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Classical Latin Language and Cultures: Intermediate - LFA00218L

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  • Department: Language and Linguistic Science
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: F
  • Academic year of delivery: 2023-24
    • See module specification for other years: 2024-25

Module summary

This module allows students to gain a thorough grounding in all major complex sentence constructions used in Latin literature. By the end of the course, they will be able to translate a range of primary source material in both prose and poetic form. Students will also be introduced to elements of Roman culture in order to develop an understanding of the society in which such literature was produced.

Related modules

Classical Latin Language and Cultures: Lower Intermediate or equivalent

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 1 2023-24
B Semester 2 2023-24

Module aims

This module will steadily build the knowledge, skills, and strategies necessary to examine and interpret a range of Classical Latin documents over the course of a semester, and develop a comprehensive knowledge of Latin translation skills at intermediate level.

Students will engage, individually and in groups, in comprehension activities and tasks emphasising three core research skills:

  1. reception activities (reading comprehension);

  2. production activities (prose composition);

  3. analytical activities (cultural context & literary style).

The mediums of instruction are English and Latin.

Module learning outcomes

  • The ability to recognise and employ a broad range of Latin vocabulary from across different literary genres, as well as a sophisticated appreciation of Latin morphology and the historical relationship between the Latin and English languages.

  • The ability to understand and deploy an advanced range of complex sentence constructions, in order to engage with and interpret a range of Latin source material in both prose and poetic form.

  • The ability to compose sentences from English into Latin that incorporate an enhanced range of complex syntactical constructions, in order to support and develop grammatical learning.

  • A sophisticated understanding of the Roman world and its literature, which enables the student to critically evaluate a range of source material in relation to the politics and culture of the society in which it was created.

Module content

Translation Passages

This module aims to build translation confidence through exposure to a range of Latin texts, which will include:

· Modern adaptations of Classical Latin texts that allow students to practice specific grammatical constructions

· Selections of Classical Latin prose from authors such as Cicero, Pliny and Suetonius

· Selections of Classical Latin poetry from authors such Horace, Lucan and Ovid

Grammar topics at Intermediate Level:

  • Review of subjunctive constructions covered at Lower Intermediate Level

  • Cum clauses

  • The use of the relative pronoun with the subjunctive

  • Impersonal verbs, plus the impersonal passive

  • Verbs of Fearing

  • Time and Place

  • Direct and Indirect Questions

  • Constructions using quominus and quin

Seminars will include a range of different exercises including both translation (Latin to English) and prose composition (English to Latin) to help explain and build grammatical knowledge, with plenty of opportunities for revision as the semester progresses.

Latin Culture: The Darker Side of Rome (Malice, Magic, Treachery and Deceit)

Whilst many leaders of Rome proclaimed that her empire brought peace, prosperity, and civilisation to its inhabitants, surviving sources also reveal a much darker and sinister side to the city concealed beneath her glimmering façade of marble and gold. Through integrating archaeological, historical, and literary evidence, this module will explore the deadlier side of Roman society from the mechanisms of the slave trade that underpinned her empire, to murder trials, imperial coups, and the witches with their evil spells, who haunted Rome’s graveyards.

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Closed/in-person Exam (Centrally scheduled) 60
Essay/coursework 40

Special assessment rules

None

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Closed/in-person Exam (Centrally scheduled) 60
Essay/coursework 40

Module feedback

Weekly feedback on translations. Feedback on exams and essays as per University regulations.

Indicative reading

Course Textbook:

This may change from year to year, so please double check with your tutor before purchasing any books.

You will also need to have access to a Latin dictionary. Should you wish to purchase a paper dictionary, the following works are recommended for this course:

Collins Latin Dictionary and Grammar 2nd ed. (Glasgow: Collins, 2016)

C.T. Lewis, An Elementary Latin Dictionary (Oxford: OUP, 1963)

D.P. Simpson, Cassell’s Standard Latin Dictionary: Latin/English, English/Latin (London: John Wiley & Sons, 1959; rev. ed. 1977)

If you do decide to purchase a copy of Cassell’s, second-hand copies are available via online retailers; however, please make sure that you buy the full-length version (around 890 pages) rather than the abbreviated version, which, quite frankly, is a waste of money.

Please note that there is no need to buy a dictionary, as you can access a number of academic Latin dictionaries online for free. One particularly useful volume is:

· Lewis and Short, A Latin Dictionary (Oxford: OUP, 1879; reissued 1963)

This work is now available via: http://logeion.uchicago.edu

Preliminary Reading for: The Darker Side of Rome (Malice, Magic, Treachery and Deceit)

R.A. Bauman, Crime and Punishment in Ancient Rome (New York: Routledge, 1996)

D. Frankfurter (ed.), Guide to the Study of Ancient Magic (Boston: BRILL, 2019)

P. Hunt, Ancient Greek and Roman Slavery (Newark: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017)

W. Riess, and G. Fagan (eds.), The Topography of Violence in the Greco-Roman World (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2016)


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University constantly explores ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary. In some instances it may be appropriate for the University to notify and consult with affected students about module changes in accordance with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.