HDW Colloquium: A Computational Approach to Latin Prose Rhythm

Understanding the metrical rhythms of Latin prose is a long-standing challenge in classical philology. Groundbreaking advances were made in the early twentieth century—and then progress stalled. In this talk I’ll explain how new computational and digital approaches have allowed us to attack this stubborn problem from a fresh perspective and have, if not remade the field, at least substantially replowed it. I’ll explain what Latin prose rhythm is and why it matters, what we’ve done so far, and what prospects and possibilities remain for the future. (No knowledge of Latin required to understand the talk!).

Write to iph@wustl.edu to RSVP.