Last updated: January 8, 2008

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Classics Section 
Major/Minor Programs in Classics at BGSU
Department of Romance and Classical Studies
Bowling Green State University


UPDATES: (1/6/08) Added the time and day for our meetings,
a link for the Diogenes dictionary program,
and a Format section describing the meetings.


Tiepolo-TrojanHorse
Tiepolo, The Trojans and their Horse


LAT 470: Vergil's Aeneid
Tues. 10:30-11:20
222 Shatzel

Instructor:

James M. Pfundstein, Ph.D.
Shatzel 222
phone: 419-372-8278
e-mail: jmpfund@bgnet.bgsu.edu
office hours: Tues. & Wed.12:30-1:20, or by appointment
web page: http://personal.bgsu.edu/~jmpfund/JMP.html

Texts:
Pharr, C. (ed.) Vergil's Aeneid, Books I-VI (Bolchazy-Carducci)

A satisfactory Latin dictionary. (See links for some electronic options.)

A satisfactory Latin grammar (e.g. Hale & Buck).

Format:

We'll meet once a week to translate and read aloud from the Aeneid. We'll start at about 60 lines per week, then ramp up to 75 lines per week after Midterm 1 and up to 90 lines per week after Midterm 2. That sounds like a lot, but it averages out to 25 lines three times a week through the semester, a do-able amount. And you'll find Pharr a great help.


Online Resources:
Electronic texts of Vergil's poems (including the Aeneid), hyperlinked to vocabulary and grammar assistance, are available (free) at the Perseus Project. But the server isn't especially reliable and it gets a lot of traffic.

The Perseus Project also has a vast amount of useful resources for the Latinist; in addition to hypertexts and translations of Vergil and other Roman and Greek authors, see Allen and Greenough's Latin Grammar, and a searchable edition of Lewis & Short, the best one-volume Latin dictionary.
Be sure to check out the Diogenes freeware program. It was designed to search the TLG and PHI databases (don't worry if you don't know what those are) but the cool thing is that it has the entire contents of the Lewis and Short Latin dictionary (along with the Liddell-Scott Greek dictionary) in its database. So it's the single best dictionary program out there (even though that's not it's original purpose). There are versions for Windows, Mac OS and Linux.

http://www.dur.ac.uk/p.j.heslin/Software/Diogenes/

The Latin Library has free plain-text editions of Vergil (and a lot else besides).


The Ancient Library has a couple of superb public domain reference works in unusually useful on-line editions. There's a scan and an OCR text for each page of the original book; the editions are searchable and browsable:

Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1867)
http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/

Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1870)
http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-dgra/

Diogenes is a freeware program for searching the PHI Latin texts and the TLG corpus of Greek texts. But it also contains the Perseus versions of Lewis and Short, the best one-volume Latin dictionary (as well as Liddell and Scott, the standard dictionary for Ancient Greek). So it's the best dictionary program out there.
http://www.dur.ac.uk/p.j.heslin/Software/Diogenes/

Versions of WORDS, a superb freeware program that parses and briefly defines Latin words (for Mac OS X, for Windows of various flavors, DOS, LINUX and OS/2) can be downloaded from the developer's web-page. (You have to scroll down a bit.)

http://users.erols.com/whitaker/words.htm
An online version is available at Notre Dame, but is wonky and not necessarily reliable.

http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/words.exe


In case you're thinking, "I wish I could review that stuff in Wheelock"...

http://people.hofstra.edu/faculty/Ilaria_Marchesi/text/list_exercises.htm


Orbilius, a freeware program by Nick Lowe to help you practice conjugations and basic vocabulary (and which includes a Latin version of Hangman) can be found at:

        http://www.sun.rhbnc.ac.uk/Classics/NJL/Latin/download.html


A DOS program for conjugating verbs can be found at:

        http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/7182/latin.html


A Beta version of a Latin parsing/translating program (DOS/Windows type) can be found at:

        http://www.levity.com/alchemy/latin/latintrans.html


There are some electronic vocabulary flashcards, a parsing program, and assorted other stuff (mostly for Mac) at William Harris' website:
        http://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/SubIndex/classics.sub.html



Grading:
quizzes

midterm 1
(week 6)

midterm 2
(week 11)

presentation
(to be scheduled)

final exam		 15%

22.5%


22.5%


15%


25%

 
THE FINE PRINT:
No makeups given due to absence without prior arrangement with the instructor.
No one can pass the course without taking and passing the final examination and performing the presentation.
No incompletes issued except for pressing reasons and by prior arrangement with the instructor.
"A noun's a thing, a verb's the thing it does. The can of beets is filled with purple fuzz."--Steve Kowit
The instructor reserves the right to recognize significant improvement or decline in student performance when awarding final grades.
The maximum amount of extra credit which may count towards the final grade = 5% of the total course points.
The syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor; changes will be announced in class and posted on-line.


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