Undergraduate Course: Comoedia (LATI10010)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course centres on the work of the Latin dramatists Plautus (3rd cent. BC) and Terence (2nd cent. BC). Selected plays will be read and studied in Latin, with due attention to language and style, literary and dramatic technique, and contexts of performance and reception. |
| Course description |
The course will consist of reading and discussion classes centring on selected comedies by Plautus and Terence. Attention will be given to the their (contrasting) style and diction, their contributions to the evolution of Greco-Roman (and later European) theatre, their handling of comic conventions, and the ideological value of their works in the early Roman Republic. The eleven-week schedule will normally take the following form:
Week 1: Introduction: comedy between Greece and Rome
Weeks 2-6: Plautus
Weeks 7-10: Terence
Week 11: Conclusion and overview
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
Students MUST have passed:
Latin 2A (LATI08011) AND
Latin 2B (LATI08012)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Advanced-level ability in Latin language and literature, equivalent to two years' study at the University of Edinburgh (if uncertain, consult the course organiser).
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| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate through written coursework assignments, oral presentation and tutorial discussion, and written examination knowledge of the principal features of Roman Comedy (specifically its authors and texts; language and style; origins and development; conventions and themes; generic identity; sociopolitical contexts)
- demonstrate through written coursework assignments, oral presentation and tutorial discussion, and written examination the ability to translate and comment critically on passages selected with a degree of unpredictability, and to relate these to the wider literary and historical framework
- demonstrate through written coursework assignments, oral presentation and tutorial discussion, and written examination command of the principal approaches to Roman Comedy, and understanding of how these have developed over time (e.g., literary-critical, 'new historical' gendered, intertextual)
- demonstrate through written coursework assignments, oral presentation and tutorial discussion, and written examination detailed knowledge of how Roman Comedy reflects the contexts (especially literary, philosophical, social and political) in which it was produced
- demonstrate through written coursework assignments, oral presentation and tutorial discussion, and written examination the ability to apply suitable specialist methodologies to reading Roman Comedy, and to evolve coherent and well-researched written and oral interpretations of the text on topics chosen with a degree of unpredictability.
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Reading List
Anderson W.S. (1993) Barbarian Play: Plautus' Roman Comedy. Toronto.
Beare W. (1964) The Roman Stage. London.
Fontaine, M. and Scafuro, A.C. (eds.) (2014) The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Comedy. Oxford.
Goldberg S.M. (1986) Understanding Terence. Princeton.
Gratwick, A.S. (ed.) (1993) Plautus, Menaechmi. Cambridge.
Hunter R.L. (1977) The New Comedy of Greece and Rome. Cambridge.
Konstan D. (1983) Roman Comedy. Ithaca, NY.
Manuwald, G. (2011), Roman Republican Theatre. Cambridge.
Martin, R.H. (ed.) (1976) Terence, Adelphoe. Cambridge.
McCarthy K. (2000) Slaves, Masters and the Art of Authority in Plautine Comedy. Princeton.
McDonald, M. (2007) The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Theatre. Cambridge.
Leigh, M. (2004) Comedy and the Rise of Rome. Oxford.
Segal E. (1968) Roman Laughter: the comedy of Plautus. Cambridge MA.
Slater N.W. (1985) Plautus in Performance: The Theatre of the Mind. Princeton.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
In order for a student from outwith Classics to be enrolled on this course, contact must be made with a Course Secretary on 50 3580 in order for approval to be obtained. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Andrew Erskine
Tel: (0131 6)50 3591
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Toni Wigglesworth
Tel: (0131 6)50 3580
Email: |
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