Latin 510 (Tacitus). Assignment for Week 6 (T 11/10 and Th 11/12)

Germania 16-27

Report on Thurs.: Brandon on the speech of Calgacus

Ponderanda

On Tuesday we will focus on chaps. 16-20: I’d like us to think a bit about ‘the role of women’ in this text. Come prepared to summarize what T.’s views on ‘German women’ are to this point. In what respects do they appear to be like ‘Roman women’? What comparisons do you find with Roman women, implicit or explicit?

Secondary reading (for Tuesday)

Ellen O’Gorman, ‘No Place Like Rome: Identity and Difference in the Germania of Tacitus,’ Ramus 22.2 (1993) 135-54. I’ll send this to you as a pdf.

Come ready to critique this article (this will occupy the second part of class on Tuesday): what did you learn from it, if anything? is the argument clear? weaknesses? strengths?

Optional secondary browsing: A gem of a book, for those interested in exploring the history of the early Germans in greater detail, is E.A. Thompson's The Early Germans.