Latin language learning resources and films
ESSENTIAL
LATIN
(formerly LATIN
BETTER DEAD THAN READ)
by G.D.A.Sharpley, with cartoon illustrations
by Andy Riley
Published by Routledge
Book and (optional) cassette
Latin language learning resources and films
ESSENTIAL
LATIN
(formerly LATIN
BETTER DEAD THAN READ)
by G.D.A.Sharpley, with cartoon illustrations
by Andy Riley
Published by Routledge
Book and (optional) cassette
| “Latin passages are judiciously
gleaned
from the canon of Latin literature ... Each chapter contains a concise
and illuminating account of a subject selected from Roman history.” The
Classical Review Essential Latin leads the reader from the genesis of the Roman empire to the eventual collapse of Latin as a living language, and reveals the pervasive and lasting influence of Latin today. Points of grammar are supported at each stage with specific extracts from the writings of poets, historians, gossip-columnists, satirists, philosophers and literary critics of the time (translations are included). In this step-by-step guide the reader learns from the Latin authors themselves about the civil wars and power struggles of the Romans, their games, their gods, their beliefs, the rise of Christianity and the eventual demise of their powerful empire. |
| CONTENTS: Early Rome, Carthage, Greece, Cicero, Augustus, Family, Occupations, Women, Education, Entertainment, Britain, Religion, Christianity Sample from Essential Latin:
———— The influence of Greece ———— The present day owes a debt to ancient Greece, and in particular to 5th-century Athens, which was governed by the world’s first democracy (demos: people, kratos: power). To Athenians, democracy meant more than turning out once in a while to vote; it meant active participation in public life and debate (our word 'idiot' is derived from idiotes, someone who keeps to himself). The Greeks loved a good argument. We can see this in their literature, from the dawn of their civilization, the poems of Homer, throughout their classical period, the histories, plays, and the dialogues of Plato. This was an extraordinarily creative period, not only for literature but also architecture and other arts. In Athens the whole community enjoyed this creativity; the whole community breathed life into it. There was nothing elitist or self-consciously alternative in their enthusiasms, no distinction between high-brow and tabloid interests. The cultural achievements of Athens in the late 5th and early 4th centuries remain unique. At her most powerful, Athens controlled many of the smaller states in and around the Aegean Sea. Greece wasn’t a single unified country, but a collection of separate city-states, of which the strongest were Athens and Sparta. These two fought a long-drawn-out war in the last few decades of the 5th century, and weakened each other enough for Philip of Macedon to subdue all the Greek cities during the following century. The distant conquests of his son, Alexander the Great, created a new Greek-inspired culture throughout the near east, in Egypt, and all around the eastern Mediterranean. This is known as the ‘Hellenistic’ culture. Works of art and literature were deliberately imitative of the classical period, and it was this Hellenistic culture that the Romans inherited. Visitors to Greece liked what they saw and read, and with no similar culture at home in Italy, eagerly made Hellenistic criteria of good taste their own. (The book gives lexical help with all the Latin passages) Some people, according to Pliny, believed that civilisation,
literature,
and even the cultivation of crops originated in Greece. There were Romans who felt that such refinements as Greece had
to offer
were out of keeping with their own traditional values. These people
wanted
to retain a simple and uncomplicated lifestyle, and, like Cato below,
complained
about those who grew too fond of Greece. This resistance was not successful, though a hundred years
later Cato’s
attitude is echoed by the historian Sallust. Virgil recognised Greek mastery of the arts. He reminds Romans of their own qualities. Cicero had only praise for the culture of Greece. But he was
less sure
about the Greeks themselves. He once claimed that evidence given in
court
by Greek witnesses could not be relied upon. To bring about the fall of Troy, some Greeks had entered the
city concealed
in the famous Wooden Horse. They opened the gates to the invading army,
which then sacked the city. Virgil’s story of Laocoon urging the
Trojans
not to trust the Greeks must have struck a contemporary note. The art and literature of the Greeks were not the only
examples of their
creativity to influence Roman society. Professional skills outside
soldiery
and law were not very highly thought of, and Roman aristocrats tended
to
employ Greeks as their doctors, accountants, architects, artists and
teachers.
Actors were often Greek, and so too were singers, athletes and
performers
of various kinds. There was a mixture of snobbery and resentment
towards
Greeks, because the Romans’ military and administrative power was
combined
with a sense of cultural inferiority; and because Greeks were
displacing
less gifted Italians in profitable occupations. The poet Juvenal scoffs
at their insatiable ambitions: Juvenal, still tongue-in-cheek, now ridicules their acting
skills:
Latin language learning resources and films |