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Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news-out.cwix.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!firehose.mindspring.com!news.mindspring.com!alderson From: alderson@netcom2.netcom.com (Richard M. Alderson III) Newsgroups: humanities.classics,humanities.answers,news.answers Subject: Classical Studies (humanities.classics) FAQ Followup-To: humanities.classics Date: 03 Aug 2000 21:25:20 GMT Organization: NETCOM On-line services Lines: 1600 Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Expires: Sun, 31 Dec 2028 23:59:59 GMT Message-ID: <ALDERSON.00Aug3142520@netcom2.netcom.com> Reply-To: classics-faq@xkl.com NNTP-Posting-Host: c7.b7.09.66 X-Server-Date: 3 Aug 2000 21:25:29 GMT Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu humanities.classics:15458 humanities.answers:381 news.answers:188967 Archive-name: classics-faq Maintained-by: classics-faq@xkl.com Supersedes: <ALDERSON.00Feb2155730@netcom2.netcom.com> Version: $Revision: 3.1-FINAL $ [ Maintainer's note: It has been quite a while since I could devote any time at all to the FAQ for humanities.classics, ne'e sci.classics. Now that Netcom is going the way of all flesh, I am going to step aside as the maintainer, and offer it to anyone with the fortitude to take it beyond the 20th Century CE. Should you think you are interested in taking it on, reply to this posting and I will introduce you to the official *.answers FAQ maintainers, without whose approval you will not be able to post new and exciting versions of the FAQ. Thank you all for your contributions over the years: The original readers of sci.classics, the newer coterie in humanities.classics, and all those who stopped by with a request for a translation or an explanation, who very often engendered long, erudite discussions of Classical topics. This has been one of the best, most on-topic newsgroups in all of Usenet for all of its existence. Richard M. Alderson, III 3 August 2000 ] Changes in this Issue: NONE This is the list of frequently asked questions (and their answers) for the newsgroup humanities.classics. There are bibliographies for novice and knowledgable students of the classics, glossaries and compendia of mythological characters. Where possible, pointers to existing information (such as books, magazine articles, and ftp sites) are included here, rather than rehashing that information again. If you haven't already done so, now is as good a time as any to read the guide to Net etiquette which is posted to news.announce.newusers regularly. You should be familiar with acronyms like FAQ, FTP and IMHO, as well as know about smileys, followups and when to reply by email to postings. The FAQ is currently posted to humanities.classics, humanities.answers, and news.answers the first of every month. You can retrieve the latest copy of this FAQ via anonymous FTP from rtfm.mit.edu as the file /pub/faqs/classics-faq Use ASCII mode when transferring. In origin, this FAQ was written mostly by readers of sci.classics. Credits appear at the end. Comments and indications of doubt are enclosed in []s in the text. Each section begins with forty dashes ("-") on a line of their own, then the section number. This should make searching for a specific section easy. Contributions, comments and changes should be directed to the editorial board, via classics-faq@xkl.com ---------------------------------------- List of Answers 0 What Is Classics? 1 General Questions 1.1 How should I pronounce Greek and Latin? 1.2 How should I write Greek and Latin in the newsgroup? 1.3 What are the best translations of ...? 1.4 Who was ...? 1.5 What are the famous classical authors? 1.6 How do I translate ...? 1.7 On what day did the week start in Roman times? 2 Bibliographies 2.1 Introductory Bibliography 2.2 Advanced Bibliography 2.3 Specialist Bibliography 2.4 Introductory Latin 2.4.1 Classical 2.4.2 Medieval 2.4.3 Specialised 2.5 Advanced Latin 2.5.1 Mediaeval Latin palaeography 2.6 Introductory Greek 2.7 Advanced Greek 2.8 Linguistics for Classicists 3 Mythological Deities 4 Timeline 5 Glossary 6 Computer Readable Materials 7 Radio Programming 8 Bookstores for Classicists 9 On-Line Resources for Classicists 10 Secondary School Programs in Greek ---------------------------------------- 0 What Is Classics? Good question. As used in academia, "Classics" or "Classical Studies" (with a capital C) or the adjective "classical" refer to the discipline described below, rather than to good books from any period. The discipline of Classics is the study of Greek and Roman civilization, from Homer to Constantine, but including study of the direct antecedents of Greece and Rome in the prehistoric period of southern Europe and their descendants in the Middle Ages. This encompasses both the Greek and Latin languages and their literature, including poetry, drama, history, philosophy, rhetoric, religion and political theory, as well as art, architecture, and archaeology. Further, discussion of the relevant cultural milieus brings in Persia, the Middle East, Egypt, and early Europe. Precise chronological boundaries are difficult to establish, but the most common feature is the relevance of the period or material to Greek and/or Latin texts. An increasing number of classicists are devoting their energies to later Latin texts, including neo-Latin (relatively modern) original works, and to prehistory or linguistics, especially in archaeology. Discussions of the prehistory of the Greek and Latin languages are encouraged, as well. This requires that some discussion of related languages such as Sanskrit and Hittite be allowed. When taught with an emphasis on Greek and Latin, this is often called Classical Linguistics. Note on Dates: All dates in this FAQ are given using BCE and CE rather than BC and AD. Michael Covington notes: Some people take the use of BCE and CE in place of BC and AD as an anti-Christian gambit. I don't take it that way; Jesus wasn't born in exactly 1 A.D., and saying BCE and CE makes it clear we are using the conventional year-numbering rather than counting years from the actual birth of Christ. ---------------------------------------- 1 Questions And Answers Commonly asked questions appear here: ---------------------------------------- 1.1 How should I pronounce... 1.1.1 Ancient Greek? Technical Answer: Ancient Greek had dialects and regional inflections, so asking how it was pronounced is like asking how English is pronounced today. The original inhabitants of Greece were not Greek-speakers, but spoke a lost non-Indo- European language (traces remain in some place-names). People who spoke what we call the Greek language migrated into the Balkan peninsula during the Aegean bronze age, ~2200BCE. From about 1200BCE to 850 BCE, there were several migrations of Dorians, themselves Greek speakers, into the Peloponese, following the demise of the Mycenaean realm. There were at least five main dialects of Greek spoken during this time: Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadian, Doric, and North-West Greek. Prior to the demise of Mycenae, there seems to have been a North/South split in Greek dialects, with Arcado-Cypriot and Attic-Ionic descending from South Greek, and Doric and Aeolic from North Greek. This accords better with the early inscriptions than the East/West division usually noted in older textbooks on the basis of post-Mycenaean data only. Since the 19th Century, much of the pronunciation of the Attic dialect has been well described, based on rigorous principles applied to close readings of the descriptions of ancient grammarians. The pronunciation of the consonants has been accepted for more than a century; the vowels have been well-known for more than 50 years; and with the advances of modern linguistics in such areas as accentology we now have a very good idea of how the accent system worked. Practical Answer: It depends on who you ask. Most Europeans and Americans use what's called the "Erasmian" pronunciation, which is nothing like modern Greek. Native speakers of Modern Greek use the Modern Greek pronunciation. Others use less common systems. We will describe two pronunciations, the Erasmian (traditional in most European and American schools) and the linguistic. We will assume an educated southern American accent in our examples, as well as using the ASCII version of the International Phonetic Alphabet (as devised by Evan Kirshenbaum, and available at http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Evan_Kirshenbaum/IPA/). Letter Erasmian Linguistic IPA Example IPA Example a'lpha a father a father be~ta b baker b baker ga'mma g girl g girl de'lta d dog d dog e` psi'lon E get e gait (without the i-offglide) ze~ta z zoo zd buzzed e~ta e: gate E: head (longer than in "get") the~ta T thin th tin (that is, aspirated as in English) io'ta i beet i beet ka'ppa k scat k scat (that is, unaspirated) la'mbda l list l list mu~ m mom m mom nu~ n not n not o` mi'kron O,o caught, o coat (without the u-offglide) coat ksi~ ks picks ks picks pi~ p spat p spat (that is, unaspirated) rho' r rock r rock si'gma s sat s sat tau~ t stack t stack (that is, unaspirated) u` psi'lon y cute, u boot French du, German Pruefung phi~ f folly ph perfect (that is, aspirated as in English) psi~ ps oops ps oops khi~ x Scots loch, kh cat (that is, aspirated as in English) German Bach o~ me'ga o: boat O: law, cawed (long vowel) The digraphs: omikron+upsilon u: boot o: boat (without the u-offglide epsilon+iota ej bait e: bait (without the i-offglide) alpha+iota aj bite aj bite long alpha+iota a: <= alpha> a:j bide alpha+upsilon au cow au cow omikron+iota oj boy oj boy eta+iota e: <= eta> E:j stayin' (participle, spoken rapidly) omega+iota o: <= omega> O:j sawin' (participle, spoken rapidly) Other vowel digraphs are pronounced as simple combinations of the vowels. gamma+kappa/gamma/ksi/khi is Nk/Ng/Nks/Nkh: sinker, finger, sinks, sinking (Also possibly in gamma+mu: Nm). Accents: In the Erasmian system, all three accents (oxeia/acute, bareia/grave, and perispomenon/circumflex) are treated as simple stress accents. However, as we know from the ancient grammarians, these represented different *pitches*, similar to though not identical with the accent system in certain Japanese dialects. If you wish to use a pitch accent in your Greek reading, the following system works well: 1. The acute is a rise of a musical fifth from the base level of the voice, according to the grammarians. This is approximately the change in pitch in the English inquiring sentence "Yes???" 2. The grave is either a complete lack of an expected accent, or a lowered rise (a musical third). A string of these may be pronounced levelly on the higher note of the rise. 3. The circumflex is usually referred to as a falling pitch contour; the real secret is that it consists of a rise of a third followed by a fall to ground in the course of a single long vowel or a diphthong. The explanation for this is that long vowels, like diphthongs, can be viewed as a sequence of two short vowels, with the accent being applied to the first. 1.1.2 Latin A Summary of Classical Latin Pronunciation (from Vox Latina) a short As first a in Italian amare (as vowel of English cup: not as cap) a long As second a in Italian amare ( as a in English father) ae As in English high au As in English how b (1) As English b (2) Before t or s: as English p c As English or (better) French `hard' c, or English k ch As c in emphatic pronunciation of English cat d As English or French d e short As in English pet e long As in French gai or German Beet ei As in English day eu pronounced as a quick slide from e to y (see below). f As English f g (1) As English `hard' g (2) gn: as ngn in English hangnail h As English h i short As in English dip i long As in English deep i cons (1) As English y (2) Between vowels: = [yy] k As English k l (1) Before vowels: as l in English lay (2) Before consonants and at end of word: as l in English field or hill m (1) At the beginning or in middle of word: as English m (2) At the end of word (after a vowel): as in French nasalized vowel n (1) As n in English net (2) Before c, g, qu: as n in anger (3) Before fricatives (f, s) somewhat assimilated o short As in English (R.P.) pot (not American pot) o long As in French beau or German Boot oe As in English boy p As English or (better) French p ph As p in emphatic pronunciation of English pig qu As qu in English quick r As in Scottish `rolled' r s As in English sing or ss in lesson (N.B. never as in English roses) t As English or (better) French t th As t in emphatic pronunciation of English terrible u short As in English put u long As in English fool u cons As English w ui No English equivalent but think of slurring ooi x As English x in box y As in French u or German u (umlaut) z (1) As English z (2) Between vowels: = [zz] (3) Perhaps in rendering some Greek words: = [zd] ---------------------------------------- 1.2 How should I write Greek and Latin on the newsgroup? For long vowels, mark length with a colon ":" following the vowel. This applies to both languages. In Greek, the accents should be represented by ' (acute) ` (grave) ~ (circum- flex) following the vowel in question. Since the circumflex can only fall on a *long* vowel or a diphthong, the colon marking vowel length can be considered optional with the circumflex. The Greek alphabet should be transcribed as a b g d e z E: th i k l m n o ks p r s t u ph ps kh O: with the additional long vowels a: i: u: e: o: (though the latter two may be written, as is traditional, ei and ou). Latin may be written using i and u for both the vowel and the consonant sounds, or the doublets i/j and u/v respectively. Many people prefer to use i for both, but u/v rather than just u (or v). ---------------------------------------- 1.3 What are the best translations of ...? Good question :-) Translations into English of most of the popular classical authors may be found along with great authors of other periods in the Penguin Classics series. Some of these, it has been noted, are of greater literary merit than others; that may simply be the way of translations, from whatever source. The Oxford World Classics series also has a large number of good translations of classical works, not entirely overlapping the Penguin Classics in coverage. Many who have studied Greek and Latin since the early 1900s have been grateful for the existence of the Loeb series (red covers for Latin, green for Greek) of facing-page translations of a number of important, and even better, of entirely unimportant, authors. These are published jointly by Harvard and Oxford. ---------------------------------------- 1.4 Who was ... ? See section 2 for references to bibliographical dictionaries or encyclopaediae. ---------------------------------------- 1.5 What are the famous classical authors? While a complete list of even important authors cannot be given here, the ones below commonly appear on reading lists of graduate departments of Classics. The format is: Author's Name dates: (approximate) language of composition: (language in which the works were written) genre: (quick & dirty encapsulation) style: (some elaboration of the above category, with notes on meter, dialect) diff : (difficulty; of course, highly subjective. Rated from 1-10, easiest to hardest :)) works: (not necessarily complete; fragmentary works excluded) fun fact: (sometimes not very much fun and often descending to the level of gossip) Note that both Greek and Latin authors are together in the same list; to distinguish between them, check the "language of composition" field. Aeschylus dates: 525-456 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: drama style: Classical Attic tragedy diff : 8 works: Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, Eumenides, Supplices, Prometheus Bound fun fact: Aeschylus was accidentally killed when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his bald head, mistaking him for a stone. Definitely an urban legend, but one which has existed since classical times. Apollonius Rhodius dates: flourished 3rd century BCE language of composition: Greek genre: epic style: Homeric vocabulary with some bold new similes and anthropological/ aetiological touches diff : 6 works: Argonautica fun fact: feuded with his teacher, Callimachus Aristophanes dates: 457-385 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: drama style: Old Comedy diff : 9 works: Acharnians, Knights, Clouds, Wasps, Peace, Birds, Lysistrata, Thesmophorizeusae (Female Celebrants of the Thesmophoria festival), Frogs, Ecclesiazeusae (Female Legislators), Wealth fun fact: Among his favorite targets for satire included the philosopher Socrates (in Clouds), the Tragic playwright Euripides (in Frogs), and the politician Cleon (in Knights). Aristotle dates: 384-322 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: treatises on philosophy, ethics, natural science, political science, literary criticism style: Attic prose diff : 7 works: Metaphysics, De Anima, Nichomachean Ethics, History of Animals, Physics, Politics, Rhetoric, Poetics [fragmentary] fun fact: wrote accounts of the constitutions of 158 Greek states. Gaius Julius Caesar dates: c.100-15 March 44 BCE language of composition: Latin genre: Commentaries (diaries of his military and political career) style: concise and objective at first sight; really, a praise for his own and his army's work. Refers to himself in the third person. diff : 2 works: De bello gallico (The Gallic Wars), De bello civili (The Civil War) Callimachus dates: 305-240 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: verse (epigram, narrative elegy, satiric iambic, hexameter hymn, epyllion [little epic]) style: learned, allusive diff : 7 works: Epigrams from Greek Anthology, Aetia (Causes), Iambics, Hymns, Hecale fun fact: Hecale, an epyllion, gets its name from the elderly woman who lets Theseus crash at her house while on his way to slay the bull of Marathon. Catullus dates: 87-54 BCE language of composition: Latin genre: verse, elegies style: diff : 6 works: Carmina Marcus Tullius Cicero dates: 106-43 BCE language of composition: Latin genre: prose, political and legal oratory, philosophical dialogues and essays style: learned, sometimes coy in his letters diff: 3 works: Orations: Catilinariae, Pro Caelio, In Caium Verrem (Against Caius Verres), Pro Archia, Pro Domo Sua, Pro Milone. Rhetorical essays: De Oratore, Orator, Brutus. Philosophical essays: De re publica, De legibus, Tusculanae disputationes, Cato Maior De senectute, Laelius de amicitia, De officiis. Letters: Ad Quintum Fratrem, Ad Atticum, Ad familiares, Ad Marcum Brutum fun fact: The beginning of the First Catalinarian ("Quousque tandem abutere") has been used for centuries by printers to show the characteristics of fonts, while a laserprinter of the late 1970s used a modified form of a page of the Loeb edition of his De Finibus for the same purpose (the well-known "lorem ipsum dolor" text). Demosthenes dates: 384-322 language of composition: Greek genre: political and legal oratory style: varied, avoids hiatus and successions of short syllables diff : 4 works: For Phormio, Olynthiacs, Philippics, On the Crown fun fact: sued his guardians for mismanagement of his inheritance at age 21. Euripides dates: 485-406 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: drama style: Classical Attic tragedy diff : 7 dialogue 10 choruses works: Medea, Hippolytus, Ion, Bacchae, Iphigenia in Tauris, Helen, Alcestis, The Suppliant Women, Electra, Hecabe, Heracles, The Women of Troy fun fact: We have more of Euripides than of any other Attic tragedian because we have not only ten plays representing "the best of Euripides" but also nine plays which seem to be from the epsilon through kappa volume of the complete works of Euripides. Herodotus dates: 484-420 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: prose history style: uses Ionian dialect lots of ethnography and anecdotes diff : 5 works: Histories fun fact: first surviving prose history in Greek Hesiod dates: flourished 700 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: creation-myth in verse, didactic poetry style: epic vocabulary diff : 6 works: Theogony, Works and Days fun fact: Works and Days is ostensibly addressed to his MEGA NHPIE (very foolish) brother Perses and consists of advice on practical skills (farming, sailing, etc). Homer dates: eighth-sixth centuries BCE language of composition: Greek genre: epic style: brief, striking similes, about half each work is dialogue diff : 5 works: Iliad, Odyssey fun fact: "Homer" is usually considered scholarly shorthand for an oral- formulaic tradition perhaps dating back to the fifteenth century BCE that was written down during the above dates. Horace dates: 65-8 BCE language of composition: Latin genre: style: diff : works: Odes, Carmen Saeculare, Satires, Ars Poetica Livy dates: 59 BCE - 17 CE language of composition: Latin genre: history style: language is poetic and expressive, characters easily become heroes, influenced by hellenistic historians diff : 9 works: Ab Urbe Condita Libri fun fact: Legend has it that a man came all the way from Cadiz just to look at him. Lucretius dates: c.99-c55 BCE language of composition: Latin genre: Philosophy and biology style: Deep psychological investigation, rich and carefully controlled language diff : 8 works: De Rerum Natura fun fact: Poisoned himself with a love potion, wrote the poem in lucid moments (maybe lucid), committed suicide (slander of St. Jerome) Lysias dates: 459-380 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: political and legal oratory style: smooth, moderate diff : 6 works: Oration 1 (Against Eratosthenes), Oration 32 (Against Diogiton) fun fact: Originally from Syracuse, Lysias and his brothers Polemarchus and Euthydemus owned a shield-making workshop in the Piraeus. Menander dates: 342-289 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: drama style: New Comedy diff : 7 works: The Grouch, She Who Was Shorn, The Samian, Dis Exapaton (The Double Deceiver) fun fact: Menander was for the most part lost until this century, when numerous papyrus fragments of Menander came to light. Ovid dates: 43 BCE - c.17 CE language of composition: Latin genre: poetry style: diff : 5 works: Metamorphoses, Tristia, Ars Amatoria Philostratus dates: 170 - 245 CE language: Greek genre: biography style: artificial difficulty: 8 works: Lives of the Sophists, Life of Apollonius of Tyana fun fact: for further information: http://magna.com.au/~prfbrown/a_tyana0.html Pindar dates: 518-438 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: victory ode style: uses a huge variety of meters and myths diff : 9 works: Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian Odes, all to celebrate victories in Greek athletic contests fun fact: In Olympian 1, he criticizes earlier poets for spreading lies about how the gods ate Pelops' shoulder. Plato dates: 429-347 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: philosophy style: idiosyncratic Attic prose diff : 3 works: Apology, Crito, Phaedo, Symposium, Republic (many others) fun fact: Early dialogues often show Socrates and an interlocutor wrestling with a question which neither answers, but Socrates' achievement is getting the interlocutor to admit that he does not know the answer. Plautus, Titus Maccius dates: 250-184 BCE language of composition: Latin genre: comedy style: popular and brilliant, basically founded on mistakes, sometimes vulgar. Some "archaic" features. diff : 8 (He uses colloquial Latin) works: Amphitruo, Asinaria (The comedy of the donkeys), Aulularia (The comedy of the pot), Captivi (The prisoners), Curculio (The weevil), Casina, Cistellaria (Comedy of the box), Epidicus, Bacchides, Mostellaria (Comedy of the Ghost), Menaechmi, Miles gloriosus (The blusterer soldier), Mercator (the merchant), Pseudolus, Poenulus (The man from Carthage), Persa (The persian), Rudens (The rope), Stichus, Trinummus (The three coins), Truculentus, Vidularia (The comedy of the case) Pliny (the Younger) dates: 61/62-c.112 CE language of composition: Latin genre: letters style: prose diff : 4 works: Letters fun fact: One of his letters ("Rides, et licet rideas") is one of the stand-by texts in showing fonts in letterpress printing. Adopted and adapted by the writers of Framemaker(TM). Plutarch dates: 50-120 CE language of composition: Greek genre: prose (especially biography) style: many metaphors diff : 2 works: Lives, Moralia (rhetorical treatises, moral essays, philosophical dialogues and treatises, antiquarian works) fun fact: For the last thirty years of his life, he was a priest at Delphi. Propertius dates: 1st century BCE language of composition: Latin genre: poetry (elegies) style: diff : works: Elegies (four books) Seneca (the elder) dates: language of composition: Latin genre: drama, letters style: diff : works: Letter, Medea Seneca (the younger) dates: 55 BCE - 65 CE language of composition: Latin genre: style: diff: works: Sophocles dates: 496-406 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: drama style: Classical Attic tragedy diff : 7 works: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, Ajax, Electra, Women of Trachis, Philoctetes fun fact: According to Aristotle, he introduced to Tragedy the third actor, scene-painting, and the fifteen-man (as opposed to the twelve-man) chorus. fun fact II: When he was about 90 years old, his heirs decided they couldn't wait for their inheritance any more. So they applied to the court for guardianship, explaining that Sophocles was not in his proper mind any more and needed someone to take of his finances. At that moment he was writing Oedipus at Colonus and in court he just read what he had done so far. He didn't get any guardians. Suetonius dates: 69-140 CE language of composition: Latin genre: biography (mostly) style: diff : works: The Twelve Caesars fun fact: Had access to the Imperial Archives. Tacitus dates: 56/57 - (not before) 115 CE language of composition: Latin genre: history style: very odd! diff: 8 works: Annals, Germania, Agricola, Histories, Dialogus Terence dates: c. 195-159 BCE language of composition: Latin genre: comedy style: very deep psychological investigation in his characters, frequent monologues; inspired by Menander, he was never loved by his contemporaries diff : 7 works: Andria, Hecyra (The mother-in-law), Adelphoe (The brothers), Phormio, Heautontimoroumenos (The self-punisher), Eunuchus (The eunuch), Theocritus dates: 300-260 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: bucolic lyric/mime style: polished, deceptively simple diff : 6 works: 31 short poems fun fact: Poem 11 is a love song sung by the Cyclops Polyphemus to the nymph Galatea, who has rejected him. Thucydides dates: 460-400 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: prose history style: some poeticisms, elliptical, likes antithesis diff : 10 (hardest prose author) works: Peloponnesian War fun fact: His account of Pericles' funeral oration, a wonderful piece of pro- Athenian propaganda, is followed by a harrowing account of the plague that struck Athens shortly afterward. He was the first historian to dispense with "gods" and "oracles" as machinery of explanation. Tibullus, Albius dates: 54-19 BCE language of composition: Latin genre: elegy style: limpid and free of myths. Wrote of life in the country sweetened by love diff : 5 works: Corpus Tibullianum: the first two books are authentic, the third is in doubt. He wrote elegies to Delia (First book) and Nemesis (Second book) Publius Virgilius Maro dates: 15th October 70 - 19 BCE language of composition: Latin genre: idyll, epic style: idyll: influenced by Theocritus, writes of shepherds' and peasants' life in a celebrating way; epics: he tells the mythical stories of Rome celebrating its origin and rulers in a clear and very musical hexameter diff : 6 works: The Aeneid, Georgics, Eclogues/Bucolics Xenophon dates: 428-354 BCE language of composition: Greek genre: prose (history, philosophy, treatise, etc.) style: simple diff : 1 works: Hellenica, Anabasis (March Upcountry), Household Manager fun fact: The Anabasis, about the retreat of Greek mercenaries after their employer Cyrus, brother to the Persian king Artaxerxes, was deposed in a coup, features a wonderful scene in which the Greeks at last reach the sea and shout "THALATTA, THALATTA!!!" (The sea, the sea!!!). ---------------------------------------- 1.6 How do I translate ...? You can make a post, and maybe it will be answered. You can buy a pocket Latin<->English or Greek<->English dictionary, and do it yourself. If you have access to a Classics Department, asking them might prove helpful. Curtis Emerson adds: Check the Greek & Latin online dictionaries via http://www.bucknell.edu/~rbeard/diction.html ---------------------------------------- 1.7 On what day did the week start in Roman times? Quoting from "The Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Ephemeris and American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac" : "The week was not originally an integral part of any calendar; in its present form, it gradually became established in the Roman calendar during the one or two centuries preceding the Christian era. The Mosaic Law enjoining abstinence from work on every seventh day had established the 7-day period as a Jewish measure of time, and this Jewish week later passed into the Christian Church. Meanwhile, shortly before the Christian era, an astrological practice had arisen of attaching the names of the seven "planets", the term at that time including the Sun and Moon, in cyclic succession to successive days, in the order in which the planets were supposed to rule the days. The planetary designations of the days rapidly acquired widespread popularity, and became the predominant usage throughout the Roman Empire. The coincidence in the number of days in this astrological cycle with the number of days in the entirely independent Jewish week led to the gradual establishment of the planetary week without official recognition, either civil or ecclestical." The same source gives two references: Gandz, S. "The Origin of the Planetary Week" Proc. Amer. Acad. for Jewish Research, vol. 18, 213-254, 1949. Colson, F.H., "The week" Cambridge University Press, 1926. Originally each *hour* of the day was governed by a different planet (the doctrine of "chronocratories"; cf. "horoscope", "to observe the hours"), and whichever planet fell on the first hour could be said to open the day. The seven planets divide the 24 hours three times with a remainder of three; hence, if you cycle through the planetary sequence: Saturn - Jupiter - Mars - Sun - Venus - Mercury - Moon By taking every third planet, you will get: Saturn - Sun - Moon - Mars - Mercury - Jupiter - Venus. Curtis Emerson adds: No one knows according to S. Gandz (1949) as cited in _Astronomy Before the Telescope_ Vol 1 by Nicholas T. Bobrovnikoff (1984) ISBN 0-88126-201-3 Pachart Publishing House, Tucson AZ See pg 25+, 38+ and bibliography for information on the nundinae and calendars ---------------------------------------- 2 Bibliographies ---------------------------------------- 2.1 Introductory Bibliography If you know nothing about the classics, some recommended books are listed here. They assume no knowledge, and will give you a sound grasp in the basics. %T The Oxford Classical Dictionary %A (ed.) H.H. Scullard %D 1970 %Z This gives solid (if unimaginative) articles on all major authors %Z and subjects in Greek and Latin, usually with good bibliographies %Z as well. %T L'Annee Philologique %Z THE bibliography of the classics -- it's not on computer yet, but %Z give them time. %T The Sound of Greek %A W. B. Stanford %T The Pronunciation and Reading of Ancient Greek: A Practical Guide %A Stephen G. Daitz %T Vox Graeca 3rd ed. %A W. Sidney Allen %I Cambridge University Press %D 1987 %T Vox Latina 2nd ed. %A W. Sidney Allen %I Cambridge University Press %D 1978 %T Pelican history of Greek literature %A Peter Levi %I Pelican ---------------------------------------- 2.2 Advanced Bibliography If, having completed a preliminary reading in the subject, you decide you enjoy classics, here are books to give you more knowledge. %A Reynolds, L. D. %A Wilson, N. G. %T Scribes and Scholars 3rd ed. %I Oxford University Press %D 1991 ---------------------------------------- 2.3 Specialised Bibliography If you decide you are only interested in a narrow field of classics, here are books that will extend your knowledge in one subject. %T The Legacy of Rome: A New Appraisal %A ed. Richard Jenkyns %I Oxford University Press %D 1992 %T The Legacy of Greece: A New Appraisal %A ed. M. I. Finley %I Oxford University Press %D 1984 %Z Both these are excellent, and each article has suggestions for %Z further reading. %T L'Annee Philologique %A Marouzeau ---------------------------------------- 2.4 Introductory Latin For the reader with little or no knowledge of Latin. ---------------------------------------- 2.4.1 Classical %A Balme, Maurice. %A Morwood, James %T Oxford Latin course. (3 vols. + teacher's handbook) %I Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press %D 1987-1988. %T Cambridge Latin course. 2nd ed %I Cambridge <Cambridgeshire> ; New York: Cambridge University Press for the Schools Council, %D 1982. %A Goldman, Norma %T Latin via Ovid: a first course. %I Detroit: Wayne State University Press %D 1977. %A Griffin, Robin M %T A student's Latin grammar. %I North American 3rd ed. Cambridge <England> ; New York: Cambridge University Press %D 1992. %A Jenney, Charles. %T First year Latin. %I Boston: Allyn and Bacon %D <1975> %A Jenney, Charles %T Second year Latin. Boston: Allyn and Bacon %D <1975> %A Johnston, Patricia A %T Traditio: an introduction to the Latin language and its influence. %I New York: Macmillan %D c1988. %A Jones, Peter V %T Reading Latin. %I Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press %D 1986. %A Knudsvig, Glenn M %T Latin for reading: a beginner's textbook with exercises %I Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press %D c1982. %A Lawall, Gilbert %A Tafe, David %T Ecce Romani. %I White Plains, NY: Longman, Inc. %A Moreland, Floyd L. %A Fleisher, Rita M. %T Latin: an intensive course. %I <New ed.> Berkeley: University of California Press %D c1977. %A Sinkovich, Kathryn A. %T Intermediate college Latin. %I Lanham, MD: University Press of America %D c1984. %A Wheelock, Frederic M. (revised by R. La Fleur) %T Latin: An Introductory Course Based on Ancient Authors. %I 5th Edition. New York: Barnes & Noble %D 1995. %A Lewis, Charlton T. %T Elementary Latin Dictionary %I Oxford University Press %D 1891/1989 ---------------------------------------- 2.4.2 Medieval %A Beeson, Charles Henry %T A primer of Mediaeval Latin; an anthology of prose and poetry. %I Chicago, Scott, Foresman and Company %D <c1925> %A Collins, John F. %T A primer of ecclesiastical Latin. %I Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press %D c1985. %A Strecker, Karl %T Introduction to medieval Latin. %I 5. unveranderte Aufl. Dublin: Weidmann, %D <c1968> ---------------------------------------- 2.4.3 Specialised %A Baranov, A. %T Basic Latin for plant taxonomists. %I Lehre, J. Cramer, %D 1971 <c1968> %A Gooder, Eileen A. %T Latin for local history: an introduction. 2d ed. %I London ; New York: Longman, %D 1978. %A Howe, George %T Latin for pharmacists. %I Philadelphia, P. Blakiston's son & co. %D <c1916> %A Stearn, William T. %T Botanical Latin: history, grammar, syntax, terminology, and vocabulary. %A 3rd ed., rev. Newton Abbot, Devon ; %I North Pomfret, Vt.: David & Charles, %D 1983. ---------------------------------------- 2.5 Advanced Latin For the reader with several years study of Latin, or a need for a good reference grammar. %A Hale, W. G. %A Buck, Carl Darling %T Latin Grammar %I Loyola Press, ISBN 0817303502 %D 1966 %A Allen, J.H. %A Greenough, J.B. %T Allen and Greenough's New Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges %I Aristide d Caratzas, ISBN 0892410019 %D 1975 %A Gildersleeve, Basil L. %A Lodge, Gonzalez %T Latin Grammar %I Nelson/St. Martin's Press %D 1992 %A Gildersleeve, Basil L. %A Lodge, Gonzalez %T Gildersleeve's Latin Grammar %I Bolchazy Carducci, ISBN 0865163537 %D 1997 (to be published) %A Leumann, Manu %T Lateinische Laut- und Formenlehre %I C.H. Beck %D 1953 %A Woodcock, E. C. %T A New Latin Syntax %I Bristol Classical Press/Bolchazy-Carducci %D 1959/1987 %A Adams, J. N. %T Latin Sexual Vocabulary %I Johns Hopkins %D 1982 %A Mountford, Bradley, Arnold %T Bradley's Arnold: Latin Prose Composition %I Caratzas %D 1992 2.5.1 Mediaeval Latin epigraphy Mediaeval Latin palaeography is a science in itself: i.e. it's more than just a scientific tool. The standard introduction is BISCHOFF's *Paldographie des rvmischen Altertums und des abendldndischen Mittelalters*, of which there is an English translation: Bernhard Bischoff, *Latin palaeography: antiquity and the middle ages*, Cambridge [etc.]: Cambridge University Press, 1990. %A Bischoff, Bernhard %T *Latin palaeography: antiquity and the middle ages* %I Cambridge University Press %D 1990 The standard practical handbook (in many editions -- the following Italian one is only an exemple) is Adriano CAPPELLI, *Lexicon abbreviaturarum: Dizionario di abbreviature latine ed italiane*, sesta edizione (anastatica), Milano: Ulrico Hoepli, 1961. %A Cappelli, Adriano %T *Lexicon abbreviaturarum: Dizionario di abbreviature latine ed italiane* %I Ulrico Hoepli %D 1961 Cappelli's lexicon is supplemented by Auguste PELZER, *Abriviations latines midiivales. Suppliment au Dizionario [...] de Adriano Cappelli*, deuxihme idition, Louvain (Publications universitaires) / Paris (Biatrice-Nauwelaerts) 1966. %A Pelzer, Auguste %T Abriviations latines midiivales. Suppliment au Dizionario [...] de Adriano Cappelli %I Louvain (Publications universitaires) / Paris (Biatrice-Nauwelaerts) %D 1966 ---------------------------------------- 2.6 Introductory Greek For the reader with little or no knowledge of Greek. %A Lawall, Gilbert %A Balme, Maurice %T Athenaze (2 vols. + 2 teacher's handbooks) %I Oxford Univ Press, ISBN 0195056213 %D 1990 %A Hansen, Hardy %A Quinn, Gerald M. %T Greek: Intensive Course (2 vols.) %I Fordham University Press %D 1992 %A Mastronarde, Donald A. %T Introduction to Attic Greek %I University of California Press %D 1993 %A Pharr, Clyde %T Homeric Greek: A Book for Beginners %I Univ of Oklahoma Press %D 1986 %A Schoder, Raymond V. & Horrigan, Vincent C. %T A Reading Course in Homeric Greek (Books I & II) %I Loyola University Press, ISBN 0-8294-0509-7 %D 1985. %A Autenrieth, Georg %T Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges %I Univ of Oklahoma Press %D 1982 %A Cunliffe, Richard J. %T Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect %I Univ of Oklahoma Press %D 1977 %A Monro, David B. %T A Grammar of the Homeric Dialect %I William H Allen Bookseller %D 1993 %A Goodspeed, William B. %A Owen, Edgar J. %T Homeric Vocabularies: Greek and English Word List for the Study of Homer %I Univ of Oklahoma Press %D 1979 %A Liddell, Henry George, & Scott, Robert %T A Greek-English lexicon %I Clarendon Press %D 1961 ---------------------------------------- 2.7 Advanced Greek For the reader with several years study of Greek. %A Schwyzer, Eduard %T Griechische Grammatik (4 vols.) %I C.H. Beck %D 1953 %A Rix, Helmut %T Historische Grammatik des Griechischen %I Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft Darmstadt %D 1976 %A Buck, Carl Darling %T The Greek Dialects %I University of Chicago Press %D 1955 %A Smyth, Herbert Weir %T Greek Grammar %I Harvard %D 1920/1956 (still in print) %A Woodhouse, S. C. %T English-Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language %I Routledge & Kegan Paul %D 1910/1985 %A Devine, A. M. %A Stephens, Laurence D. %T Prosody of Greek Speech %I Oxford University Press %D 1994 ---------------------------------------- 2.8 Linguistics for Classicists %A Buck, Carl Darling %T Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin %I University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0226079317 %D 1933 %A Sihler, Andrew %T New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin %I Oxford University Press %D 1995 ---------------------------------------- 3 Mythological Deities Never been able to sort out Athena from Venus and remaining perpetually confused about Mercury's role in life? Look no further. %A Kravitz, David %T Who's who in Greek and Roman mythology. %I New York: C. N. Potter: distributed by Crown Publishers, %D <1976> c1975. %A Mercatante, Anthony S. %T Who's who in Egyptian mythology. %I New York: C. N. Potter: distributed by Crown Publishers, %D c1978. %A Morford, Mark P. O., and Lenardon, R. %T Classical mythology. 4th ed. %I New York: Longman, %D c1991. %A Powell, B. %T Classical myth %I Prentice Hall %D 1995 %A Reid, J.D. %T The Oxford guide to classical mythology in the arts 1300-1990's %I Oxford: Oxford University Press (2 vols) %D 1993 ---------------------------------------- 4 Timeline GREECE: Bronze Age 3000-1100 BCE Fall of Troy ~1200 Archaic Period 1100-480 Xerxes' invasion 482 Classical Period 480-323 Peloponnesian War 466-404 Alexander dies 323 Hellenistic Period 323-146 Roman Period 146 BCE - 565 CE Byzantine Period 565 - 1453 CE ROME: Regal Period 753-510 BCE Republic 509-31 Empire 31 BCE - Golden Age 1st century BCE - early 1st century CE Silver Age Late 1st Cent CE - 2nd cent CE "End" of Empire 476 CE ---------------------------------------- 5 Glossary Providing endless fodder for flamewars, here are some simple definitions of terms you will meet in classics. hapax legomenon (Gk., "said once") - a word or idiom attested (i.e., found in the body of known works) only once crasis (Gk., "mixing") - the blending of two adjacent vowels, as when a final vowel merges with the leading vowel of the following word. E.g., "to onoma" (Gk., "the name") sometimes becomes "tounoma" (since o + o = ou in Attic). asper (L., "harsh") - the rough-breathing mark in Greek, indicating (under the Erasmian system of pronunciation) a leading "h" sound on a word beginning with a vowel. Cf. *lenitus. lenitus (L., "relaxed") - the soft-breathing mark in Greek, indicating the absence of an "h" sound before a leading vowel. Cf. *asper. ---------------------------------------- 6 Computer Readable Materials There are several institutions that offer electronic versions of classics works and texts. They have varying quality and varying restrictions on their use. Those known of are listed here. Freely redistributable versions of various Latin texts, including all of Vergil, Catullus, and Tibullus, and selections from Cicero, Caesar, Horace, and others, are available from the Project Libellus archive at the University of Washington, Seattle. These can be had, in TeX form, by anonymous FTP from host ftp.u.washington.edu, directory /public/libellus/texts; some commentaries and other support files (including a TeX-to-ASCII converter for the texts) are contained in the other subdirectories of /public/libellus. These texts and support files are also available, in a variety of formats (TeX, ASCII, RTF, PostScript) through an experimental E-mail server, for those who do not have Internet access; for more information about this service, send mail to libellus@u.washington.edu with "help" in the message body. Send comments, questions, etc. to perseant@u.washington.edu. The Georgetown Catalogue Project for Electronic Texts have a directory of electronic text projects in the humanities. The catalogues are available by language and subject, and are available for anonymous FTP from guvax.georgetown.edu:cpet_projects_in_electronic_text. The Library at Dartmouth have a huge database containing and concerning "La Commedia". To use it, telnet to library.dartmouth.edu and type connect dante Lectures by Robert Hollander on Dante are available for anonymous FTP in ccat.sas.upenn.edu:/pub/recentiores named BARLOW.README, BARLOW.1, BARLOW.2 and BARLOW.3. ---------------------------------------- 6.1 Oxford Text Archive The Oxford Text Archive provides texts with restrictions on redistribution, usually for cost of copying and shipping. The texts are of varying quality. The following is taken from their informational blurb: Further details are given in the published Short List (which includes an order form) which is printed at least once a year. Write to: Oxford Text Archive Oxford University Computing Service 13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN, UK ARCHIVE@VAX.OX.AC.UK or FTP to black.ox.ac.uk:/ota They have recently been able to make available some public-domain texts for FTP. ---------------------------------------- 7 Radio Programming Currently there are two major shortwave services that provide Latin programming. They are: Vatican Radio (daily programming, mostly of a religious nature) Radio Finland (weekly world news reports) Times and frequencies are likely to change, so are not included in this FAQ. Schedule information may be obtained from the following: World Radio and Television Handbook (WRTH) (1993 Edition, ISBN #0-8230-5924-3) Billboard Publications 1515 Broadway New York, NY 10036 USA Usenet newsgroup rec.radio.shortwave and the shortwave FTP archives at nic.funet.fi under /pub/dx. ---------------------------------------- 8 Bookstores for Classicists The following is a list of bookstores known to carry works in Latin and/or Greek. It is a work in progress. Readers of this group are encouraged to send additional contributions to the classics-faq mailing list; postings to the humanities.classics newsgroup will be harvested when possible. The following contributions are courtesy Mr. Richard Schulman. Labyrinth Books 536 W. 112 (1/2 block east of Broadway) Manhattan, New York, NY 212-865-1588 (Has many different texts, commentaries, and reference works. This is the best source by far in the greater NY area.) Barnes & Noble Broadway & 82nd Manhattan, New York, NY (Loeb series) Barnes & Noble 91 Old Country Rd. Carle Place, Long Island, NY (Loeb series) Harvard University Press 800-448-2242 (for mail orders of the Loeb) Cambridge University Press 800-431-1580 or 800-872-7423 (for that press's publications) Oxford University Press Customer Service 800-451-7556 (for mail orders of that press's publications) Rich Alderson notes the following in addition: Barnes & Noble University Village Seattle, WA (Loeb series) Borders Books & Records Redmond Town Center Redmond, WA (Loeb series, some Oxford Classical Texts--all in the Ancient History area) Stanford University Bookstore Stanford University Palo Alto, CA (Loeb, Oxford, Cambridge; Bibles; very large section of university-style translations) Steve Austin adds: There are at least two sources for Latin and Greek texts and associated materials which I have found very valuable - Schoenhof's Foreign Books 76A Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone: 617-547-8855 Fax: 617-547-8551 Email: info@schoenhofs.com http://www.schoenhofs.com and Bolchazy-Carducci Publisher's, Inc 1000 Brown Street, Wauconda, Illinois 60084 USA Phone: 847-526-4344; Fax: 847-526-2867 Email: orders@bolchazy.com. http://www.bolchazy.com Both have excellent websites with searching facilities and online ordering. The staff at both locations are very knowledgable and helpful. ---------------------------------------- 9 On-Line Resources for Classicists (Steve Austin) We often see posts inquiring about Latin or Greek study groups and mailing lists on the internet. This is not covered yet in the FAQ. I am aware of two lists maintained by the Univ. of Colorado. The Latin list presently has at least 7 active groups at different stages of proficiency, and provides considerable moral and linguistic support to those studying on their own. I can strongly recommend this list to an The Greek list has a lower level of activity, but there are two functioning groups - one studying the JACT Reading Greek series, and the other working on Pharr's Homeric Greek. a. Latin Postings go to: latin@lists.colorado.edu To subscribe: email to listproc@lists.colorado.edu with subscribe latin <your name> in the body. b. Greek Postings go to: greek@lists.colorado.edu To subscribe: email to listproc@lists.colorado.edu with subscribe greek <your name> in the body I believe there are other mailing lists, but I have no personal experience of these. ---------------------------------------- 10 Secondary School Programs in Greek (Richard A. Schulman) Based on information from: Daniel Roe, D. Barrington, Edwin Menes, Richard Schulman GREEK PROGRAMS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS (PARTIAL LIST), ALPHABETICALLY BY STATE OR COUNTRY Key: (*) indicates a free public school. "Levels" is probably synonymous with "years", but this could not be determined for certain on the basis of the information sources available for this report. California Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences, Santa Monica Connecticut Hotchkiss School, Lakeville: 4 years Germany Schule Schloss Salem, Salem Illinois St. Ignatius College Prep, Chicago: full program Loyola Academy, Chicago: full program Indiana Howe Military School, Howe: may just have introductory level Park Tudor School, Indianapolis: one elective only? Louisiana Jesuit High School, New Orleans Maine Messalonskee High School, Oakland: Homeric Greek (*) Massachusetts Amherst Regional High School, Amherst: 3 levels (*) Boston College High School, Dorchester: distinguished program Boston Latin, Boston: 3 levels (*) Boston University Academy, Boston Commonwealth School, Boston: 2 levels Deerfield Academy: at least 3 years Groton (in town of same name): 5 levels John Dewey Academy, Great Barrington Milton Academy, Milton: 1 or 2 years if sufficient enrollment Northfield Mt. Hermon School, Northfield: 4 levels Phillips Academy, Andover: 4 years Roxbury Latin, West Roxbury: 3 levels St. Marks School, Southborough: 3 years Winsor School, Boston Missouri Thomas Jefferson School, St. Louis: 2 years (mandatory for all 9th and 10th grade students) New Hampshire Phillips Academy, Exeter: 4 years New York Bronx High School of Science, Bronx: 1 course (*) Dalton School, Manhattan: 2 years plus tutorial by arrangement Fordham Prep, Bronx: 2 levels Hackley School, Tarreytown: 2 levels Lycee Francais de New York, Manhattan Regis High School, Manhattan Rye Country Day School, Rye: 3 years St. Ann's, Brooklyn Townshend Harris High School, Queens: 3 years (*) Ohio St. Ignatius High School, Cleveland Shaker Heights High School, Shaker Heights (*) Pennsylvania The Episcopal Academy, Merion: 3 years Rhode Island Portsmouth Abbey School, Portsmouth Tennessee The McKallie School, Chattanooga Virginia Ad Fontes Academy, Burke (beginning 1999-2000 school year) Norfolk Academy, Norfolk: Homeric Greek is offered as an elective Saint Margaret's School, Tappahannock: possibly only an introductory course. ---------------------------------------- Credits Many people who liked the idea of sci.classics, but who are now gone from the newsgroup, contributed to the original FAQ: Nathan Torkington, Tracy Monaghan, Owen Ewald, Patrick Rourke, Ken Bibb, Brian W. Ogilvie, Stig Atle Haugdahl, Jim Ruebel, Neil Bernstein, Keith Morgan, Risto Kotalampi, Konrad Schroder, <pef -at dcs.qmw.ac.uk>, Irene Gassko, Jamieson Norrish, James F. Tims, Daan Sandee, Mark Eckenwiler, Richard Lee Winterstein, Andrew Gollan, John P. Adams, Michael Covington Several people have contributed since humanities.classics was created: Joe Bernstein, Richard A. Schulman, Steve Austin, Daniel Roe, D. Barrington, Edwin Menes E-mail addresses have been removed to protect the innocent.