved a couple of free places (first come, first serve). Any people from Ukraine wishing to join join free (no limit).
- Detailed vocabulary and grammatical commentary to the text (written materials) in advance of each 90 minute session
- A brief talk on a subject related to the lines we will be reading, be it an introduction to the culinary realia (roasting blackbirds or rather thrushes in line 72) or what the magnae res (the important political business that lines 28-29 are alluding to) might possibly be
- Some fun grammar and vocabulary practice, made as accessible as possible
- In-depth person-place-profession commentary; discussion of the text’s literary models; etc.
- Roman visuals (plenty of mosaics, wall-paintings etc.)
- Actual reading – very close and slow (about 7 lines per class)
- Answers to your questions :)
Who are we? Antonina Kalinina is an independent researcher based in Oxford, teacher of Latin, author of a monograph on Porphyrio's commentary to Horace. https://oxford.academia.edu/AntoninaKalinina Sasha Grigorieva is an independent researcher (Classics and Food History) and teacher of Latin based in Helsinki. https://helsinki.academia.edu/AlexandraGrigorieva Her article on Roman mosaics has been recently published by Bloomsbury https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/seafaring-and-mobility-in-the-late-antique-mediterranean-9781350201705/ .
When? Zoom sessions Mondays 8-9.30 pm Oxford time from September 19 to December 19, 2022.
How to join and how much? Please email me at sashaonredmi10@gmail.com, pm me, or contact me via telegram @gasterea). If you really can’t afford to pay but want to join we have reserved a couple of free places (first come, first serve). Any people from Ukraine wishing to join join free (no limit).