Exploring the classical world - Audio
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Exploring the classical world introduces texts by Homer, Horace, Juvenal and others, placing them in their social and political context and assessing their value as historical sources. Readings in the original Latin or Greek and in translation illustrate the metric structures used and the challenges of effectively recreating these works in modern English. The material is drawn from The Open University course A219 Exploring the classical world
Interpreting Homer
Reading' classical texts and the differing philosophies of translation, with a dramatised example from the Lattimore translation of Homer's Odyssey.
Homer's people
Metaphor, imagery, characterisation and the portrayal of strong emotion in Homer's Odyssey, with dramatised excerpts from book iv.
Homer's world
The power of the Gods and the nature of Homeric heroes, including a reading from the original Greek and dramatisations from Odyssey book v.
Homer - lost in translation?
Comparing and evaluating translations of Homer, focusing on Lattimore, and the difficulties and decisions involved.
Homer - translation through recreation
Different approaches to recreating the original Homeric experience in prose, poetry and on stage.
Catullus - poetic voices
The love poetry of Catullus and his place in contemporary Roman society, with readings in Latin and translation.
Catullus - political worlds
The role of Catullus and his poetry in political and personal rivalries in the late Roman Republic.
The Alcaic stanzas of Horace
The sounds and rhythms of Latin poetry, focusing on the Alcaic form with readings from Horace's ode 3.6.
Exploring Roman elegiac poetry
The sounds and rhythms of Roman Elegiac poetry, with readings in Latin and translation.