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Detailed Assignment for Week 2 (8-12 Jan.)

Read (in the Annals):

☞Book 13.4-5 (Latin); 6-11 (Woodman); 12-14 (Latin)

A couple of words of guidance about the reading:

  • Please make sure you use the Heubner edition for the Latin (and have this with you in class); and Woodman's translation for the English (and you may want to have this in class with you as well)
  • This assignment is what I intend to cover for the week; how much of the Latin we are able to work through on any given day sort of depends...so I'm not going to even attempt to tell you how much to read for any given day.
  • The amount of Latin I'm asking you to read each week is what I consider to be a reasonable amount for a graduate reading class.  Some of you may find it too little (you're always welcome to read more!); some of you may find it to be too much.  If you are in the latter group, read what you are able but make sure you've read anything you don't get to in the Latin in English.

Ponderanda

In this space I'll typically suggest a few things for you to think about in the course of the week's readings:

  • Book 13 covers the first four years of Nero's reign (AD 54-58) and thus covers the bulk of the so-called 'quinquenniun Neronis', a term referring to the allegedly 'good' initial five years of Nero's principate.  Be on the lookout in this book (this week and next) for anything Tacitus appears to consider a 'good' act by Nero.
  • Agrippina, Nero's mother, is a major character here. How, in what you read this week, would you characterize her relationship with Nero?  
  • I am having you read only in English the 'foreign affairs' section of the Neronian books, not because they are unimportant or uninteresting but because they generally appear to be 'digressions', i.e., not relevant to the main events in Rome.  This is, however, not true: as you read the initial 'foreign affairs' section in this week's reading, see if you can detect ways in which they are -- or might become -- highly relevant to Nero's actions in Rome.  

Legenda ad libitum

This is not a graduate seminar per se but rather a reading class, and for that reason I won't require that you read a lot of secondary scholarship or write a seminar paper. However, you may want to -- and indeed, I encourage you to -- dip into the vast ocean that is Tacitean scholarship. So in this space I'll suggest from time to time things you may want to have a look at (i.e., this in entirely optional):

  • If you've not read much or any Tacitus (and even if you have), you might find it useful to have a look at R.H. Martin, Tacitus (Berkeley 1981), esp. Chap. 7 on the Neronian books.  This is a standard and respected study of Tacitus. Here (thanks to Jonathan) is a link to a pdf of it. Links to an external site.
  • If you do not know much about Nero, you might want to dip into one or more of the standard biographies.  Of those in English, the two best (in my view) are M. Griffin, Nero. The End of a Dynasty (Routledge 1984) and E. Champlin, Nero (Cambridge, MA 2003).  Both are available as ebooks through the UW Libraries.  Griffin pp. 1-82 will give you a good overview; Champlin's book is more topical, but excellent and highly readable.  
  • This is a good time to be interested in Tacitus, though one, just-published resource should be on everyone's radar.  This is a massive publication, already essential for anyone working on Tacitus.  You will find detailed information on every character and event (and more) you encounter in the Neronian books:

V. Pagán, ed. The Tacitus Encyclopedia (Wiley 2023) -- the e-version is available through UW Libraries (search for title and then follow link for online access)

  • We'll read other studies of Nero's penchant for murder. This week (correction: actually, next week...but we read this week the lead-in to this event) we will read in the Annals the first and most chilling of these, the murder of his step-brother Britannicus. If you want to flex your German, an article on this subject you might find interesting is:

U. Schmitzer, 'Der Tod auf offener Szene. Tacitus über Nero und die Ermordung des Britannicus,' Hermes 133.3 (2005) 337-57. Hermes is available through JSTOR, which you can access through UW Libraries (this is a resource you should learn how to use and navigate, if you don't already know).  But here's a pdf of said article. Download But here's a pdf of said article.