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the Worlds of Roman Women

The Worlds of Roman Women

A Latin Reader

Ann Raia

College of New Rochelle

Cecelia Luschnig

University of Idaho

Judith Lynn Sebesta

University of South Dakota

2005 • 1-58510-130-3 • paper • 198 pages •  8½ x 11 • $24.95  

A reader for Intermediate Latin students at the HS/College level (including AP* students) on the theme of women in the ancient world. Contains introductions of each selection, notes and a glossary and index. A companion website has been designed by the authors to be used in conjunction with the text: http://www.cnr.edu/home/sas/araia/companion.html

|  About the Authors  |  Contents  |  Preface  |

 Description                                            

The transition from adapted texts to original language is a difficult one for all beginning language students, but even more so with Latin students. This reader will provide assistance for the intermediate Latin student and material that will encourage the shift from decoding words to critical reading for ideas and appreciation of language and style.

 Authors                                                    

Ann Raia is Associate Professor of Classics at the College of New Rochelle.

Cecelia Luschnig is Professor Emeritus from the University of Idaho.

Judith Lynn Sebesta is Professor and Chair of the department of History at the University of South Dakota.

      ....there [is] a need for a compilation of texts, solely by or about women—elite and non-elite, slave, freed, free—that would give some idea of the range of activities, concerns, and social roles of women in the Roman period.  ....there was a need for texts directed to the intermediate stage of language learning so difficult for both student and teacher, the transition from reading adapted Latin to reading in the original. ...this text is introduces students to non-canonical authors and works which, because of their difficulty or obscurity, are usually reserved for advanced study.

      ....Cornelius Nepos maintains in his preface that a signal difference between the Greeks and the Romans is that the materfamilias holds the chief place in the house and runs the household amid a large number of people (materfamilias primum locum tenet aedium atque in celebritate versatur, Praef. 6-8).  The texts we considered for this volume showed us anew that women of all ranks were very active  in various areas of Roman life.

      ...Our material has been chosen from every genre and from the time periods from the third century BCE to the second century CE, including such late classical authors as Valerius Maximus and Aulus Gellius, who offer interesting insights into Roman history and culture but are not normally read in undergraduate courses.  Readers will enjoy the great variety of Latin literature in both poetry and prose, from epic to satire, from history to the novel..... 

      This book provides unadapted Latin passages that are for the use of college and secondary school students who have completed a basic introduction to Latin grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. It is divided into Worlds, each introduced by an essay that presents an overview of the status of women in that particular World and introduces the texts contained in that unit. A short introduction to each selection contextualizes it within its source and in Roman culture and introduces the woman or women who appear in it.  Brief profiles of the authors are given in a separate list. A chronological list of the women named in the selections is keyed to the selection that each appears in, and to the author of the selection.  Such cross-referencing will help teachers and students identify those selections that pertain to the Monarchy, for example, or to a particular period of Roman literature, e.g. Augustan, Silver Age.  A select bibliography is also provided with recommendations for secondary schools and colleges.  By preference we have selected for illustration monuments, wall paintings, statues, etc., that are not often seen in the standard works, in order to widen the reader’s exposure to images of Roman women.  The book is designed to be used either as a course text or a supplementary reader.

      Facing each passage is a glossary which is intended to help the intermediate-level student–constructed from our long experience of teaching Latin–to read through the passage in a reasonable length of time with confidence. ....we have glossed or explained those items of vocabulary and grammar that we have found students reading their first texts have most trouble with.  We do not gloss such standard words as capio or audio, for example, unless they are used idiomatically or in an uncommon way.  At the end of the work is a master vocabulary of all the words found in the text, even the most common.

      The notes also provide literary and poetic information (e.g. figures of speech, meter), comments on word order, historical and biographical information, and other useful material. A unique feature of this book is the relevant content combined with sufficient language helps to encourage intermediate Latin students to read extensively and through reading to develop fluency, competence, and confidence in reading Latin texts of great variety.  Our primary goal is to help students read passages in Latin with relative ease, and to concentrate on content rather than struggle with grammar and diction.