Advanced Placement: A score of 4 or 5 on the Latin AP Exam earns college credit and counts toward the language studies common area requirement. It does not, however, count toward the requirements for the classics major.
Students planning on continuing an ancient language begun in high school will be placed at the appropriate level of the language during Summer Gateways Orientation. Those not attending Gateways will be placed in consultation with the chair of the classics department upon their arrival in late August or via email. For placement information, contact Prof. Timothy Joseph at tjoseph@holycross.edu.
Students with two years or less of high school Latin should take LATN 101. Students with more than two years of high school Latin or the equivalent are not permitted to enroll in LATN 101. They should consult with the department chair for appropriate placement.
LATN 101
Introduction to Latin 1
Common Area: Language Studies
This course offers an introduction to the Latin language and introduces students as quickly as possible to segments of authentic Latin. Classes will consist primarily of discussion of Latin (and English) grammar and syntax and of practice exercises and sight reading, which students will perform individually or collaboratively with their classmates. Aspects of Roman literature, history, and culture will be discussed as appropriate. Students who have had more than two years of high school Latin may not enroll in this course.
LATN 211
1st Readings in College Latin
Common Area: Language Studies
This course is designed for students who have studied Latin at the high school level for multiple years, but do not yet feel comfortable with reading advanced poetry and prose. The aim of the course to give students the opportunity to improve their knowledge of Latin grammar and syntax, with a view towards enabling reading facility of real Latin texts. As such, the first six weeks of the course will be an intensive grammar review and the last six weeks will be focused on reading Latin texts in the original.
LATN 301
Seminars in Roman Literature: Roman Cultural Identity: Cicero
Common Area: Literature
In this course we will be reading selected texts written by Cicero that touch upon Roman cultural identity that was facing a period of transition as the Republic yielded to the empire.Two major texts will be his philosophical text De Officiiis and his legal defense of the Poet Archias: pro Archias. But we will also examine some of his letters as well.
LATN 301
Seminars in Roman Literature: Nation and Individual: Virgil
Common Area: Literature
We will read, analyze, and discuss the Latin of the celebrated Roman poet Virgil (70-19 BCE), with a focus on selections from his Eclogues ("shepherd songs") and most of all on his epic poem about the founding of the Roman race, the Aeneid. As we read we will consider how Virgil's poetry addresses the issues of national identity and individual identity -- and the tensions between the two.
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