Goal Fulfilled:
LATN 211, Intermediate Integrated Language & Culture, which I satisfactorily completed during the Spring 2021 semester, fulfilled my Civitae course requirement for World Language Perspectives.
Reflection:
LATN 211 was a direct continuation of LATN 111, in which I participated during the Fall 2020 semester. This course, however, was unique from its prerequisite in a number of ways. Luckily, Dr. Amoss’s hands-on approach to Latin language and culture that I so enjoyed in LATN 111 remained very much the same. But more importantly, and more significantly, the activities in which we participated, the presentations which we created together in groups, and the comparative essays we composed all served a greater purpose this semester.
As a Perspectives level course, LATN 211 was more rigorous than my first venture into Latin at Longwood. The research we conducted throughout the semester was compiled in a final, summative paper on a subject of Roman history of our choosing. I can honestly say that some of my best writing was composed while completing this course. The way in which Dr. Amoss approached his teaching of Latin inspired me to write better and encouraged me to dig deeper into issues I soon realized were dear to me, despite their age. Much of my research focused upon works of satire by famous epigrammatists such as Martial as well as early novelists, most notably Petronius. The Satyricon of Petronius, which I researched extensively throughout the course, could just as easily take place in our modern world as it does in Ancient Rome. The vices detailed by Petronius are so timeless that the writer’s social critiques are just as applicable today as they were at the time of their conception.
My research paper, which I have embedded below as this course’s chosen artifact, deals specifically with the roles played by men, women, and slaves within the domī (family homes) of Ancient Rome. What I realized throughout my research was that these social constructions for men and women, which existed thousands of years ago, still exist today. While masculinity and femininity are not as institutionalized in modern America as they were in Ancient Rome, the Latins’ ideal standards attributed to husbands and fathers, wives and mothers, remain applicable today.
Ultimately, a course focusing almost exclusively on a so-called “dead language” actually taught me more about our modern society than some History courses in which I have participated. Perhaps my favorite thing about Classical studies is that no matter how far back you go, you are always going to find similarities between the ancients and our contemporaries. And that is a most beautiful thing.