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Literary Analysis in the Latin Language Instruction
Marek, Bořivoj ; Kuťáková, Eva (advisor) ; Mouchová, Bohumila (referee) ; Vymětalová, Karla (referee)
LITERARY ANALYSIS IN THE LATIN LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION Literární text ve výuce latiny - PhD Thesis - Mgr. Bořivoj Marek Abstract The secondary teachers of Latin, both Czech and foreign, focus on the language instruction, which they provide with discussions of Roman history and culture to make the lessons more interesting and varied, as far as the limited number of classes permits. The literature instruction, however, and literary analysis, which could achieve the purpose just as well, are mostly omitted, since there has long been a serious lack of theoretical and methodological guides to the didactics and secondary instruction of Roman literature. The aims and objectives of this thesis are manifold. First, the importance of Roman literature is outlined. Then, relevant curricular documents are examined and aims of the Latin literature instruction are defined. Next, the skills needed for comprehending the Latin text are described and methods of selecting a suitable reading material are considered. Finally, an original curriculum of Roman literature instruction is proposed, offering multiple detailed suggestions of how to work with a literary Latin text of various difficulty levels and composed in all the main genres of Roman literature.
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Valerius Maximus and Exemplum
Černá, Julie ; Kuťáková, Eva (advisor) ; Šubrt, Jiří (referee) ; Mouchová, Bohumila (referee)
Valerius Maximus' exempla collection, Facta et dicta memorabilia, has for a long time stayed out of focus of modern literary science. Viewed rather as a practical handbook for orators, it had earned criticism for its allegedly low literary value, especially in the first half of the 20th century. Although this view was later revised at least to some extent, and Valerius was admitted to have literary ambitions in so far that his work was characterized as an original literary achievement of an author who in his collection presented a summary of moral values and standards of his time, the interest in his work has stayed rather fragmented, with researchers preferring to analyze only its specific aspects (such as ethics, religion, historical reflection, etc.). This thesis aims for a comprehensive view of Valerius' collection as a whole against the analysis of theoretical interpretation of exemplum as preserved within the Roman theoretical rhetorical writings. The interpretation is performed by the analysis of the whole, examining the way the entire collection is arranged, through the description of the structure and division of individual chapters, down to the level of the core structural unit, the exemplum. It emphasizes information related to the work's focus or to the inclusion of specific topics that Valerius...
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The Competition of the Dative and the ad + Accusative Construction in Expressing the Addressee in Latin
Knotková, Nela ; Pultrová, Lucie (advisor) ; Mouchová, Bohumila (referee)
The present thesis is concerned with the issue of competition between prepositional expression ad + accusative and unsupported dative case construction in Latin, and on the possible explanations of their usage in expressing the semantic role of the Addressee. Initially, the thesis discusses the wider context of the subject, namely general relation between the case and prepositional system in diachronic perspective, focusing on changes occurring in the spoken variety of Latin and the causes of this phenomenon. Afterwards the thesis presents J. M. Baños' view on the usage of ad + acc. and dative in expressing the Addressee in Classical Latin texts, and a criticism of some of his questionable statements. The last part analyses these expressions based on the occurrences of verbs mittere and scribere excerpted from the chosen corpus (the letters of Cicero and Pliny the Younger), and applies the findings to specify the questionable parts of Baños' interpretation.
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Historicity of the Neronian Persecution: Ancient Sources and Modern Hypotheses
Holešínská, Anna ; Prchlík, Ivan (advisor) ; Mouchová, Bohumila (referee)
This thesis deals with the question of historicity of the Neronian persecution, which supposedly occurred in 64 CE as a result of the Great fire of Rome. Its historicity, which was traditionally accepted by historians, was recently challenged by Brent Shaw. Christopher Jones subsequently responded to his criticism and disagreed with it. The thesis introduces all crucial sources - especially Tacitus, Suetonius and Clement of Rome. On the basis of their information and Shaw's and Jones' arguments it then takes a stand on the historicity of this persecution.
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"Quid bello Punico secundo?" Reinterpretation of Utterances Traditionally Edited as "Quid" in Classical Latin Texts
Ctibor, Michal ; Pultrová, Lucie (advisor) ; Mouchová, Bohumila (referee) ; Mikulová, Jana (referee)
The present thesis deals with the Latin non-verbal topic-introducing construction "Quid X?" (which is more or less equivalent to Czech "A co X?" or English "What about X?") and with the question of its editing in the classical Latin Texts. The main hypothesis of the present work is that in the classical Latin texts this construction is in hundreds of cases misinterpreted as "Quid?" (the X-part being joined to the following sentence) which would make of this misinterpretation the greatest systematic error in the modern editing of classical Latin texts. The first part of the thesis presents formal, functional and historical arguments to support such a bold claim and describes other non-verbal constructions beginning with the word quid, which might be and in fact are mistaken with the topic-introducing construction "Quid X?". The inability of the modern editors to reliably distinguish between different non-verbal constructions is caused by several objective factors, one of them being also the fact that the construction "Quid X?" - quite extraordinary in several respects - is rarely and (if at all) unsufficiently treated in grammars and reference books. The absence of the description of the given construction is itself, in turn, caused probably by the general underestimating and overlooking of small...
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The Competition of the Dative and the ad + Accusative Construction in Expressing the Addressee in Latin
Knotková, Nela ; Pultrová, Lucie (advisor) ; Mouchová, Bohumila (referee)
The present thesis is concerned with the issue of competition between prepositional expression ad + accusative and unsupported dative case construction in Latin, and on the possible explanations of their usage in expressing the semantic role of the Addressee. Initially, the thesis discusses the wider context of the subject, namely general relation between the case and prepositional system in diachronic perspective, focusing on changes occurring in the spoken variety of Latin and the causes of this phenomenon. Afterwards the thesis presents J. M. Baños' view on the usage of ad + acc. and dative in expressing the Addressee in Classical Latin texts, and a criticism of some of his questionable statements. The last part analyses these expressions based on the occurrences of verbs mittere and scribere excerpted from the chosen corpus (the letters of Cicero and Pliny the Younger), and applies the findings to specify the questionable parts of Baños' interpretation.
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Valerius Maximus and Exemplum
Černá, Julie ; Kuťáková, Eva (advisor) ; Šubrt, Jiří (referee) ; Mouchová, Bohumila (referee)
Valerius Maximus' exempla collection, Facta et dicta memorabilia, has for a long time stayed out of focus of modern literary science. Viewed rather as a practical handbook for orators, it had earned criticism for its allegedly low literary value, especially in the first half of the 20th century. Although this view was later revised at least to some extent, and Valerius was admitted to have literary ambitions in so far that his work was characterized as an original literary achievement of an author who in his collection presented a summary of moral values and standards of his time, the interest in his work has stayed rather fragmented, with researchers preferring to analyze only its specific aspects (such as ethics, religion, historical reflection, etc.). This thesis aims for a comprehensive view of Valerius' collection as a whole against the analysis of theoretical interpretation of exemplum as preserved within the Roman theoretical rhetorical writings. The interpretation is performed by the analysis of the whole, examining the way the entire collection is arranged, through the description of the structure and division of individual chapters, down to the level of the core structural unit, the exemplum. It emphasizes information related to the work's focus or to the inclusion of specific topics that Valerius...
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The Last Pagans and Their Position in the Christianized Roman Empire.
Prchlík, Ivan ; Marek, Václav (advisor) ; Mouchová, Bohumila (referee) ; Bednaříková, Jarmila (referee)
In this thesis the process of demise of non-Christian cults - conventionally referred to as "pagan" - in the Christianized Roman Empire is pursued, especially the question, to what degree this termination involved any persecution on part of the Christianized state, or violence on part of a state-supported church or religiously vigorous individuals. One opinion that can be found in scholarly literature holds the demise of the paganism due to the Christianization of the Roman Empire to have been only natural, swift and spontaneous, with the notorious excesses to be viewed as exception of sorts. However, this opinion stands as no conclusion of any systematic enquiry, but rather serves as mere premise to another enquiry. This thesis rounds up a great deal of accounts of the conditions faced by the so called last pagans in the Christianized Roman Empire and the violence against them. It is violence, intended for the quickest possible extirpation of paganism, which the imperial legislation had in any case allowed for; yet plenty of accounts bear evidence of this violence not always having been exercised and when considered on their own, these accounts may create the impression of a Christianized Roman Empire tolerant of pagans in their own right. Nevertheless, a comparable body of accounts regarding acts of...
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Vulgus, populus, turba in Seneca's Moral Epistles
Dittrich, Šimon ; Mouchová, Bohumila (advisor) ; Kuťáková, Eva (referee)
In his Epistulae morales, Seneca as philosopher and teacher guides his pupil towards moral self-improvement. In his teachings, which lead towards this goal, it can be seen that in the process the philosopher must take a position regarding other people whose values are completely different. Seneca terms these groups of people vulgus (occurs 21 times in the Epistulae), populus (occurs 56 times) and turba (occurs 44 times). The negative characteristic most frequently ascribed to all three groups is being subject to error. The highest degree of negative connotation is found in the case of vulgus, whereas populus and turba are judged somewhat less negatively. The measure of negative connotation calculated in percentages and shown in diagrams shows that this degree is lowest in the case of turba.
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Translation and Analysis of the Fifth Book (chap. 1-15) of Orosius' Historiarum libri VII
Marek, Bořivoj ; Mouchová, Bohumila (advisor) ; Marek, Václav (referee)
This paper consists of the translation and analysis of Chapters 1-15 of Book V of Historiarum adversus paganos libri VIII by Paulus Orosius. The analysis is based on a comprehensive commentary on linguistic and stylistic aspects of the texts examined, and on a thorough factual commentary. The linguistic commentary concentrates on the composition of the Fifth Book, on the construction of discourse by the means of particles and other discourse markers, as well as on the linguistic features and peculiarities distinctive for the author, his age and the genre of historiography (such as specifically Late Latin syntax, non-Classical vocabulary, rhetorical figures, tropes and other stylistic features). The factual commentary contains a detailed description of the events mentioned in the text and their historical context. Close attention is paid to the character of the author's narrative, his approach to the historical data, choice of the events that interest him most as well as the way in which the author portraits them as mutually connected. Among the questions important for the commentary are whether he follows the wider tradition of Roman historiography or if and in which way the author's own opinions and persuasions are reflected in his work. This section also comments on the relation between Orosius'...
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