Graduate Reading Lists
The Master of Arts in Classical Studies, the Master of Arts in Classical Studies with Teaching Licensure, and the Master of Arts in Classical Archaeology endeavor to provide students with grounding in the texts of the classical world, their genres and their historical development. To that end, all graduate students in the Department of Classical Studies will be expected to master the following reading lists, containing material both in the original and in translation.
The ability to read Greek and Latin with relative facility is also a goal of these graduate degrees, as this skill facilitates research for philologists, historians, and archaeologists and supports the professional aspirations of classicists. All language examinations—both diagnostic and qualifying—will draw from the material in Latin and Greek on these lists.
Upon graduation from the programs, students should be able to perform the following tasks reliably and with reasonable alacrity in both languages:
- Identify the morphology of any declined or conjugated form;
- Explain the syntax of any declined or conjugated form;
- Scan dactylic hexameter;
- Accurately translate a continuous passage of either prose or poetry with the aid of a dictionary;
- Contextualize and interpret a passage within its genre and historical milieu.
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In the Original Aristophanes Frogs Euripides Bacchae Herodotus Hist. 1.1-13, 1.29-33, 1.46-56, 1.79-89, 1.107-140, 1.141, 1.152-3, 1.204-216 Homer Iliad 22 Plato Apology Sophocles Ajax Cicero In Catilinam 1 Horace Satires 1.5, 1.8, 1.9, 1.10, Odes 1.1, 1.3, 1.5, 1.9, 1.22, 1.37, 1.38 Lucretius De Rerum Natura, 1.1-369; 2.216-224; 251-271; 3.1-30, 136-160; 4.1058-1169; 5.772-836; 6.1138-1286 Livy Ab Urbe Condita Libri, 22.37-61 Ovid Amores 1 Vergil Aeneid 1 In Translation Aristophanes Frogs, Clouds Euripides Medea, Bacchae Herodotus Histories, 1, 3.61-89, 4.42-45, 4.59-82, 4.118-142, 5.30-38, 5.49-54, 5.97-107,6.1-20, 6.42-43, 6.94-117, 7, 8.1-110, 9.122 Homer Iliad and Odyssey Plato Apology, Symposium Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus, Antigone, Ajax Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War, 1.1-1.23, 1.56-1.88, 1.139-1.146; 2.34-2.65; 3.36-3.50, 3.69-3.85; 5.13-5.26, 5.84-5.116; 6.8-6.41; 7.1-7.18, 7.42-7.59, 7.72-7.87 Cicero In Catilinam 1-4 Horace Satires 1, Odes 1, Ars Poetica Lucretius De Rerum Natura, 1, 2, 3, 4 (1058-1287), 5 (772-1457), 6 (1-42; 1090-1286) Livy Ab Urbe Condita Libri, 1-5, 21-22, 30 Ovid Metamorphoses Vergil Aeneid -
In the Original Augustus Caesar Res Gestae Pliny the Elder Natural History 34.9-19; 35.5-9; 35.32-35 Vitruvius De Architectura, Book 6 Cato the Elder De Agri Cultura (selections from Courtney, Archaic Latin Prose [1999], Preface, 1-5, 141-143, 156-157) Frontinus De Aquae Ductu, Book 1 Pausanias Description of Greece, 1.1-27 Plutarch Life of Pericles Strabo Geographica, 2.3 In Translation and Secondary Sources Pausanias Description of Greece Vitruvius De Architectura Strabo Geographica, 1, 2, 4, 5, 15, 17 Pliny the Elder Historia Naturalis, Books 1-7, 26-27, 33-36 Plutarch Life of Pericles Cato the Elder De Agri Cultura S. Alcock & R. Osborne Classical Archaeology, Second Edition, Wiley 2007. I. Morris Burial and Ancient Society The Rise of the Greek City-State (Cambridge, 1987) A. Wallace-Hadrill Rome's Cultural Revolution (Cambridge 2008) K. Green Archaeology of the Roman Economy (Berkeley 1986). D. Mattingly Imperialism, Power, and Identity (Princeton, 2013) -
In the Original Herodotus 6.94-117, 7, 8.1-110 Thucydides 1.1-23, 3.18-19, 3.27-50, 6.1, 6.6-31, 6.53-61, 6.88-93 Xenophon Anabasis 1, 3.1.1-33, 4.7.19-27 Caesar Bellum Gallicum 1 Livy Ab Urbe Condita Libri 1 Augustus Res Gestae In Translation Aristotle Ath. Pol. Herodotus Histories Old Oligarch Plutarch Romulus/Theseus; Alexander/Caesar; Demosthenes/Cicero; Cimon; Pericles; On the Daimonion of Socrates Polybius Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War Xenophon Anabasis; Hellenica Ammianus Marcellinus 14. 6.2-27; 15.9-12; 17.7.1-8; 26.10.15-19; 28.6; 31.12-16.8 Caesar Bellum Gallicum Livy Ab Urbe Condita Libri Tacitus Agricola; Annales Sallust Conspiratio Catilinae Suetonius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Nero -
In the Original Aeschylus Eumenides Christian Scripture John 1-3 Hesiod Theogony; Works and Days Homer Odyssey 9 Lucian True History, Book 1 Lysias On the Murder of Erastosthenes Sappho 1, 16, 31 + the 2 new poems Thucydides Selections from narrative and speeches Apuleius Metamorphoses, 4.28.1-4.35; 5.26; 6.9-6.24 Catullus Carmina, 1-16, 23, 29, 64, 68, 85, 86, 88, 93, 99, 101, 116 Juvenal Satire 3 Lucan Pharsalia, Book 1 Petronius Satyricon, 12-15, 26-33, 41-49, 61-64, 71-78, 111-112 Plautus Casina Pliny Letters, 1.1, 3.21, 5.9, 6.16, 6.20, 9.6, 10.96-97 In Translation Aristotle Poetics Demosthenes On the Crown Longus Daphnis and Chloe Pindar Olympian Ode 1, Pythian Ode 10 Plutarch On the Daimonion of Socrates Juvenal Satires Quintilian Institutio Oratoria, 10 Seneca Medea, Thyestes, Apocolocyntosis Tacitus Annales Terence Heautontimorumenos, Andria Vergil Eclogues; Georgics Propertius Book 1 -
In the Original Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics VI Diogenes Laertius Life of Socrates Plato Republic X, Meno Sextus Empiricus Outlines of Pyrrhonism, Ch. XIV Hellenistic philosophy Selections Augustine Confessiones XI Boethius De consolatione philosophiae V Cicero De officiis, I Seneca De brevitate vitae In Translation - The above works in their entirety (unless otherwise noted) and: Aristotle Metaphysics I, XII, Politics I-III, VII-VIII Plato Protagoras, Gorgias, Crito Sextus Empiricus Outlines of Pyrrhonism Augustine De civitate Dei I.Pr., I.1, I.2, II.19, II.21, IV.4, V.9 Cicero Academica, Tusculanae Seneca Epistulae morales ad Lucilium, I Lucretius De rerum natura -
8 MTEL authors Horace Satire 1.4; Ars Poetica; Odes 1.13; 1.19; 1.24; 2.14; 3.13; 3.30; 4.1; 4.11 Catullus 1-15, 64 Cicero Pro Caelio Vergil Aeneid 2, 4, 12.869-end; Eclogues 1; Georgics 4. 281-568. Livy Ab urbe condita, 1.1-16; 1.56.5-60. Caesar Bellum Gallicum, 7.69-90; Bellum Civile 3.84-99 Pliny the younger 1.15, 6.16; 9.33; 5.19; 7.24; 9.16; 10.96-97. Ovid Metamorphoses, 1&2 NON MTEL authors Apuleius Metamorphoses 4. 28-- 35; 5. 26; 6. 9- 24. Homer Odyssey 1.1-375; 10.275-574. In Translation Caesar The Civil Wars Plautus Menaechmi Terence Adelphoe Catullus entire Propertius Book 1 Petronius entire Tacitus Annals 1-6 Vergil Eclogues, Georgics Seneca Medea Aristophanes Lysistrata