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Classics
The TAS language requirement for graduation is satisfied by completion of Reading Greek and Latin or Honors Reading Greek and Latin. Classics, which comprises the study of the Ancient Greek and Latin languages, along with the literature, art, and history of the ancient Mediterranean world, is a fundamental study in language and culture. At TAS the focus of the program is on giving students the tools they need to become sophisticated interpreters of primary sources for understanding the Greek and Roman worlds.
STUDENT INFORMATION
Students may begin their study of classics in any grade. Colleges are especially impressed by students who have achieved high scores on external measures such as the IB assessments, AP Latin Examination, and the National Latin and Greek Exams. In order to be able to succeed on these exams, students should start their study of classics in grade 9 or earlier.
ELEMENTARY GREEK & LATIN (UCLS01)
Duration: 1 year Credit: 1 Grade: 9-12 Prerequisite: None Homework: Moderate
No previous knowledge is required. The texts are: Wheelock’s Latin Grammar (chap. 1-25) and Hansen and Quinn’s Greek: An Intensive Course (chapters 1-6). Students review major concepts of sentence structure and grammar in English, applying these concepts to their growing power to read Latin and Greek. All three languages reinforce each other, and class time is spent on analyzing English sentences in increasingly sophisticated ways. Students acquire important and interrelated vocabulary in English, Latin and Greek. Students sit for the National Latin Exam and the National Greek Exam. Additionally, students study the early social and literary history of the classical world.
INTERMEDIATE GREEK & LATIN (UCLS02)
Duration: 1 year Credit: 1 Grade: 9-12 Prerequisite: Elementary Greek & Latin (with grade of B or higher) Homework: Moderate
Prerequisite is middle school classics with department recommendation or a final grade of B or higher in Elementary Greek & Latin (upper school). Students rapidly review the first fifteen chapters of Wheelock’s Latin Grammar. Students then study the material through chapter 35. In Greek, students begin with a rapid review of the material in chapters 1-6 of Greek: An Intensive Course, and then continue their study to the end of chapter 15. Upon completion of Intermediate Greek & Latin, students should have a solid foundation in the fundamental grammar of Greek and Latin. Students acquire additional vocabulary in English, Latin and Greek. Students sit for the National Latin Exam and the National Greek Exam. Together with this work, the class conducts a careful review of history and geography of ancient world with a focus on late republican Rome and fifth century Athens, especially art and archaeology.
HONORS READING GREEK & LATIN (UCLS02H)
Duration: 1 year Credit: 1 Grade: 9-12 Prerequisite: Elementary Greek & Latin, and department permission Homework: Heavy
All material in Intermediate Greek & Latin and Reading Greek & Latin is covered in the course of one year. Homework expectations for this course are high. Enrollment is by permission of the department.
Classics Flow Chart
Entry into Level 1 for beginners
Intermediate level leads to Reading level. Honors Reading Greek and Latin (by department permission) leads directly to advanced classes. Entry level for students who have completed MS Classics Elementary Greek & Latin
Intermediate Greek & Latin
Honors Reading Greek & Latin
Continues work from Intermediate level
Reading Greek & Latin
College-level study with independent research.
Advanced classes: IB Greek, IB Latin, AP Latin, Advanced Greek, Advanced Latin, Honors Advanced Greek, Honors Advanced Latin
READING GREEK & LATIN (UCLS03)
Duration: 1 year Credit: 1 Grade: 9-12 Prerequisite: Intermediate Greek & Latin (grade of B or higher) Homework: Moderate
The course begins with a review of Latin and Greek grammar, along with additional study of some more complex structures. Students then begin reading the Latin authors like Caesar, Vergil and Cicero, and selections from the works works of Plato, Xenophon, and Lysias in Greek. Students sit for the National Latin Exam, and the National Greek Exam.
AP LATIN (UCLS04) IBSL CLASSICAL LANGUAGES (LATIN) (UCLS051) IBSL CLASSICAL LANGUAGES (GREEK) (UCLS052)
Duration: 1 year Credit: 1 Grade: 9-12 Prerequisite: Reading Greek & Latin or Honors Reading Greek and Latin and Permission of Department Homework: Heavy
Tantum sapienti sua, quantum deo omnis aetas patet.
“To a wise man, the span of his life is as great as the entire extent of all time for a god.”
L. A. Seneca Letters
Students enrolling in these courses elect to concentrate in Greek or Latin. Some will read Greek or Latin authors in preparation for the IB SL or HL examination. Others will focus on close reading of Vergil and Caesar in Latin in preparation for the AP Latin Literature Examination. All students begin to study prose composition in their selected language(s). Seniors may register for university competitions in Greek and Latin.
ADVANCED LATIN (UCLS07) ADVANCED ANCIENT GREEK (UCLS08) ADVANCED GREEK & LATIN (UCLS09)
HONORS ADVANCED LATIN (UCLS07H) HONORS ADVANCED ANCIENT GREEK (UCLS08H) HONORS ADVANCED GREEK AND LATIN (UCLS09H)
Duration: 1 year Credit: 1 Grade: 9-12 Prerequisite: Reading Greek & Latin (honors levels require department permission) Homework: Heavy
Students and teachers work together to design courses that center around reading a selected body of literature in the original languages. In these classes many students choose to continue their study of both Latin and
Greek. However, some students may choose to concentrate on one language only (usually Greek). Students who focus on Greek alone are encouraged to start learning dialects other than Attic, usually Ionic first , and then Homeric. Advanced classics courses also require the students to gain an understanding of some of the topics related to the works they read (e.g., history, philosophy, metrics, drama, etc.). Students continue their study of Greek and Latin composition. These courses are in content and design equivalent to their college counterparts at the best US colleges.
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT GREEK PEOPLE (UCLS101)
Duration: 1 semester, offered in Semester 1 only Credit: 0.5 Grade: 9-12 Prerequisite: None Homework: Light
An introduction to the history of the ancient Greek world to the end of the Hellenistic Period, this course is based on reading ancient authors and documents in translation. examining ancient artifacts, including architecture and infrastructure, and tracing the cultural and artistic development of Greek civilization. The focus of the course is on examining the emergence and development of a Panhellenic Greek cultural identity. In addition,
Μὴ ζήτει τὰ γινόμενα γίνεσθαι ὡς θέλεις, ἀλλὰ θέλε τὰ γινόμενα ὡς γίνεται καὶ εὐροήσεις.
“Don’t wish the things that are to be as you want, but want the things that are to be as they are, and you will be happy”
Epictetus, Encheiridion Rerum primordia pandam, unde omnis natura creet res.
“I shall make visible to you the atoms from which physics builds all things.”
Lucretius On Physics
students will study the history of Mediterranean archaeology and learn about the most recent developments in that field as they pertain to the ancient Greek peoples.
HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT ROMAN PEOPLE (UCLS102)
Duration: 1 semester, offered in Semester 2 only Credit: 0.5 Grade: 9-12 Prerequisite: None Homework: Light
An introduction to the history of the ancient Roman world to the age of Constantine, this course is based on reading ancient authors and documents in translation, examining ancient artifacts, including architecture and infrastructure, and tracing the cultural and artistic development of Roman civilization. The focus of the course is on the problems that attended the development and spread of a shared Roman cultural identity in the disparate places that were governed from Rome. In addition, students study the history of Mediterranean archaeology and learn about the most recent developments in that field as they pertain to the history of Rome.
