2012 Classics Day at UVA Syllabus
Classics Day Syllabus 2012
Entertainment in the Ancient World
Level I
Mythology:
History:
Culture:
Language:
Trojan War (including causes) and Returns –major characters and events, including
Aeneas. Focus on general events of: Iliad Book 23, Odyssey (entirety), and Aeneid Books
1, 3, 4 and 5.
27 B.C. –A.D. 476, with very little after the reign of Constantine; see list of Basic People
and Places in Roman History 27 B.C. –A.D. 476.
Emphasis on entertainment, leisure (including baths), weddings, funerals, holidays,
calendar
NJCL Core Novice Vocabulary (primary lists ONLY for nouns, verbs, and adjectives);
AMSCO I Lesson 79-84 for mottoes, phrases, abbreviations, and Latin in the classroom;
Level I grammar syllabus
Level IA
Mythology:
History:
Culture:
Language:
Trojan War (including causes) and Returns –major characters and events, including
Aeneas. Focus on Iliad Book 23, Odyssey (entirety), and Aeneid Books 1, 3, 4 and 5.
27 B.C. –A.D. 476, with very little after the reign of Constantine; see list of Basic People
and Places in Roman History 27 B.C. –A.D. 476
Emphasis on entertainment, leisure (including baths), weddings, funerals, holidays,
calendar
NJCL Core Novice Vocabulary, in totō; AMSCO I Lessons 79-84 for mottoes, phrases,
abbreviations, and Latin in the classroom; Level IA grammar syllabus
Level II
Mythology:
History:
Culture:
Language:
Information from Classical Mythology by Morford & Lenardon on the Trojan War
(including causes) and Returns (including Aeneas); Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey and
Vergil’s Aeneid are primary sources. Focus on: Iliad Book 23, Odyssey, and Aeneid
Books 1, 3, 4 and 5.
27 B.C. –A.D. 476, with little after the reign of Constantine; more in-depth than Level I
All topics. Focus on Entertainment including games, theater, weddings, funerals, holidays.
NJCL Bulk Novice Word List PLUS grammar-specific vocabulary not listed therein
(such as deponents and subordinating conjunctions); AMSCO II Lessons 76 & 90 for
mottoes, etc.; Level II grammar syllabus
Level 3
Mythology:
History:
Culture:
Literature:
Language:
Homer’s Iliad; Vergil’s Aeneid Bks. VII-XII
27 B.C. –A.D. 476, with little after the reign of Theodosius the Great; more in-depth than
lower levels
All topics. Focus on Entertainment including games, theater, weddings, funerals, holidays.
Life and major extant works of: all authors covered on previous syllabi; AMSCO III/IV
Lesson 39 for information on rhetorical figures; NO meter or scansion questions. Some
focus on comedies/tragedies.
All concepts covered in the first two years of most Latin textbooks with emphasis on the
Latin of Caesar, Cicero, Livy and Pliny; NO poetry or archaic forms
Level 4+
2012 Classics Day at UVA Syllabus
Mythology:
History:
Culture:
Literature:
Language:
Omnes et Omnia. Focus on feasts, games, and celebrations.
753 B.C. – A.D.476
All topics. Major focus on all aspects of Roman entertainment.
Life and works of all attested authors of Latin literature through the reign of Justinian;
poetic devices, meter, and scansion (see especially AMSCO III/IV Lessons 46 & 47). .
Some focus on comedies/tragedies.
Emphasis on the Latin of the major authors of Latin literature from Plautus through
Apuleius; famous quotations from these authors (see AMSCO III/IV Lesson 48 for a list
from the Aeneid)
Latin I
VERBS (Active Voice ONLY)
 Present Tense
o all conjugations + sum, esse
 Imperfect Tense
o all conjugations + sum, esse
 Future Tense
o 1st & 2nd conjugations + sum, esse
 Perfect Tense
o all conjugations + sum, esse
 Imperative Mood
o all conjugations in singular & plural, including abrupt imperatives
o negative imperatives
 Identification and translation of all principal parts
 Interrogative sentences with –ne, nōnne, num, quis, quid, cur, ubi, quot, quandō, &
quōmodō
NOUNS
 Nominative Case
o 1st, 2nd, & 3rd declensions, singular & plural
o subject
o predicate
 Genitive Case
o 1st, 2nd, & 3rd declensions, singular & plural
o possessive
 Dative Case
o 1st, 2nd, & 3rd declensions, singular & plural
o indirect object
 Accusative
o 1st, 2nd, & 3rd declensions, singular & plural
o direct object
o place to which
o prepositional phrases
 Ablative
o 1st, 2nd & 3rd declensions, singular & plural
o place from which and place where
o accompaniment, means, & manner
o prepositional phrases
 Vocative
2012 Classics Day at UVA Syllabus
o
1st, 2nd, & 3rd declensions, singular & plural
ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS
 1st & 2nd declension adjectives
 Adverbs from 1st & 2nd declension adjectives
PRONOUNS
 ego, tū, nōs, vōs –all cases EXCEPT genitive
Latin IA
VERBS
 All tenses, active and passive indicative
o all conjugations + irregular verbs and their compounds (sum, eō, ferō, volō)
 Imperative Mood
o all conjugations in singular & plural, including abrupt imperatives
o negative imperatives
 Present Active and Passive Infinitives
NOUNS
 1st – 3rd declensions (4th & 5th in final round only)
The following case usages are in addition to all previously covered case usages:





Genitive Case
o partitive
Dative Case
o with special verbs and adjectives
Accusative
o duration of time and extent of space
Ablative
o time expressions
o agent
Vocative
o 1st, 2nd, & 3rd declensions, singular & plural
ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS
 All declensions
 Formation of adverbs from adjectives
PRONOUNS
 complete paradigms and usage of
o personal pronouns
o demonstrative pronouns hic & ille
o relative pronoun (final round only)
Latin 2
2012 Classics Day at UVA Syllabus
VERBS
 all tenses; active, passive and deponent; indicative and subjunctive
o all conjugations + irregular verbs and their compounds (sum, eō, ferō, volō)
 imperative mood
o all conjugations in singular & plural –active and passive
o negative imperatives
 infinitives
o active and passive of present and perfect
o future active
o uses: complementary, subject of impersonal verbs, indirect statement
 participles
o present active, perfect passive, and future active
 supines, gerunds, and gerundives (final round only)
NOUNS
 all declensions
The following case usages are in addition to all previously covered case usages:


Dative Case
o double dative
Ablative
o absolute
o respect
o separation
o cause
o with special verbs
ADJECTIVES & ADVERBS
 all declensions
 formation of adverbs from adjectives
 comparative and superlative (including use of quam with each)
 ALL numbers and numerals
PRONOUNS
 complete paradigms and usage of ALL pronouns, including indefinite pronouns
SYNTAX of the SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD
 independent uses
o hortatory/jussive
 dependent uses
o cum clauses
o result
o purpose
Basic People and Places in Roman History: 27 B.C. – 476 A.D.
2012 Classics Day at UVA Syllabus
The following list is provided as a starting point for the study of Roman History and is in no way inclusive.
Students on Levels 1 and 1A can expect to do well if they learn the stories associated with the items on this
list. Students on Level 2 and above should ensure that they are well acquainted with the items on this list,
but are strongly encouraged to fill in the gaps as thoroughly as possible using the sources provided in the
syllabus.
Adrianople
Agricola
Agrippa
Agrippina the Elder
Agrippina the Younger
Alaric
Alexander Severus
Antonine Wall
Antoninus Pius
Arminius
Attila the Hun
Augustus
Aurelian
Boudicca
Burrus
Capri
Caracalla
Cassius Chaerea
Claudius
Commodus
Constantine
Cremona/Bedriacum
Dacia
Decebalus
Didius Julianus
Diocletian
Domitian
Elagabalus
Gaiseric
Gaius Caligula
Galba
Germanicus
Geta
Hadrian
Hadrian’s Wall
Huns
Jerusalem
Julia Domna
Julia the Elder (daughter of Augustus)
Julian the Apostate
L. Domitius Ahenobarbus/Nero
Livia
Lucius Verus
Macrinus
Marcellus
Marcomanni
Marcus Aurelius
Maxentius
Messalina
Milvian Bridge
Nerva
Odoacer
Otho
Palmyra
Persians
Pertinax
Praetorian Guard
Rhodes
Romulus Augustulus
Sejanus
Seneca the Younger
Septimius Severus
Shapur
Simon Bar Cochba
Suetonius Paulinus
tetrarchy
Teutoburg Forest
Theodosius the Great
Tiberius
Titus
Trajan
Valens
Valerian
Vandals
Varus
Verginius Rufus
Vespasian
Vindex
Vipsania
Visigoths
Vitellius
Zenobia
2012 Classics Day at UVA Syllabus
MAJOR SOURCES AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STUDY
N.B.
This is only a list of recommended sources and is not in any way meant to be
comprehensive. The sources listed for Level II and up are, however, those specifically
provided by the NJCL for academic contests and certamen, and the OCD is considered
the summa auctoritās for history, culture, and literature.
Mythology
Level I & IA:
Level II and up:
Any good introductory mythology text such as Edith Hamilton’s
Mythology; Classical Mythology and More by Colakis and Masello;
Robert Graves’ Greek Myths; Bullfinches Mythology, etc.
Classical Mythology by Morford and Lenardon (7th ed. or later); Ovid’s
Metamorphoses, Vergil’s Aeneid, Homer’s Odyssey; Aeschylus,
Sophocles, Euripides, Hesiod, and Homeric Hymns
Students on all levels may also wish to use any good dictionary of
mythology, such as those by Edward Tripp, Pierre Grimal, Grant &
Hazel, et al.
History
Level I & IA:
A list of basic people and places in Roman History has been provided
as a starting point; sources include AMSCO* Review Text in Latin
First Year; Chronicles of the Roman Republic; any first year Latin
textbook
Level II and up:
Students should begin by becoming thoroughly familiar with the list of
basic people and places; sources for further study include AMSCO*
Review Text in Latin Two Years and Three and Four Years; A History
of Rome by Cary & Scullard; The Romans: From Village to Empire by
Boatwright, Gargola, & Talbert; A History of the Roman People by
Ward, Heichelheim, & Yeo; Oxford Classical Dictionary 3rd or 4th ed.;
primary sources include Cicero’s In Catilīnam Orātiōnēs and Caesar’s
Commentarii De Bello Gallico for level III
Level I & IA:
Level II and up:
AMSCO; any first year Latin textbook
AMSCO second and third year; The Private Life of the Romans by
Harold Johnston; Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome by Atkins &
Atkins; Oxford Classical Dictionary 3rd or 4th ed.
Culture
Literature
Level III and up:
Language
Level I & IA:
Level II & up:
AMSCO; A History of Latin Literature by Moses Hadas: Latin
Literature: A History by Gian Biagio Conte; Oxford Companion to
Classical Literature; Oxford Classical Dictionary 3rd or 4th ed.
Any first year Latin textbook; AMSCO; Level I Vocab List and NJCL
Core Novice Vocabulary List
Any Latin textbook series; AMSCO; Allen & Greenough’s New Latin
Grammar; any good Latin-English dictionary; any good English
dictionary (for derivatives)