IB Latin Part II (HL)

IB Latin HL is a two-year course of study, which meets the Group Two requirement of the IB program. This two-year course of study builds on linguistic skills students have acquired during their previous years of study in Latin and focuses on texts written by classical authors in the original language. Candidates will be able to appreciate the broader aspects of classical texts (including the use of rhetorical devices, meter, vocabulary, and cultural context) and to make a personal response to them. Additionally, candidates will read a wider range of literature in translation, and scholarly articles, as a complement to the study of texts in the original Latin, fostering the ability to collect and analyze relevant information and to deepen their understanding of classical civilization and its essential differences from and similarities to their own. The two-year course (syllabus active through spring 2022) will cover Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the following authors and themes: Villains -Vergil, Aeneid, portions of book 10, Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, passages relating to Lucretia and Verginia; Sallust, portions of Bellum Catilinae; History - Caesar, De Bello Gallico, portions of book VII, Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, passages relating to the Battle of Lake Trasimine. This course prepares students for the required higher level IB examination in Latin, which will be taken at the end of the senior year. The HL Latin exam covers roughly 1/3 more material than the SL exam, and includes a short essay, written in English, that incorporates elements of the syllabus readings, external readings, and scholarly articles.