| Course Title: Petronius' Satyricon and the Roman Novel |
| Start Date: 01/27/2026 End Date: 05/12/2026 |
| Term: Spring Semester 2026 |
| Description: Petronius' Satyricon is one of the few surviving novels from the ancient world. Formed from a pastiche of other literary genres, including epic, comedy, and satire, it is a vivid account of the adventures of three men as they travel throughout Italy. Though fiction, and only partially extant, its realistic portrayal of Roman life offers a glimpse into the social mores in the early empire. Petronius himself was a member of Nero's court and the Satyricon a product of Nero's promotion of the arts. By giving rise to the picaresque genre the Satyricon's influence continued to be felt far beyond its own day. |
| Distribution(s): I - Humanities , LANG - Language |
| Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate | Credits:4.00 |
| Faculty | Phone | Email address |
| Geoffrey Sumi | 413-538-2277 | gsumi@mtholyoke.edu |
| Meeting Dates | Method | Meeting days | Meeting times | Building name | Room | Frequency |
| 01/27/2026 - 05/12/2026 | Seminar | Tuesday and Thursday | 10:30AM - 11:45AM | SKNR - Skinner Hall | 301 | Weekly |
| Requisite Courses | ||
| Prereq: 200-level Latin. | Take previously | Required |
| Comments |
| Additional Comments |
| Taught in Latin. |
| Course Tags | ||
| CLASS0001 | CLAS: Classical Studies major | This course has been approved to count towards the Classical Studies major and/or minor. |
| CLASS0001 | CLAS: Classical Studies minor | This course has been approved to count towards the Classical Studies major and/or minor. |
| CLASS0003 | CLAS-LM: Classical Studies - Literary/Mythological | This course has been approved to count towards the Classical Studies major in the Literary/Mythological subject area. |
| Cross-listed Sections |
| None |
| Course Availability | ||||
| Section status: Open | Capacity: 18 | Enrollment: 5 | Available: 13 | Waitlist: 0 |
BOOK INFORMATION
| Book List | Required | Publisher Full Price |
| Title: Petronius, Satyricon Author: Ruden, Sarah Copyright: 2000 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780872205109 Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company |
Required | 13.00 |
| Title: Petronius' Cena Trimalchionis Author: Steadman, Geoffrey Copyright: 2018 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780999188439 Publisher: Geoffrey Steadman |
Required | 10.95 |
| Additional Book Comments |
| This is the complete book list for this class. |
| Instructor's comments about the book list: You can purchase Ruden's translation of Petronius directly from Hackett. Here's the url: https://www.hackettpublishing.com/satyricon. Though Steadman's commentary on the Cena Trimalchionis is available FREE as a pdf, I suggest purchasing the hard copy: https://geoffreysteadman.files.wordpress.com/2018/06/petronius-1june18 w.pdf. |