Intermediate Extensive Reading: Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri Chapters 29-51*

This course is for those who would like a guided introduction, or just some practice, reading documentary texts in Latin. While we will focus on the texts themselves, we will cover some fundamental concepts and conventions of epigraphy and papyrology. Roughly half of the class sessions will be devoted to inscriptions and half to papyri. We will focus on texts that reveal elements of life in the Roman world: funerary inscriptions, graffiti, letters, religious dedications, and a surprisingly illuminating contract for the sale of an enslaved youth. Like this contract, a number of the texts pertain to enslavers, enslaved persons, and relationships of power and exploitation, including sexual exploitation and violence, between them. I will flag any such texts in advance and am happy to provide alternative readings for them on request.

Thursdays 7:00-8:00 PM EST (This class will NOT meet Thursday April 14)

8 sessions beginning March 31, 2022