Julio-Claudian Literature

Catalog description

The years between the principates of Augustus and Nero are commonly regarded as a "fallow" period in Latin literary history. In fact, this is objectively untrue in terms of both the amount of literature produced during this time and in terms of its influence. If one considers the relationship between contemporary Latin and Greek literature or the evidence for increased institutional support of literature during this period, the sense of its importance increases. In this course we will study the formative aspects of literature culture during the regimes of Tiberius, Gaius, and Claudius and their decisive influence on the Latin and Greek literature of the subsequent Imperial Period.