Special module: 

Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Watch this video to learn about the seven wonders of the ancient world with Dr. Clara Bosak-Schroeder of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. 

about the scholar:   

Dr. Clara Bosak-Schroeder is an Associate Professor of Classics and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. After receiving her BA in Classical Languages at UC Berkeley, she earned her PhD in Classical Studies from the University of Michigan. Clara works in reception and museum studies, creative nonfiction, and at the intersection of Classics and the environmental humanities. Their first book Other Natures: Environmental Encounters With Ancient Greek Ethnography (UC Press 2020), demonstrates that ancient Greek authors cast humans and nonhumans in complex, interdependent relationships. Clara’s essays have appeared in Avidly, Bellingham Review, Solstice Literary Magazine, and Zone 3. They founded and continue to advise CripAntiquity, an advocacy organization for neurodivergent and disabled students, instructors, scholars, and artists in ancient studies.

Further Reading:

The Seventy Wonders of the Ancient World, ed. Chris Scarre. Thames and Hudson, 2023. 

Natural History: A Selection, Pliny the Elder, tr. John F. Healy. Penguin, 1991. 

And, if you want to do more of a deep-dive: 

Mary Beagon, Roman Nature: The Thought of Pliny the Elder. Oxford, 1992.

Ursula Vedder, “Was the Colossus of Rhodes Cast in Courses or in Large Sections?,” in Artistry in Bronze: The Greeks and Their Legacy, eds. Jens M. Daehner, Kenneth Lapatin, & Ambra Spinelli. Getty Trust, 2017.

Latin Vocabulary 

Words in bold on DCC Latin Core Vocabulary List

Proper Names:

Sōl, Solīs, m. - the Sun god (Helios in Greek)

Nouns:

admīrātiō, admīrātiōnis, f. - wonder, astonishment, admiration

colossus, colossī, m. - colossus, large statue

cubitus, cubitī, m. or cubitum, cubitī n. - cubit (approximately 18 inches)

mīrāculum, mīrāculī, n. - wonder, marvel 

pollex, pollicis, m. - thumb

simulācrum, simulācrī, n. - image, statue

specus, specūs, m. - chasm, pit

Adjectives: 

vastus, vasta, vastum - huge, vast 

Verbs: 

amplector, amplectī, amplexus sum - to surround, embrace

hiō, hiāre, hiāvī, hiātum - to gape

Try using these words in your Latin exercises this week!