Undergraduate Course: Early Virgil (LATI10006)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will look at Vergil's early works, the Eclogues and the Georgics. The texts will be studied and analysed in detail and interpreted in their literary and historical contexts. |
| Course description |
Vergil's Eclogues and Georgics are both among the most canonical and the most surprising works of Latin literature. They will be read in their entirety (although certain passages of the Georgics may not be required for the exam). A particular focus of the course is the poems' relationship with literary models, above all Theocritus for the Eclogues, and a wider range of Greek and Latin poets, including Hesiod, Callimachus, and Lucretius, for the Georgics. The course therefore provides an introduction to the importance of imitatio as a cultural phenomenon in first-century BC Latin literature and to allusion and intertextuality as a critical approach to Latin literature: it is hence an excellent training for all Honours Latin and Greek literature courses.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Advanced-level ability in Latin language and literature, equivalent to two years' study at the University of Edinburgh (two years' study at home universities may not be enough; if uncertain, consult the course organiser). |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
60 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Degree Examination: 60%
Coursework: 40%
Degree Examination: 1 two-hour paper which will include passages from the set texts for translation and comment.
Coursework: 1 research-driven, problem-oriented coursework essay of c. 3500 words.
Part-Year Visiting Student (VV1) Variant Assessment:
One research-driven, problem-oriented coursework essay of c. 3500 words worth 40%; and one subject area administered exercise in lieu of the Degree Examination to take place in Week 12 worth 60%.
|
| Feedback |
Students will receive written feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Minutes |
|
| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | | 120 | |
|
| Academic year 2026/27, Part-year visiting students only (VV1)
|
Quota: 2 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
60 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Degree Examination: 60%
Coursework: 40%
Degree Examination: 1 two-hour paper which will include passages from the set texts for translation and comment.
Coursework: 1 research-driven, problem-oriented coursework essay of c. 3500 words.
Part-Year Visiting Student (VV1) Variant Assessment:
One research-driven, problem-oriented coursework essay of c. 3500 words worth 40%; and one subject area administered exercise in lieu of the Degree Examination to take place in Week 12 worth 60%.
|
| Feedback |
Students will receive written feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate, in class discussion, coursework and examination as required, that they have read Vergil's Eclogues and Georgics in Latin and have a thorough knowledge of the language, style and content of the texts;
- demonstrate, in class discussion, coursework and examination as required, that they are acquainted with the social and political background of Vergil's early poetry; of the workings of patronage and the production of literature in late Republican Rome;
- demonstrate, in class discussion, coursework and examination as required, that they have an understanding of the literary and social conventions of Greek and Latin pastoral and didactic poetry;
- demonstrate, in class discussion, coursework and examination as required, that they have an understanding of the workings of imitatio in Latin literature, and of intertextuality and allusion (among other themes) in modern literary criticism on Latin poetry.
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Reading List
Vergil Eclogues, ed. R. Coleman (Cambridge, 1977)
Virgil Georgics, ed. R.F. Thomas (2 vols, Cambridge, 1988)
Du Quesnay, I. M. Le M. (1979) 'From Polyphemus to Corydon: Virgil, Eclogue 2, and the Idylls of Theocritus,' in D. West & A.J. Woodman, Creative Imitation and Latin Literature, Cambridge, 35-69 and 206-21
Farrell, J. (1991) Vergil's Georgics and the Traditions of Ancient Epic, New York
Gale, M.R. (2000) Virgil on the Nature of Things: The Georgics, Lucretius and the Didactic Tradition, Cambridge
Hardie, P.R. (1998) Virgil (Greece & Rome New Surveys in the Classics 28), Oxford
Hardie, P.R. , ed. (1999) Virgil: Critical Assessments of Classical Authors (London), vols 1 and 2
Hinds, S. (1998) Allusion and Intertext, Cambridge [allusion is central to this course]
Horsfall, N., ed. (1995) A Companion to the Study of Virgil, Leiden
Jenkyns, R., (1998) Virgil's Experience. Nature and history: times, names, and places, Oxford
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
In order for a student from outwith Classics to be enrolled on this course, contact must be made with a Course Secretary on 50 3580 in order for approval to be obtained. |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Luke Houghton
Tel:
Email: lhought2@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Sara Dennison
Tel: (0131 6)50 2501
Email: Sara.Dennison@ed.ac.uk |
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