![]() HUM / REL 293 - Beginning Latin![]() Course Notes - Week 1Welcome to the Latin course at ENMU. Because this course is online, more will depend on you - the individual student. You will have to set your own study periods, drill yourself, and set aside about an hour each day for your Latin studies. You may be wondering why there are two textbooks for the course. The Cambridge Course will get you reading simple Latin sentences fluently, and you will start to read Latin and understand the English meaning almost instinctively. That will give you a jump-start, but it will not give you much help with more complex sentences. The Wheelock book is the best College text for more advanced Latin. It was written specially for students at American Universities, and it includes many sentences and snippets from classical Latin authors. However, it has a heavy emphasis on grammar, and there is no ongoing story-line to hold our interest, and no setting in the life of a real Roman family. So - the Cambridge course for speed of learning, fluency and comprehension, but Wheelock for in-depth learning, grammar, vocabulary, and a taste of classical authors. The Cambridge Course was designed for High School students in England, and has been adapted for American schools. It gives many insights into life in the Roman Empire in the first century AD. The book we are using is the first of a four-volume series, based on archaeological discoveries. There really is a "House of Caecilius" in Pompeii, which was buried under ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD 79. There is no "happy ending" for Caecilius - he does die at the end of this book (stage 12), as did all those who remained in Pompeii. According to the story written for the course, Caecilius' son Quintus does survive. Quintus and Clemens reappear in the second book of the series, in Roman Britain and in the city of Alexandria in Egypt. By the time you finish Book 1 you will probably be a fluent reader of Latin, although there will still be some grammar to conquer. There is a students' workbook for the Cambridge course, which I have not asked you to buy, because it is intended for school children rather than college students. However, it does contain some drills with question words which are not covered in the textbook chapters. The name"Cerberus" was a good name for a Roman guard dog - it was the name of the mythological three-headed dog who guarded the entrance to Hades. According to Roman mythology, Hades was the place where the dead went (see pages 115-118). The story of Book 1 of the Cambridge course takes place in AD 79 - shortly after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by Titus. Although the Jews lived in scattered communities, and Christianity was beginning to spread throughout the Roman Empire, I am not aware of any evidence that there were either Jews or Christians in Pompeii and Herculaneum at that time. At that time, both Judaism and Christianity were regarded as a couple of strange sects on the fringes of society. Things which we now take for granted, such as human rights, fair play, morality, and social justice, were completely alien to the pre-Christian Greek and Roman world-views. Greek and Roman gods could be capricious, vindictive, totally unreliable, and the Roman people reflected those attitudes in their lives. Roman Emperors ruled by might and the support of the army. If they did not like a man they could order him to kill himself - and he would do so in order that his family might be spared being killed also. Roman society did not remain static - eventually Christianity became the leading religion of the Empire, and Latin was used for the worship services of the Church, and for the translation of the Scriptures into the common (vulgar) tongue. So I am going to incorporate some of the early Latin hymns and texts into the course. After the break-up of the Roman Empire, and the development of European nations, Latin remained the main language for Law, Politics, Science, International relations and Theology in the West.
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