New Advanced Placement Latin Resource for Caesar

Christopher Francese, a professor in the Department of Classical Studies, Dickinson College, and a student helper have created a wiki-based commentary on the AP Caesar Latin selections. Based on older school editions, it also includes some digital enhancements (some vocabulary and mp3 audio, maps and tools).

Hadrian's Wall Country in England

There's a wonderful article, accompanied by a visual interactive feature, in the October 2009 Smithsonian Magazine, "Trekking Hadrian's Wall." Follow Andrew Curry's east-to-west adventure along the 84 mile long trail.

If you haven't been fortunate enough to visit northern England, along the border with Scotland, you'll certainly be tempted to book a visit after reading Curry's article.

Be sure to visit the official Hadrian's Wall Country website as well, where you can read about the history of Hadrian's Wall and browse the incredible photographic and video libraries, as well as plan a visit.

Some Advice on Teaching Caesar

Professor William Harris, late of Middlebury College, wrote a short essay Gaius Julius Caesar that is well worth spending some time reading. Professor Harris provides some background relating how he believes Caesar's Gallic Wars came to be the "sine qua non" upon which Latin studies were based in the U.S. in the 19th century. He also gives some advice regarding teaching the content of De Bello Gallico, as well as the technicalities of Caesarian grammar.

At the same site, also see A Note on Caesar as Stylist.

Caesar Tweets!

Would you believe that IVLIVSCAESAR has a Twitter stream? (Okay, it's actually Laura Gibbs of the Bestiara Latin Blog. The "tweets" are based upon Plutarch's Life of Caesar.)

Objections to Caesar from the Past

Some may question whether Caesar is too easy for the AP Latin Literature course.

Throughout the 2oth century, many second year Latin books based their content upon Caesar's Gallic Wars. It is clear that for over a century, Latin teachers and professors have dealt with the question of the place of Caesar's writings in the Latin curriculum.

As early as 1916, Josiah Bethea Game wrote in Teaching High School Latin: "Classes are often not ready for Caesar at the opening of the second year...Caesar is more difficult Latin than its place in the course of study would indicate...It really ought to be given in the third year, for it is the rock on which unnumbered thousands of faithful pupils have gone to pieces utterly." (p. 76)

Moving Caesar to Advanced Placement status may at least allow teachers to finally admit that Caesar is actually quite difficult for second year students.

Another criticism of Caesar is that his material is actually fairly dry and dull.

Game spends most of his time in the chapter discussing second year Latin on how to teach Caesar effectively, admitting that "if you work under a course of study which absolutely fixes the work in Caesar, you will of course be forced to do the best you can." He notes that students don't usually learn much about Roman civilization in a Caesar course and that it is imperative that they spend time reading something other than Caesar or they may end up "feeling that Latin is of limited value." He strongly suggests that students prepare contextual themes to present to the class in order to provide coherence to the course.

Charles Bennett (perhaps the greatest champion of the grammar-based philosophy of teaching Latin) even conceded the weaknesses of Caesar while continuing to support his placement in the curriculum.

He enumerates several objections to Caesar (and especially De Bello Gallico) in The Teaching of Latin and Greek in the Secondary School (1911): "a) Caesar is undeniably difficult...b) Caesar is not interesting," and "c) the bearing of Caesar's narrative is not obvious," (pp. 112-113) summing it all up thus: "Caesar...is regarded by many as unique in its combination of difficulty, its dullness and its dearth of information." However, Bennett ultimately concludes that there is value in reading Caesar's Latin for his "purity of diction" and "accuracy of style" (p. 114.)

Non amo te, Caesar mi...

With permission from Professor Richard A. LaFleur of the University of Georgia, this seems to sum up the reaction of many secondary school Latin teachers to the announcement that Caesar will replace Cicero, Ovid, Catullus and Horace on the AP Latin Lit exam:

"..cum apologiis Martiali carissimo nostro (not least for the metrical fudge in "Caesar"--let's just call that a "systole"):

'Non amo te, Caesar mi; nec possum dicere quare.

Hoc tantum possum dicere: non amo te!'"

Translation: "With apologies to our most dear Martial...'I do not love you, my Caesar; I can't say why. I am only able to say this: I don't love you.'"

(Based upon Martial I, 32: "Non amo te, Sabidi; nec possum dicere quare. Hoc tantum possum dicere: non amo te!")

Julius Caesar Vicit!

Venit, vidit, vicit! (He came, he saw, he conquered!)

Dust off your copies of De Bello Gallico and/or De Bello Civili! (No word yet as to which of Caesar's commentaries.)

According to a recent post to the AP-Latin discussion list, the Advanced Placement Latin Development Committee has announced its plan to create a new two-author AP poetry and prose Latin Literature course. Vergil's Aeneid will remain on the syllabus, but apparently the required number of lines will be reduced. The new prose author will be Caesar.

(The previous syllabus included the poets Ovid, Catullus, Horace and the prose author Cicero in various combinations, in addition to the Vergil exam. The Ovid/Catullus/Horace/Cicero syllabus was discontinued earlier this year.)

Caesar is generally read before Vergil, and was traditionally taught in the second semester of the second year in American high schools especially during the mid-20th century. The Classical Investigation of 1924 prescribed the Caesar-Cicero-Vergil sequence. Many 21st century Latin teachers have preferred not to teach Caesar, for various reasons and many modern textbook series generally don't include very much of his writing. (Caesar tends to show up more often in grammar-based textbook series.) Some object to his focus upon war. Others find him boring. Many believe that Caesar is especially unappealing to their female students. On the other hand, Caesar's writings are definitely easier to read than Cicero's and many introductory prose composition and English-to-Latin translation courses have been based on Caesar. Teachers who want to promote spoken Latin in the classroom may find it easier to discuss Caesar's works in Latin than Cicero's. (Caesar's commentaries resemble "blog posts" from the front, while Cicero's orations often employ many rhetorical devices within a complicated sentence structure.)

Alea iacta est! (The die is cast.) Here are some resources for the teaching of Caesar for those of you who want to get a head start.

Also, check out T.J. Howell's Caesar Classroom resource for some imaginative ideas.

Macquarie University in Australia hosts an outstanding numismatic site, The Coinage of Julius Caesar.

See previous Latinteach blog entries referring to Caesar.

Statue of Caesar Courtesy VRoma.org

The Ides of the Rest of the Months

National Public Radio (NPR.org) is very good about remembering the Ides of March. This year, they ask the question why we never hear about the Ides of any other month...though listeners wondered if the question was answered sufficiently as the expert consulted mistakenly identifies the Ides as occuring on the 15th day of each month. (Edited to add: As it turns out, the expert did discuss how the Ides can be on either the 13th or 15th, but that part ended up "on the cutting room floor" and not in the portion that was broadcast on air.)

The Romans expressed their dates using the Kalends, Nones and Ides. The first day of each month was called the Kalend. In March, July, October and May, the seventh day was called the Nonae and the fifteenth, the Idus. In other months, the Nonae fell on the fifth day, the Idus on the thirteenth. To give dates, the Romans would count backward from these dates. Most Latin grammars (George Lane; Gildersleeve and Lodge; Charles Bennett) include a section on Roman calendar dating. To find out how the Romans would express a date that didn't fall on a Kalend, Nonae or Idus, consult one of these aforementioned reference grammars for more information. It's a bit complex, but not impossible to understand, and these grammars often include quick reference charts for determining dates. The point here is, however, that the Ides don't always fall on the fifteenth.

According to this rhyme from the 19th century grammarians Basil L. Gildersleeve and Gonzalez Lodge:

"In March, July, October, May,
The Ides are on the fifteenth day,
The Nones the seventh; but all besides
Have two days less for Nones and Ides."

Listen to Beware: It's the Ides of March on Npr.org to see what you think.

Since it's the Ides of March, and we're still thinking about Caesar and calendars, it's also worth mentioning that Caesar reformed the Roman calendar, by fixing the number of days in a year at 365, adding a leap day every four years. The Julian Calendar (named, of course, for Julius Caesar) was eventually itself reformed by Pope Gregory XIII in the 15th century. The calendar we use today is called the Gregorian Calendar.

Click here for links to previous NPR radio presentations referencing the Ides of March.

If you have a blog, you can add a Roman calendar to it. Visit Laura Gibb's Schoolhouse Widgets for details.

Recreate Caesar's Legion in Your Classroom!

T.J. Howell has some imaginative suggestions for teaching Caesar, including setting up seating charts to resemble Roman battle lines! There are also suggestions for bulletin boards and props, as well as a bibliography. T.J. has also written two lesson plans, based upon Caesar's Gallic Wars: Decision at Alesia, which explores Caesar's perspectives of the motivations of the Gauls; and Roman Heroics, which is based upon Caesar's only campaign in Gaul that fails.

Remember, the Ides of March are approaching! See past blog entries keyed to Caesar for some interesting resources.

Render Unto Caesar, That Which is Caesar's...

Dexter Hoyos passes along the word that there is a new website dedicated to telling the life of Julius Caesar through coins. Designed and maintained by the Australian Centre for Ancient Numismatic Studies at Macquarie University, Sydney, The Coinage of Julius Caesar is a unique biographical look at the his life, accomplishments, and legacy. There are numerous high quality clickable photographs of coins and viewers can examine both obverse and reverse images via a mouseover. Major highlights include the early career of Julius Caesar, the Gallic and Civil Wars, portraits of Caesar, as well as the influence of the first Caesar upon the coinage of his successors.

A bibliography, glossary and reference catalogue accompany the main site.

This is a particularly interesting site for anyone reading Caesar's De Bello Gallico or De Bello Civili, as well as students of Roman history or ancient numismatics (the study of coins.)

Better Late Than Never! Beware the Ides!

This should have been posted earlier, but the Ides fell on a Saturday this year. Oh well, better late than never...

As most of you undoubtedly already know, according to the Roman calendar, the Ides take place every month on either the 15th (March, May, July and October) or the 13th (all others). The Ides of March are the most famous Ides because Julius Caesar was assassinated on the 15th of March, 44 BC.

National Public Radio seems to take the Ides of March pretty seriously, because they have quite a few streaming audio clips in their archives commemorating Caesar's demise.

• Ides of March After-Party: Roman Drinking Songs?
• Commemorate Caesar: Take a Deep Breath
• The Roots of Caesar Salad
• Brush Up Your Shakespeare
• Ides of March: A Condensed Version of Julius Caesar featuring Orson Welles, ca. 1938

From the BBC comes lesson plans for Sixty Second Shakespeare and a page from the Sixty Second Times outlining the events of the day!

Enjoy!

Photo courtesy of the Vroma Image Archive