Reading Latin & Discovering the Ancient History and Art History of Italy

Calder Classics invites students entering 9th through 12th grades to join us for this online program in which language, art, and scholarship merge fluently in an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and interdisciplinary exchange. In this course, students review Latin grammar and read the great authors of Latin literature while also exploring the historical and cultural treasures of ancient and Renaissance Italy.

Our Approach

Each session, students and their instructors read, translate and discuss Latin literature in an interactive “salon” style environment. Given that participants join us from a variety of schools, we begin with a brief review of Latin grammar. We then analyze a selection of texts from both a grammatical and literary perspective, engaging in such topics as the significance of rhetorical devices, meter and intertextuality. At least one year of reading original (or slightly adapted) Latin texts is required. In additional sessions, students engage with art, literature, and ancient history that relate to the themes of the Latin passages we read. Guided by our scholars who are highly trained in ancient studies, mythology and art history, we take virtual tours of the treasures of Italy, a myriad of museums, monuments, palazzos and piazzas, and hear about the great works of ancient, Renaissance, and modern masters. These presentations and group discussions focus on the historical context and broader themes of classical culture, and will be integrated with the Latin curriculum. Examples of past program descriptions are shown below:

“Rome in Absentia”

Erepti nobis ius habet illa loci; “[my mind] has the right to the place stolen away from me”.

So Ovid writes from exile, when he is physically unable to return to his beloved Rome. In this strange time when we too are kept from Rome, we will study the theme of exile, and investigate how we, like Ovid, can travel to Rome in our minds. In our first week, we will focus on Ovid himself, his longing for the Eternal City, and his “imaginary trips” home. In our second week, we will look at other authors who provide vivid descriptions of the city in order to take our own “imaginary trips”. To supplement these literary descriptions, we will also study the archaeological remains of the various sites in the city that feature in our readings, and theorize how they might have looked in antiquity.

“Constructing Memory”

Exegi monumentum aere perennius; “I have finished a monument more lasting than bronze”.

Horace suggests in Ode 3.30 that his oeuvre is a greater accomplishment than a victory in war. How do art and literature shape our understanding of history? What role do artists (authors, poets, painters, sculptors) play in constructing memory? What aspects of their subjects do they include? What do they leave out? In this course we explore the idea of memory as we delve into Latin readings by Horace, Catullus, Vergil, Ovid, and Lucretius. We also learn about the art of the Italian Renaissance as a resource to explore further the ways in which art can be used to immortalize people and events and how artists play a role in creating memory. In our exploration of Italian Renaissance art, we focus on the city of Florence and discuss great art patrons such as the Medici family, and famous artists including Donatello, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael. 

“Raise a Toast to Wining and Dining”

Nunc est bibendum; “Now is the time for drinking”.

Ab ovo usque ad mala, “from the egg to the apples”…

These are just two of the frequently quoted expressions about drinking and eating from Latin poetry that have been adapted for modern usage.  Apart from catchy phrases, Roman writers revealed much about the social rituals, crowd psychology, and political attachments of their times in odes, satires, and epic poems associated with the themes of food and wine. In this course we’ll read excerpts from a variety of authors that use wining and dining as the backdrop to learn about the customs of celebrations and family gatherings, how guests should and shouldn’t behave, what they might bring to a dinner party and what they shouldn’t take home. We’ll also explore the mythological stories and gods associated with our theme both in prose and poetry as well as in masterpieces of art by such Renaissance painters and sculptors as Caravaggio, Botticelli and Michelangelo.

Faculty

Dates & Fees

Session 1: June 14-25, 2021

Session 2: July 5-16, 2021

Session 3: July 19-30, 2021

Session 4: August 2-13, 2021

Time: 2 1/2 hours each weekday. No sessions on weekends.

Total Class Time: 25 hours.

Fees: $1200 for this 25-hour course.

Available Sessions listed above are subject to a minimum of 5 students enrolled per session.

The tuition includes instruction and course materials (certain additional books may need to be purchased).

Testimonials - Calder Classics Online

I cannot thank Calder Classics enough for a splendid month this summer. I took two Reading Latin courses: Constructing Memory and Raise a Toast to Wining and Dining. They each offered something different but were equally fascinating. Even reading some of the same authors (Vergil, Catullus, Horace, Ovid) and looking at the same artists (Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Vasari) brought new insights the second time around, since the theme of each class was well defined yet broad. The online format worked well, I thought--obviously, we’d all rather be in Florence, but in some ways meeting remotely increased the possibilities of what we could read and see. Actually, my art history teacher really was in Florence, and made a tremendous effort to immerse us in the culture, knowledge, and landscape around her. All of the teachers were more than willing to stay late or come early to class to make sure we, the students, felt fully confident about our translations and interpretations of the material at hand. I’ve been given a wonderful toolkit of terminology, literary, artistic, and historical; directions for dissecting relevant words, images, and ideas; and pure enthusiasm for reaching into corners of my mind and of the world I never knew existed. From these courses, I have learned how to critically engage with nonverbal as well as verbal information, and to try and find each within the other. So, I think I finally have an answer to the age-old question as to which is superior, art or literature: both!

My Calder Classics experience was amazing, my teacher was super nice and very helpful! I learned a lot about Augustan Rome and read many interesting authors. Although I wish we had been able to actually go to Rome, I really enjoyed my experience!

Calder Classics Rome in Absentia provided an informative and fun virtual experience where I was able to study Latin and pretend to travel to Rome right from my bedroom.

Absolutely wonderful. Calder makes the best poets from the Latin Golden Age incredibly accessible. Here you mingle with them and glimpses through their eyes.

I liked the diversity. Usually classics courses focus on one author, one work-- focusing on one theme is a great change of flavor.

I really enjoyed the Art History portion of the course which I have never taken before. It was really valuable to have a teacher who is actually in Florence and could (virtually) take us to certain places. It made not being in Italy slightly better. Despite all the pandemic obstacles in the way, Calder Classics was able to adapt and deliver an incredible online program that taught me so much!

This class was a great way to help me feel confident when reading and translating Latin.

Classes are very interactive and fun, great way to enjoy the summer with some people while learning at the same time!

I think that Calder Classics is a great program for over the summer. I was clearly learning and improving my Latin, but I had so much fun both with the reading materials and the art history classes we paired with our reading, that it never really felt like a class, it was just a fun way to learn more about the Latin language and surrounding culture!

Throughout my weeks with Calder Classics, I was able to experience a wide variety of classics related topics in an engaging and interesting way. The teachers and materials were amazing and definitely furthered my knowledge and interest in the classics moving forward.

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