GRST 345 - Latin Biography

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

Two large collections of Latin imperial biographies survive from antiquity: Suetonius’s Lives of the Caesars and the late ancient Historia Augusta. Through a close reading of a text from each of these corpora, this course explores imperial biography as a genre of Latin literature. Participants will consider how these authors portrayed their imperial subjects, as well as the emperors’ personalities, families, achievements, shortcomings, and, last but not least, the intrigues that surrounded their reigns. In addition to emphasizing accurate reading and translation skills, we will also pay special attention to the rhetorical strategies, techniques, and themes these authors employed in their work. Carl Rice.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS