CL311
Schedule for Unit 6
Inns, Lodging and Shops; Final Project
March 2-4, 9-11, 2004
Today we conclude our reading of Pliny's letter to Gallus about his Laurentine villa, and then shift our focus to the other kind of inhabitation utilized by members of the Roman world - apartments (insulae) in neighborhoods (vici). We will look at a few apartment plans, read the Martial and Cicero passages at the end of Unit 5 on "Houses and Apartments," and read two new passages (in English, in class) from Juvenal and Martial on urban life. We will conclude our discussion today with both theoretical and practical examinations of epigraphic evidence, as outlined by Bodel and exemplified by the graffiti from Pompeii. We will also look briefly at one image of a graffito (an election notice for Cn. Helvius Sabinus, running for aedile) and one specific on-line database: the Vindolanda tablets from the area around Hadrian's Wall in northern England (we'll look at the same letter depicted on p.55 in Bodel's book, a letter from Niger and Brocchus to Cerialis).
March 2-4
Unit 6, "Inns, Lodging and Shops": We devote next week to the places Pompeiians went to relax, dine, seek sexual companionship and sleep; the graffiti they left on the walls of such establishments; and the prevailing attitudes towards women. On Tuesday, we will focus on the copa, the tavern-girl/hostess who appears in the poem attributed to Vergil, and the perceptions of women. Please readPlease also be prepared to translate a small portion of the Copa: lines 1-7 and 29-38 (17 lines total). I've assembled a new text linked from the Unit that combines the Latin opening and closing with an English translation of the remainder. On Thursday, we will examine some examples of wall graffiti from Pompeii (or, in one case, from Aesernia) and discuss Bodel's comments on vernacular Latin, onomastics and prosopography. For Thursday please read
Please also prepare a 2-3p. paper for Thursday in which you apply Bodel's arguments to the graffiti in this unit. Bodel examines how local communities varied their use and display of Latin, and what particular types of analysis (prosopographic, onomastic, dialectal) the epigrapher must bring to bear on different bodies of evidence. As you read the nine graffiti, ask yourself what types of issues confront the epigrapher (including the visual, even though we have no images available of the nine texts) and what mechanisms the epigrapher must employ to assess the texts fully.
March 9-11
Unit 7, "Political Campaigns and Endorsements: I will update this section as we get closer to this week, the last one before break. On Tuesday the 9th we will begin this Unit, which will bring us to the halfway point in the semester and in the materials we will examine. During this week you will need to prepare a topic statement (no longer than one page) in which you indicate the general direction your research will take. I strongly advise that you skim ahead to the units on Graffiti, Public Buildlings, Baths, Entertainment: Arena, Entertainment: Theater, and the Destruction of Pompeii by Mt. Vesuvius. When we meet again after break, on Tuesday, March 23rd, you will also present briefly the Latin texts you intend to translate and analyze (keeping in mind the larger context of a problem you wish to explore). We will be reading fewer of the texts in each Unit so that there remain plenty for you to explore in your projects. The schedule of mileposts for the project follow:
| Milepost | Due date |
| Topic statement (a general statement of the project) | Thursday, March 11 |
| Identification of texts to translate and analyze | Tuesday, March 23 |
| Thesis statement (the problem you will research and analyze) | Tuesday, March 30 |
| Bibliography | Tuesday, March 30 |
| Rough draft | Thursday, April 15 |
| Presentation | April 22, 27, 29, May 4 |
| Final draft | Friday, May 7, noon |
On Tuesday the 23rd I will be returning from a conference at Bard College, and may not reach campus until 2.30. Please convene at 2.10 and spend the first twenty minutes discussing your projects. You need not worry about overlapping and, though your final written work will be an independent project, you may find opportunities for collaboration in your research and in-class presentations of texts and issues.