Latin

Course summary

The aims of studying Latin A Level are to: • develop an advanced level of competence with the language; • acquire the language skills which enable learners to read literary texts, both verse and prose, in the original language; • develop an interest in, and enthusiasm for, the literary, historical and cultural features of the ancient world; • acquire the literary skills which enable learners to read ancient literature, both prose and verse, in its original language with appropriate attention to literary techniques, styles and genres; • apply analytical and evaluative skills which show direct engagement with original texts in the ancient language; • make an informed personal response to the material studied; • begin to develop a sensitive and analytical approach to the language generally; • develop research and analytical skills which empower students to become independent learners. There are four papers which form the qualification: • Unseen Translation: This involves translating into English a passage of Latin prose and verse which you have not previously studied. The unseen verse author is currently Ovid and the prose author is Livy. This paper follows on from the language element at GCSE. • Comprehension: You will be given an unseen prose passage with comprehension, translation and grammar questions. • Prose Literature: You will study Book 2 of Virgil’s Aeneid - the story of how Troy fell and how Aeneas escaped with his family and his city’s gods. It is a narrative relayed in retrospect by Aeneas as a refugee at the court of Queen Dido in Carthage, and the A-Level text covers the book’s first two-thirds: the Wooden Horse episode, and the chaos which ensues – including the dramatic murder of King Priam and the death of the Trojan priest Laocoön, suffocated by two snakes. Virgil depicts war in all its ugly complexity, and Aeneas’ response to this is central to the poem’s early exposition. • Verse Literature: You will study Tacitus, one of the greatest Roman historians. His Annals, written in the early 2nd century AD, described the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero, covering the years 14–68 AD. In the text you will study, it is 48 AD and the emperor Claudius marries his fourth wife Agrippina. Little does he know that over the next six years, she will build her power and destroy her opponents until she is ready for her greatest crime – the murder of Claudius himself to enable the accession of her son Nero. Nero’s subsequent decadence and cruelty as emperor culminate in the failed and then successful murder of his mother. Tacitus creates a gripping account of the struggle for power under a weak princeps, involving family rivals, scheming freedmen and servile senators.