19-20 CL1534: Roman Literature of the Empire

An introductory course studying Roman literature produced under the Julio-Claudian emperors, with specific considerations of issues such as the impact of the Principate and civil war on literature; how to write history after Augustus; whether we should take love poetry seriously; the Roman theatre of cruelty; and whether the Romans invented the novel. Authors to be considered are Valerius Maximus, Ovid, Seneca the younger, Petronius and Lucan, with reference to select works in translation. If you can think of anything that might be useful to have on this Moodle page, please let LG know.