Undergraduate Course: The Body in the Ancient World (ANHI10015)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course will explore the cultural construction of the body in ancient Near Eastern, Greek and Roman art and literature and place the findings alongside evidence for lived experiences. Students will be exposed to various conceptions of body-theory and cultural theories and will evaluate how to use ancient evidence to 'read' bodies in antiquity. |
| Course description |
This course examines ideas of the body in terms of gender, sexuality, and ethnicity in the major civilizations of the ancient world, including Egypt, the Near East, Greece and Rome. Students will engage with the methodology of gender studies and cultural studies in order to estimate the importance of the body in the literary and material cultures, as well as the ideologies, of the ancient world. Themes to be examined include ancient perceptions of masculinity, femininity, 'otherness', artistic imagery, and ethnicity as well as detailed examinations of medicine, social space, gymnastics, dance, dress, and nudity. More specific studies will examine ideas of specific body parts: eyes, hands, hair, feet, genitals, as well as themes of non-verbal communication such as blushing, veiling, weeping, and laughing.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should usually have at least 3 courses in Classics related subject matter (at least 2 of which should be in Ancient History) at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, command of the body of knowledge considered in the course;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
- demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
Blundell, S. (1998) Women in Classical Athens. London, Bristol Classical Press.
Brulé, P. (2003) Women of Ancient Greece. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.
Cleland, L., Harlow, M. and Llewellyn-Jones (eds.) (2005) The Clothed Body in the Ancient World (co-editors:). Oxford, Oxbow.
Davidson, J. (1997) Courtesans and Fishcakes. The Consuming Passions of Ancient Athens. London, Harper Collins.
Fantham, E. et al (1994) Women in the Classical World: image and text. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Foxhall, L. & Salmon, J. eds. (1998) Thinking Men: masculinity and its self-representation in the classical tradition. London & New York, Routledge.
Foxhall, L. & Salmon, J. eds. (1998) When Men Were Men: masculinity, power, and identity in classical antiquity. London & New York, Routledge.
King, H. (1998) Hippocrates' Woman: reading the female body in ancient Greece. London, Routledge.
Llewellyn-Jones, L. ed. (2002) Women's Dress in the Ancient Greek World. London, Duckworth/Classical Press of Wales.
Llewellyn-Jones, L. (2003) Aphrodite's Tortoise: The veiled woman of ancient Greece. Swansea, Classical Press of Wales.
Montserrat, D. (1998) Changing bodies, Changing Meanings: studies on the human body in antiquity. London, Routledge.
Roller, M. (2006) Dining Posture in Ancient Rome: Bodies, Values, and Status. New Haven: Princeton University Press
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
In order for a student from outwith Classics to be enrolled on this course, contact must be made with a Course Secretary on 50 3580 in order for approval to be obtained. |
| Keywords | Body in the Ancient World |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
Tel: (0131 6)50 3585
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Chris Giles
Tel: (0131 6)51 4423
Email: chris.giles@ed.ac.uk |
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