Latin 521
Study Guide for Midterm Examination
October 1, 2023
N.B.: the exam is Thursday, October 12
Part I (identifications): you will be asked to identify a specified number of terms with an informative short answer explaining the item’s relevance/significance for this course. [Part I = ca. 15% of total exam points]
The items are likely to come from this list:
| Satyricōn Neronian (literary) themes hapax legomenon elegantiae arbiter Priapus Odysseus/Ulysses prosimetrum cacophony (in the Cena) Graeca urbs Encolpius Fortunata Trimalchio freedmen (in the Cena) sermo plebeius Codex Traguriensis |
social death |
ardens et concitatus et sententiis clarissimus |
Part II: translation of prepared passages, i.e. Petronius, Satyricon 26.7-78.8 (in toto) and the selections of Lucan in Braund. There will be some morphological & syntactic identifications. [Part II = ca. 75% of total exam points]
Part III: brief commentary on Latin passage(s); you will be asked to comment on (a) selected passage(s) in Latin with a carefully organized short answer. [Part III = ca. 10% of total exam points] The answer format is as follows:
(1) identify the author and work;
(2) identify the speaker(s) of the passage (i.e. character(s) who speak and/or the work’s narrator);
(3) briefly describe the context in which the passage occurs;
(4) write a carefully organized short answer commenting on the significance of the passage in light of (e.g.) the work’s themes, ideas, style, its characters, its (socio-)historical or literary significance, literary, poetic and/or rhetorical qualities (et al.).