Randall Ganiban
Professor of Classics
- Office
- Twilight Hall 212
- Tel
- (802) 443-5888
- ganiban@middlebury.edu
- Office Hours
- on leave 2023-24
Professor Ganiban earned his B.A. in Latin from Yale University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Classics from Princeton University. Between college and graduate school, he attended the post-Baccalaureate program in Classics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Professor Ganiban’s teaching concentrates on the language and literature of the Classical world, with a special focus on ancient Rome. He offers courses in ancient Greek and Latin at all levels and has taught authors such as Homer, Apollonius, Callimachus, Cicero, Catullus, Caesar, Seneca, Sallust, Vergil, Ovid, Lucan, Statius, and Apuleius. In addition, he offers an array of Classical Studies courses (with all readings in English): introductory lecture classes on Roman literature, the age of Augustus and Classical epic, seminars on the history of Classical literature, ancient heroism, and Roman epic. (See recent courses below.)
Professor Ganiban’s research focuses on the literature and society of the early Roman Empire, from the emperor Augustus (27 BCE-14 CE) to Domitian (81-96 CE). In addition to his work on college-level Latin commentaries, he is interested in how poets allude to their predecessors in order to create meaning in their own poems, and how writers (more generally) represent and comment on violence and political power under the emperors.
Courses Taught
CLAS 0140
Augustus and World of Rome
Course Description
Augustus and the World of Rome
In 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was assassinated. Within two months his adoptive son, Augustus, still in his teens, traveled to Rome, soon extorted the highest office of the Roman Republic, and after 13 years of civil war became the state's first emperor. The resulting "Augustan Age" (31 B.C. to A.D. 14) produced a period of political change and cultural achievement unparalleled in Rome's long history. In this course we will examine the literature, art, history, and politics of this era, evaluate the nature of Augustus's accomplishments, and explore the Roman world. Readings include: Augustus, Vergil, Suetonius, and I, Claudius. 2 hrs. lect.
Terms Taught
Requirements
CLAS 0144
Literature of the Roman Empire
Course Description
Literature of the Roman Empire
In this course we will investigate the literature, culture, and history of the Roman Empire, focusing on how Romans sought, often at the cost of their own lives, to define the role and powers of the emperor and their place as subjects to this new, autocratic power. Texts we will read include: epic (Lucan), tragedy (Seneca), history (Tacitus), biography (Suetonius), prose fiction (Petronius), as well as early Christian literature. As we read we will seek to answer questions about the nature of freedom and empire, what is gained and lost by replacing a republican with an autocratic political system, and whether literature in this period can offer an accurate reflection of reality, function as an instrument of change and protest, or of fearful praise and flattery. 3 hrs lect. 1 hr. disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
CLAS 0150
Greek and Roman Epic Poetry
Course Description
Greek and Roman Epic Poetry
Would Achilles and Hector have risked their lives and sacred honor had they understood human life and the Olympian gods as Homer portrays them in the Iliad? Why do those gods decide to withdraw from men altogether following the Trojan War, and why is Odysseus the man Athena chooses to help her carry out that project? And why, according to the Roman poet Vergil, do these gods command Aeneas, a defeated Trojan, to found an Italian town that will ultimately conquer the Greek cities that conquered Troy, replacing the Greek polis with a universal empire that will end all wars of human freedom? Through close study of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and Vergil's Aeneid, we explore how the epic tradition helped shape Greece and Rome, and define their contributions to European civilization. 3 hrs. lect., 1 hr. disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
CLAS 0450
History of Class Lit
Course Description
History of Classical Literature
A comprehensive overview of the major literary, historical, and philosophical works of Greece and Rome. Greek authors studied include Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Herodotus, Aristophanes, Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle. Roman authors include Lucretius, Cicero, Livy, Vergil, Petronius, and Tacitus. Required of senior majors in Classics/Classical Studies (see CLAS 0701 below) and open to all interested students with some background in Greek and Roman literature, history, or philosophy. 3 hrs. lect.
Terms Taught
CLAS 0500
Independent Study
Course Description
Independent Study
(Approval required)
Terms Taught
CLAS 0505
Ind Senior Project
Course Description
(Approval Required)
Terms Taught
CLAS 0700
Sr Essay Classics/Cy
Course Description
Senior Essay for Classics/Classical Studies Majors
(Approval required)
Terms Taught
CLAS 0701
Hist of Class Lit: Gen Exam
Course Description
History of Classical Literature
A comprehensive overview of the major literary, historical, and philosophical works of Greece and Rome. Greek authors studied include Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Herodotus, Aristophanes, Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle. Roman authors include Lucretius, Cicero, Livy, Vergil, Petronius, and Tacitus. Required of senior majors in Classics/Classical Studies and open to all interested students with some background in Greek and Roman literature, history, or philosophy. 3 hrs. lect.
Terms Taught
LATN 0101
Beginning Latin
Course Description
Beginning Latin I
The course offers an intensive introduction to the Latin language that prepares students to read the major authors of ancient Roman literature. In addition to their systematic study of grammar and syntax, students translate excerpts from Vergil, Seneca and the Vulgate Bible. This course is designed for students who have had no previous experience with Latin, as well as those who have had some Latin but want to review the fundamentals of grammar.
Terms Taught
Requirements
LATN 0201
Intermediate Latin: Prose
Course Description
Intermediate Latin: Prose
Readings in major authors. Students should have had some formal study of Latin and should consult with the instructor during the first week of classes to determine whether or not the class is at the appropriate level. 3 hrs. lect.
Terms Taught
Requirements
LATN 0301
Readings in Latin Literature I
Course Description
Readings in Latin Literature I
Readings in major authors. 3 hrs. lect.
Terms Taught
Requirements
LATN 0402
Advanced Readings in Latin II
Course Description
Advanced Readings in Latin II
Readings in major authors. . Students should have had some formal study of Latin and should consult with the instructor during the first week of classes to determine whether or not the class is at the appropriate level. 3 hrs. lect.
Terms Taught
LATN 0502
Advanced Readings in Latin IV
Course Description
Advanced Readings in Latin IV: Flavian Literature
Readings in major authors. 3 hrs lect.
Terms Taught
Publications
Books
Vergil: Aeneid 7-12 (co-general editor with J. O’Hara; contributors include J. Farrell, A. Rossi, C. McNelis, C. Perkell; Hackett, in preparation)
Series Co-Editor (with J. O’Hara) and Contributor, Commentaries on Vergil’s Aeneid for intermediate students (Hackett, in preparation):
- R. Ganiban, Vergil: Aeneid 7
- J. O’Hara, Vergil: Aeneid 8
- J. Farrell, Vergil: Aeneid 9
- A. Rossi, Vergil: Aeneid 10
- C. McNelis, Vergil: Aeneid 11
- C. Perkell, Vergil: Aeneid 12
Vergil: Aeneid 1-6 (general editor; contributors include C. Perkell, J. O’Hara, J. Farrell, P. Johnston; Focus Publishing 2012)
Series Editor and Contributor, Commentaries on Vergil’s Aeneid for intermediate students (Focus Publishing):
- R. Ganiban, Vergil: Aeneid 1 (2009)
- R. Ganiban, Vergil: Aeneid 2 (2008)
- C. Perkell, Vergil: Aeneid 3 (2010)
- J. O’Hara, Vergil: Aeneid 4 (2011)
- J. Farrell, Vergil: Aeneid 5 (2014)
- P. Johnston, Vergil: Aeneid 6 (2012)
Statius and Virgil: The Thebaid and the Reinterpretation of the Aeneid (Cambridge University Press 2007)
Recent articles and reviews
“The beginnings of Statius’ Achilleid,” in the Brill Companion to Statius (eds. W. Dominik and C. Newlands) (Brill 2015)
“Vergilian prophecy and the reign of Jupiter in Valerius’ Argonautica,” in the Brill Companion to Valerius Flaccus (eds. M. Heerink and G. Manuwald) (Brill 2014)
“Chiasmus,” “Flight from Troy,” “Misenus/Misenum,” “Neptune,” and “Rhetorical Figures”; appendix on “Stylistic Terms” (6,000 words), in The Virgil Encyclopedia (eds. R. Thomas and J. Ziolkowski) (Wiley-Blackwell 2013)
“The death and funeral rites of Opheltes in Statius’ Thebaid,” in Religion and Ritual in Flavian Epic (ed. A. Augoustakis) (Oxford University Press 2013)
Review of P. Thibodeau, Playing the Farmer: Representations of Rural Life in Vergil’s Georgics (Univ. California 2011), New England Classical Journal (2012) 39.3: 225-7.
Review of A. Augoustakis, Motherhood and the Other: Fashioning Female Power in Flavian Epic (Oxford 2010), Classical Journal (2011)
“The theme of crime in Lucan and Statius,” in the Brill Companion to Lucan (ed. P. Asso) (Brill 2011): 327-44.
“Dido and the heroism of Hannibal in Silius’ Punica,” in the Brill Companion to Silius Italicus (ed. A. Augoustakis) (Brill 2010): 73-98.
Review of V. Panoussi, Greek Tragedy in Vergil’s Aeneid: Ritual, Empire, and Intertext (Cambridge 2009), New England Classical Journal (2010)
Review of J.J.L. Smolenaars, H.-J. van Dam, and R.R. Nauta (eds.), The Poetry of Statius (Brill 2008),Journal of Roman Studies (2010)
“The dolus and glory of Ulysses in Aeneid 2,” in Material e discussioni per l’analisi dei testi classici 61 (2009):149-62.
“Jupiter” and “Venus,” in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome (2,500 words), (ed. M. Gagarin) (Oxford, 2009)