All MA students are expected to complete the following readings lists. Beginning in Fall 2021Ìýit will be mandatory to complete these lists as a required component of the MA program. Students entering the program in FA 2021Ìýwill be required to complete the readings, and will be required to pass written exams based on the material as part of the program.Ìý
ÎÛÎÛ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵ MA Reading List
Greek
- Homer
- ±õ±ô¾±²¹»åÌý1, 16, 22, 24
- °¿»å²â²õ²õ±ð²âÌý1, 9, 11, 24
- Hymn to Demeter ²¹²Ô»åÌýHymn to Apollo
- Sophocles
- AntigoneÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýTrachiniae
- Plato
- Symposium ²¹²Ô»åÌýPhaedrusÌý
Latin
- Vergil
- Eclogues: 1, 6
- GeorgicsÌý4
- Aeneid: 1, 4, 6, 12
- Ovid
- Amores: 1
- Ars Amatoria: 1
- Metamorphoses: 1, 7, 10, 13
- Cicero
- In Catilinam 1 and 2
- pro Milone
- Philippics 2
Ìý
Note: MA (non-thesis) students who enter the program in the Accelerated Track may, in consultation with the MA program advisor, request to be tested only on Homer ²¹²Ô»åÌýPlato, Vergil ²¹²Ô»åÌýCicero.
In Translation (texts are to be read in the Loeb, Penguin, and/or Oxford World Classics editions)
1-23 reflect the authors and texts which are to be read for the Greek Literature portion of the test. 24-44 reflect the authors and texts which are to be read for the Roman Literature portion of the test.
- Aeschylus: Oresteia, Persians
- Apollonius: Argonautica
- Aristophanes: Lysistrata, Frogs, Clouds
- Aristotle: Poetics, Rhetoric, Nicomachean Ethics 1
- Callimachus: Hymn to Pallas, Hymn to Delos, Aetia
- Demosthenes: Or. 9 (Third Philippic), On the Crown
- Euripides:ÌýHippolytus, Medea, Alcestis, Cyclops
- Herodotus: all
- Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days
- Homer: Iliad, Odyssey, Homeric HymnsÌýto Apollo, Demeter, Aphrodite
- Isocrates: Panegyricus, Antidosis
- Longus: Daphnis and Chloe
- Lucian: Vera Historia, De Historia Scribenda
- Lyric: All
- Lysias: On the Murder of Eratosthenes
- Menander: Dyscolus
- Pindar: Olympian 1, 6, 7, 14; Pythian 1, 2, 4, 6, 8; Nemean 7
- Plato: Phaedrus, Symposium, Republic,Apology, Phaedo, Republic
- Plutarch: Life of Alexander and Life of Caesar
- Sophocles: all
- Theocritus: all
- Thucydides: all
- Xenophon: Hellenica, Anabasis, Apology
- Apuleius: Metamorphoses
- Augustine: Confessions
- Caesar: Bellum Civile and Bellum Gallicum
- Catullus: all
- Cicero: Pro Archia; Pro Caelio; Philippic 2,In Catilinam, De Oratore, De Republica.
- Horace: all Odes, Satires andArs Poetica
- Juvenal: all
- Livy: Books 1-5, 21-30
- Lucan: all
- Lucretius: all
- Ovid: Amores 1, Ars Amatoria, Remedia Amoris, Metamorphoses, Fasti
- Petronius: all
- Plautus: Menaechmi, Aulularia, Pseudolus
- Propertius: all
- Quintilian: Book 10
- Sallust: Bellum Catilinae
- Seneca: Thyestes, Medea, Phaedra.
- Statius: Thebaid all.
- Tacitus: Annals all, Histories 1-2
- Terence: Adelphoe, Heautontimoroumenos, Phormio
- Virgil: all
General Scholarship
Students will read the relevant portions of the following texts in order to contextualize their readings of the primary sources:
- Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Volume 1, Greek Literature. Edited by P. Easterling and BMW. Knox. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
- Cambridge History of Classical Literature volume 2, Latin Literature. Edited byÌýE. J. Kenney,ÌýW. V. Clausen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982.
- Dover, K. J., ed. Ancient Greek Literature, 2nd ed, with contributions by M.L. West, J. Griffin, E.L. Bowie. Oxford University Press, 1997.
- Conte, G. B. Latin Literature. A History. Translated by Joseph B. Solodow. Revised by Don Fowler and Glenn W. Most. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994.
MA Examinations
Greek and Latin Translation and LiteratureÌýExams
The Greek and Latin Exams will each take 3.5Ìýhours to complete. Students will translate multiple passages into clear and precise English. There will be a degree of choice over which passages a student may translate. For the literature portion of the exam students will answer quote identifications ²¹²Ô»åÌýthree essays on the primary sources (there will be choice). The answers should be broadly conceived and take into account the relevant information from the secondary readings. It is advisable that students prepare for the exam according to generic developments of Greek and Latin literature, in addition to exhibiting an awareness of cultural and historical contexts of the primary sources. Specific examples from the primary sources should be cited and discussed in the answers. In addition to the essay questions there will be 10 identification passages, chosen from the primary sources. Students will Identify the author, the text and write a short response contextualizing the text and discussing its broader significance in terms of Greek and Latin literary history.
Tests will be given on the second Friday of September, January, and May each academic year. Students will relay to the graduate advisor which test they are planning to take and the advisor will set each test. Each test will be three hours in length and will be taken pass/fail. If a student fails a test, then the student must retake the test within 8 weeks. Under exceptional circumstances students can request another date of examination.​ All tests are double graded​.
Note: MA (non-thesis) students who enter the program in the Accelerated Track may, in consultation with the MA program advisor, request to be tested only on Homer ²¹²Ô»åÌýPlato, VergilÌýand Cicero. They will be expected to write the Greek and Latin Literature Exam.