Noble and Greenough School Course Catalog

Students in this course learn all of the fundamentals of Latin grammar, acquire a basic vocabulary, and develop translation skills. Students are introduced to key topics such as the case system, verb conjugations, and a variety of tenses. Cultural topics range from Roman dress and houses to gods and chariot racing.

Students in this course continue their study of Latin grammar and vocabulary. Following a thorough review of Latin I, we will use thematic readings set in first-century Rome to encounter and learn more grammatical concepts, including participles, indirect discourse, and ablative absolute. In addition to grammar, students study the culture and history of Rome, as well as various contrasts between the ancient and modern worlds.

Latin III invites students to refine their mastery of Latin grammar and syntax while building confidence in reading and interpreting Latin literature. Through close observation and analysis of linguistic evidence, students strengthen their understanding of the language and prepare to engage with unadapted texts in advanced levels. The course begins with a focused review of key material from Latin I and II, ensuring a solid foundation before introducing more complex grammatical concepts. Students explore selections of prose and poetry from authors such as Petronius, Vergil, Catullus, and Horace, along with modern Latin novellas, developing both comprehension and personal responses to the texts. Additionally, the course delves into the historical and cultural context of classical authors and includes a brief survey of Latin literature. By the end of Latin III, students are equipped with the skills and knowledge to transition confidently to higher-level studies of the language.

Students in this course will continue to strengthen their understanding of grammar, syntax, and rhetorical devices. In addition, they will further expand their vocabulary as they become more proficient readers of Latin. Offered every other year, this course is devoted to the study and analysis of advanced Latin poetry. Students will finally study the works of female Latin poets, as well as read inscriptions on tombs and monuments, curses written on shards of pottery, and even some ancient graffiti. Finally, students will dig into some more modern Latin: reading novellas and intermediate-level stories written by modern Latinists. Authors to be studied include writers such as Vergil, Ovid, Horace, Martha Marchina, Catullus, and Sulpicia.

Offered every other school yr: 26-27, 28-29, 30-31.

Students in this course will continue to strengthen their understanding of grammar, syntax, and rhetorical devices. In addition, they will further expand their vocabulary as they become more proficient readers of Latin. Offered every other year, this course is primarily devoted to Latin prose. Authors to be studied can include the historian Livy and the orator Cicero, both of whose works may be enhanced by the study of related poets.

Offered every other school yr: 25-26, 27-28, 29-30.

Latin IV Honors students continue to develop their confidence in reading Latin through a close study of prose and poetry. Students will expand their vocabulary and refine their understanding of grammar and syntax. The Latin reading selections offer students an opportunity to learn about the historical context and cultural patterns in the ancient Roman world. Students will understand how ancient writers use language and structure to convey a particular message, theme, or tone. The course is designed to give students a strong appreciation of the art of translation and to teach students how to think critically and write effectively about Latin literature. Students will read selections from Sallust, Cicero, Catullus, Ovid, and Vergil.

In this intensive, fast-paced course students read the Latin of two of the most famous and influential Roman authors, Gaius Julius Caesar and Publius Vergilius Maro. One is a general and a politician, the other, a poet. One writes about his own ordeals, the other about a legendary hero. Both confront ideas of leadership, imperialism, duty, and views of the “other.” Readings in The Aeneid and the Gallic Wars follow the AP syllabus and push students to hone their knowledge of and facility with the language, to increase their reading proficiency, and to add sophistication and depth to their analysis.

In this course, students will learn the basics of Attic Greek, focusing on form recognition, vocabulary acquisition, and reading proficiency. In addition, students will engage with the highly influential Greek culture including mythology, history, philosophy, and literature. Previous study of Latin is helpful but not required.

Homer’s Odyssey sings of a famous journey home and inspired one of the most familiar tropes in literature. Herodotus’ Histories is one of the first forays into the crafting of history. Together, they represent monumental treatments of the Aegean world and continue to speak to us today as we endeavor to understand the world around us. As classicists, we aim to piece together plausible understandings of the ancient world from careful consideration and combinations of imperfect sources. In this course, we examine various sources that evoke the ancient world–literature, history, topography, and the treasures of the archaeological record, including pottery, statues, coins, and architecture. In addition to close readings of Homer and Herodotus, we also engage archaeological questions with hands-on activities. How do we appreciate the words of the authors within the world around them? What can we still learn about the natural world, human interactions, and a life well lived? And, as we use the technology of today to connect with the past, we also have to ask: are we growing closer to the world of the Ancient Greeks with every passing year?

O tempora, O mores! So opined Cicero in the First Catilinarian–a call of distress and moral decline as the Roman Republic teetered on the brink.

Rome had enjoyed a storied past, and for centuries after Cicero, Rome would continue to inspire the world with its military sophistication, engineering feats, and ability to govern vast swaths of territory. Forward progress was often tempered with a backward glance, as we will see in Vergil’s Aeneid, Livy’s Early History of Rome, and many other selections of history, literature, art and architecture. Rome was a city founded by Aeneas, a vanquished Trojan in exile; a city first ruled by Romulus, abandoned as an infant, raised by a wolf, who killed his brother, and set a dangerous precedent for fratricide and civil strife from the outset. Beautiful and bellicose, we will chart the course of Rome, from Troy to today. Along the way, we will come to understand the aims of our historians, who invite contemplation of our human condition thus: “in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find for yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things, rotten through and through, to avoid.” In this course we will examine how we perceive vestiges of the Romans in our current society, as well as how the Romans themselves perceived vestiges of their own past. What were the customs that formed the “original” Roman mindset? What caused later Romans to stray from those ideals? Was the past truly more ideal, or was this simply a fanciful trope of Roman rhetoric?