Image: In the first short session of the 2021 summer institute, Dr. O’Connell will be teaching Petronius’ Satyricon (LATN 8010), a tale of sex, food, and money set in first-century Campania. Often identified as a precursor of the picaresque novel, the Satyricon recounts the adventures of Encolpius and his disreputable friends. Much of the work is lost. In the longest surviving section, the wealthy former slave Trimalchio hosts a sensational dinner party where birds fly out of a cooked boar, guests tell stories of witches and werewolves, and Trimalchio acts out his own funeral. We will be reading the entire Cena Trimalchionis, as well as selections from the other fragments of the Satyricon. This plunge into the world of Petronius will improve your Latin, teach you about fiction and narrative technique, and give you a new perspective on Roman culture in the early empire. You will also learn ways to improve your own teaching. Petronius’s Latin features occasionally unusual vocabulary but relatively straightforward grammar, and intermediate Latin students often read adaptations of the Satyricon. Type of News/Audience: Alumni Faculty and Staff Students
