Ancient Literature

OFFERED 2025-2026

  • Time & Tuition:
    • 2025-2026 Academic Year
      • Tuesdays, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm Eastern
      • Seminar with writing tutorial: $90 per month (10 months, August through May)
      • Seminar only: $75 per month (10 months, August through May)
      • NEW! WRITING III SUPPLEMENT: Tuesdays, 12:30-2:00 pm Eastern – Add this supplement if you are taking Ancient Literature but need Writing III to complete the tutorial portion. Tuition is $60 per month (10 months, August through May) in addition to the standard “Seminar with writing tutorial” tuition stated above.
  • Location: Signal Mountain, Tennessee
  • Grades: 9th-12th grades and 8th grade strong readers
  • Prerequisite for tutorial portion: Writing III
  • Pairing: You can pair this course with Ancient History!
  • Description: Through works of ancient Greek and Roman literature, this course examines the great questions humans ask.
  • Assessment:
    • All: Students must complete all readings and daily-work/commonplacing as well as oral exams.
    • Writing tutorial only: Each term, students compose one essay, one other written piece, and one project – choosing between an academic/artistic portfolio and a history-related handcraft. (Students in both history and literature courses only create one project per term.) In December and May, students participate in Defense Day by giving a brief presentation on one of their essays and responding to questions from the audience.
  • FINAL BOOK LIST for 2025-2026: (Hard copies are required; recommended editions/translations are listed below)
    • Homer – Iliad (Recommended: Lattimore translation, ISBN: 9780226470497) <= Needed for the first week of class
    • Homer – Odyssey (Recommended: Lattimore translation, ISBN: 9780061244186)
    • Aeschylus—The Oresteia (Recommended: Lattimore/Grene translation, ISBN: 9780226311470)
    • Sophocles—Three Theban Plays (Recommended: Fagles translation, ISBN: 9780140444254)
    • Virgil—Aeneid (Recommended: Ahl translation, ISBN: 9780199231959)
    • Augustine—Confessions (Recommended: Boulding translation/Ignatius, ISBN: 9781586176839)