Format: the exam will consist of 3 sections, i.e. (1) matching (names and terms); (2) commentaries on passages selected from your reading; and (3) an essay question.
Part I, matching: you will be asked to match items listed with a brief description of them
[ca. 35% of total exam points]
items for matching:
Nero (dies 68 CE)
Domitian (dies 96 CE)
nuda potestas
Spartoi
Laius
Oedipus
Jocasta
Polynices
Eteocles
Antigone
Ismene
Adrastus
Argia
Coroebus
Maeon
Tydeus
Amphiaraus
Tisiphone
Bacchus
Pietas
Creon
Menoeceus
devotio
Achilles
Chiron
Thetis
Deidamia
"First Triumvirate"
Julius Caesar (dies 44 BCE)
Julia
Rubicon
Pharsalus (48 BCE)
Cato the Younger
Marcia
Magnus/Pompey
hyperbole
sententia
panegyric
Thessaly
Erichtho
Cornelia
Ptolemy
Stoicism
Troy
Cleopatra
Septimius
Thebaid
Achilleid
Civil War
Part II, commentary: you will be asked to comment on selected passages with a carefully organized short answer/essay. You will be asked to do the following:
(1) identify the author;
(2) identify the epic from which the passage is taken;
(3) identify the speaker(s) of the passage (this may be the narrator/Statius/Lucan);
(4) briefly describe the specific context in which the passage occurs;
(5) write a carefully organized paragraph or two commenting on the larger significance of the passage in light of the epic’s main themes, ideas, conventions, style, its characters, its historical, cultural or literary significance, etc.
You may choose 4 of 6 passages [ca. 40% of total exam points]
Part III, essay: you will be asked to write a thoughtful and coherent essay based on one of the two following topics (i.e. you will be given just one question, and so you should prepare both topics):
(1) What are the main themes of Statius's Thebaid? Although Statius's epic is set in mythical Thebes, how does he make the poem's narrative and its main themes relevant for a Roman audience living in his own day?
(2)
In what ways is Lucan's epic very different from Vergil's Aeneid? How can Lucan's Civil War in some respects be described as an "anti-Aeneid"? Is there a thematic point to all the violence and gore in Lucan?
[ca. 25% of total exam points]