Course Description

Instructor: Caroline Miklosovic

The book has a huge influence on all areas of the arts. including the visual arts, music, literature, film, stage drama and architecture. I will make available film clips and slides for further understanding of the references. There will be selections of poetry with explanations of their classical allusions, to provide a deeper understanding of the literature. I will also include slides of Washington DC with translations of the Latin inscriptions, for example, on January 6th, there was a video clip of a man climbing up the wall of the capitol building where the inscription "annuit coeptis" was carved onto the building. I will provide the translation "He (God) nodded or smiled on our beginnings". It is also on the US dollar bill. The class will make connections with the classical world to provide a broader understanding of the world around us. A further example is the derivation of "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" from the Declaration of Independence, which originally stated "Life, Liberty, and Property'' from the writings of John Locke. Thomas Jefferson preferred the quote from the Roman writer Lucretius'. "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness", and thus changed the Declaration of Independence.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses Humphries Translation will be the major source of the lectures. We will cover 2 myths per class.