As this week focuses more heavily on the history of Rome, I want to give you a different perspective than one you might expect. Although we have spent a lot of time on its mythology and literature, the Roman Empire also stood head and shoulders about other civilizations in terms of grand undertakings, architecture, and technology. For more, see the BBC's academic site. 

Here you can see these monuments come to life in an extraordinary way: people walking down the Appian Way, tourists wandering the Diocletian baths, and even (at least, when I last checked) construction workers building scaffolding inside the Colosseum. Have fun and take a tour!

1. The Colosseum
2. The Appian Way
3. Baths of Diocletian

​Fill-ins for this week will address pages 400-422 of our anthology: 
Ovid's Metamorphoses: Daedalus and Icarus
  1. Why is Daedalus trying to flee Crete? How does he plot his escape? 
  2. What warning does Daedalus give to Icarus?
  3. What is the moral of the story? 
Ovid's Metamorphoses: Pyramus and Thisbe
  1. Why are the main characters separated from each other? 
  2. What misunderstanding takes place at the tomb of Ninus? 
  3. How are their deaths memorialized? 
  4. The Pyramus/Thisbe tragedy is directly featured in one Shakespeare comedy and indirectly inspired another. Can you research which? 
Plutarch, Julius Caesar
  1. Why did Sulla dislike Caesar? 
  2. How was Caesar treated by the pirates? How did he in turn treat them? 
  3. Why didn’t Caesar choose to pursue the highest academic rank under his teacher, Apollonius? 
  4. Why was the new calendar established, and what were its advantages? 
  5. Plutarch suggests that Caesar’s enemies may have had some hand in making Caesar a dictator. What motivation could they have had to participate in his rise to power?
  6. How did Caesar behave as a leader? Give an example. 
  7. Why was Caesar ultimately killed? What was Brutus’ fate? 
Virgil, The Wooden Horse
  1. Why did the Trojans believe the Greeks had fled? 
  2. What did the priest, Laocoon, think about the strange gift? 
  3. What does the Greek prisoner communicate to Priam? 
  4. What happens to Laocoon and his son? What is the result?