Format: the exam (15% of the course grade) will consist of 3 sections:
(1) matching (names, terms)
(2) commentaries on passages selected from your reading of Roman authors since Exam #2
(3) essay
Part I, matching [ca. 35% of total exam points]. You will be asked to match items listed with a brief description of them.
possible items for the matching section:
Seneca the Younger
Stoicism
Tantalus
Atreus
Thyestes
Medea
Colchis
Jason
Hecuba
Polyxena
Andromache
Astyanax
Ulysses
Mt. Vesuvius
Pompeii
Pliny the Younger
Pliny the Elder
insula
Umbricius
Vulcan
Circus Maximus
Lucretius
Juvenal
Apuleius
Milesian Tale
Lucius
Pamphile
Photis
Festival of Laughter
Cupid & Psyche
Fortuna
Atargatis
Isis
Isis-Fortuna
aretology
Osiris
mystery religion
Phaedrus
Tiberius
Cremutius Cordus
Sejanus
Augustus
Aesop/Aesopica
Part II: Passages for Commentary [ca. 35% of total exam points]. You will be given passages from a Roman literary work we have read since Exam #2*** and asked to provide the following:
(1) identify the author;
(2) identify the title of the work from which the passage is taken;
(3) identify the speaker(s) of the passage (i.e. character(s) if relevant, or the author);
(4) briefly describe the context in which the passage occurs;
(5) write a carefully organized paragraph commenting on the broader significance of the passage in light of our course themes (horror, terror, violence, and trauma) and the work’s particular treatment of any of these themes (this is the most important part of your commentary and the majority of commentary points fall here)
***works we have read from which passages will be taken:
Seneca, Thyestes
Seneca, Medea
Seneca, Trojan Women
Seneca, Natural Questions (6.1-4, 6. 27-32)
Pliny, Letters (6.16, 6.20)
Juvenal, Satire 3
Apuleius, The Golden Ass
Phaedrus, Fables (selections from Books 1-5)
Part III, essay. [ca. 30% of total exam points]. You will be asked to write a thoughful and coherent essay based on the following topic:
Focusing on works we have read since Examination #2, discuss the real or potential role of fiction in remediating horror, terror, violence, and trauma in our lives. Examples of the kind of questions you could address in approaching this topic: (1) can reading fiction help remediate the trauma of those who have suffered horror, violence, and terror and/or possibly help prepare readers for stressful events in their own lives? (2) can HTVT-heavy fiction help create empathy, understanding of and respect for others, and promote humane behavior in readers? Be sure to cite specific examples from specific works assigned in this class to support your ideas.