Beginning Ancient Greek

(This subject is not normally available to candidates with a qualification in ancient Greek above GCSE-level or equivalent)

The course will allow takers to read simple, if probably adapted, prose texts. Candidates will be required to show knowledge of some of the main grammatical structures of ancient Greek and of a small basic vocabulary. The paper will consist of prepared and unprepared prose translations, with grammatical questions on the prepared texts.

 

Course book: (parts of) John Taylor: Greek to GCSE (Bristol Classical Press, 2003), in addition to extra material supplied in classes.

 

Beginning Latin

(This subject is not normally available to candidates with a qualification in Latin above GCSE-level or equivalent)

 

The course will allow takers to read simple, if probably adapted, prose texts. Candidates will be required to show knowledge of some of the main grammatical structures of Latin and of a small basic vocabulary. The paper will consist of prepared and unprepared prose translations, with grammatical questions on the prepared texts.

 

Course book: John Taylor, Essential GCSE Latin (Bristol Classical Press, 2006), in addition to extra material supplied in classes.

 

Intermediate Ancient Greek

(This subject is not normally available to candidates with a qualification in ancient Greek above AS-level or equivalent)

Candidates will be required to show an intermediate level knowledge of Greek grammar and vocabulary (including all syntax and morphology, as laid out in Abbot and Mansfield, Primer of Greek Accidence).

 

 The set texts for the course are: Xenophon, Hellenica I (Oxford Classical Text) and Lysias I (Oxford Classical Text). The paper will consist of a passage of unseen prose translation, three further passages for translation from the two prescribed texts, and grammatical questions on the prescribed texts.

 

Useful editions with commentaries:

Xenophon, Hellenika I.II.3.10, ed. P. Krentz (Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1989);

Lysias: Selected Speeches, ed. C. Carey (Cambridge: CUP, 1989).

 

Intermediate Latin

(This subject is not normally available to candidates with a qualification in Latin above AS-level or equivalent)

Candidates will be required to show an intermediate level knowledge of Latin grammar and vocabulary (including all syntax and morphology, as laid out in Kennedy’s Revised Latin Primer).

 

The set texts for the course are: Cicero, letters in D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Cicero: Select Letters (Cambridge, 1980), nos 9, 17, 23, 27, 39, 42-3, 45; Tacitus, Agricola (Oxford Classical Text); Pliny, letters in A. N. Sherwin-White, Fifty Letters of Pliny, 2nd edn (Oxford, 1969), nos 25, 29.

 

The paper will consist of a passage of unseen prose translation, three further passages for translation from the prescribed texts, and grammatical questions on the prescribed texts.

 

Useful editions with commentaries:

Cicero: Select Letters, ed. D. R. Shackleton Bailey (Cambridge: CUP, 1980);

Cornelii Taciti, De Vita Agricolae, eds R. M. Ogilvie and I. Richmond (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967);

Fifty Letters of Pliny, ed. A. N. Sherwin-White, 2nd edn (Oxford: OUP, 1969).

 

These language courses will be taught by Faculty classes, for three hours per week during Michaelmas and Hilary Terms.

 

Those taking a Beginning Course are expected to attend a Summer School in the summer before starting the Course (for details see http://www.jact.org/events/summerschools.htm). Financial support is often available to help with the cost of these courses.

 

Upcoming first-years will have been written to by the History Faculty in March, so that they can choose a language paper by the start of Trinity Term.