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Classics

The study of classics, history, and language combine into a uniquely powerful force as one understands the importance that Roman and Greek cultures have on shaping the heritage of Western civilization. These studies have an intrinsic value as the expression of the minds and spirits of great peoples. As such, classical studies are not presented as an abstract linguistic system, and not simply as an exercise for developing mental discipline, but as a medium of great culture and literature.

Three years of Latin or completing the Poetry course can fulfill the language requirement. Greek is an elective that does not fulfill the language requirement. Students who have previously studied Latin will be placed in the appropriate level class. For others, ample opportunities exist for an accelerated sequence in Latin.

Graduation requirement: three years of Latin or a Modern Language (three credits) or two years completing level IV; typical sequence in Classics is Prose, Vergil, and Poetry; typical sequence in Modern Language is level II, III, and IV.

  • LATIN ESSENTIALS

    Latin Essentials is for students with no prior Latin or only minimal exposure to Latin. The objective of this course is to learn Latin through a fairly intensive study of its basic grammar, with emphasis given to morphology, syntax, and vocabulary. By the end of the year, students are able to read short Latin passages modeled on or drawn from ancient literature.

    Prerequisite: none

    5 periods per cycle

  • LATIN PROSE

    After a comprehensive review of Latin morphology and basic noun syntax, this course introduces advanced noun syntax as well as the forms and uses of the Latin subjunctive. During this review, students read shorter selections of Latin prose from various authors and sources. During the second quarter, the course focuses on Caesar’s De Bello Gallico. Students learn about the historical and cultural background of Caesar’s commentaries, and they are introduced to the skills necessary to translate and analyze Roman literary works.

    Prerequisite: Latin Essentials, or approval by the department head

    5 periods per cycle

  • LATIN VERGIL

    This course will begin with an introduction to Vergil’s Aeneid, focusing on readings from the first half of the epic. Expanding beyond the world of Latin prose, this course emphasizes the poetic aspects of Latin including meter, rhetorical figures of speech, poetic vocabulary and syntax. Students will also begin to learn how to interpret the text both through class discussion and short analytical in-class essays.

    Prerequisite: Latin Prose

    5 periods per cycle

  • ADV. LATIN: POETRY

    This course provides an overview of ancient Roman poetry, with a focus on the enormously creative period from the mid-1st century BCE to the mid-1st century CE. Students read from a variety of authors and genres, but core selections come from the lyric, satire, epic, and love elegy genres of Catullus, Horace, and Ovid. Students practice translating the poems as well as talking and writing about them as complex literary and cultural works.

    Prerequisite: Latin Vergil

    5 periods per cycle

  • ADV. LATIN: EPIC

    This course is intended for students to deepen their experience with the famous epic poem of Augustan Rome, Vergil’s Aeneid. Students translate a variety of selections from the text and may read some selections in English to complement their work in Latin. To appreciate more fully the genre of ancient epic, students will also read selections from Homer’s Iliad in English. Translating, discussing, and writing about the Aeneid are emphasized in equal measure in this course so that students may engage with the literary complexities offered in this canonical work.

    Students may enroll in the fall, spring, or both semesters.

    Prerequisite: Advanced Latin: Poetry

    5 periods per cycle

  • ADV. LATIN: HISTORIOGRAPHY

    In this course, we will study the political and literary career of Gaius Sallustius Crispus, who is better known as Sallust. Sallust rose to prominence in politics only to suffer the ignominy of expulsion from the senate. He then wrote histories that offered a critical assessment of Roman society. In Bellum Catilinae, Sallust narrates and discusses the alleged attempt by a Roman patrician, Catiline, to effect a coup d’état and assume absolute control of Rome. We will attempt to answer the fundamental question: what kind of society could produce a person like Catiline?
     
    Students may enroll in the fall, the spring, or both semesters.
     
    Prerequisite: Advanced Latin IV
     
    5 periods per cycle

  • GREEK I

    This course introduces students to ancient Greek. Students learn the alphabet, study basic noun and verb forms, and begin to acquire essential vocabulary. Readings are simple sentences and short stories modeled on or drawn from ancient literature, sometimes supplemented by unaltered selections from Greek literature. Students also study ancient Greek history and culture as a background to the literature that they will read in subsequent years.


    Prerequisite: none

    4 periods per cycle

  • GREEK II

    This course completes the introduction to the basics of ancient Greek. By the end of the year, students will have mastered the core of noun and verb forms, noun and verb syntax, and a basic working vocabulary. Readings include increasingly sophisticated short passages, adapted or drawn from ancient literature. This knowledge prepares students for reading Greek literature.

    (This course is an elective only. It cannot be used to fulfill a student’s three-year foreign language requirement.)

    Prerequisite: Greek I, or approval by the department head

    4 periods per cycle

  • GREEK III

    After a rapid review of the essentials of ancient Greek, students begin to read extended selections from authors such as Homer, Herodotus, Plato, or Euripides. Students translate and analyze these works in the context of their literary and intellectual history.

    (This course is an elective only. It cannot be used to fulfill a student’s three-year foreign language requirement.)

    Prerequisite: Greek II, or approval by the department head

    4 periods per cycle

  • CLASSICS IN TRANSLATION: PHILOSOPHY

    In this course, we will study several ancient answers to the question “What is a good life?” In particular, we will examine the answers of Aristotle and St. Augustine in depth, and we will also look at the ethical views of Epicurus, the Cyrenaics, and the Pyrrhonian skeptics. We will also study the surprising overlap between ancient Buddhism and the good life proposed by Epicurus and Pyrrho. These ancient systems asked questions that are still relevant to us: how important are altruism and justice in a good life? what is the place of pleasure in a good life? what role do the gods and religion play in a good life? We will study these ancient philosophers both from a historical point of view and with an eye to what they can still teach us today.
     
    This course fulfills the Upper School’s Religion, Philosophy, and Ethics requirement.

    This course can be taken in the fall or spring semester.
     
    Prerequisites: None. You do not need to know Latin or Greek to sign up.

    4 periods per cycle

    Grades 11 and 12
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Located on the Upper West Side of New York City, Trinity School is a college preparatory, coeducational independent school for grades K-12. Since 1709, Trinity has provided a world-class education to its students with rigorous academics and outstanding programs in athletics, the arts, peer leadership, and global travel.