Undergraduate Course: Classics (LLLE07035)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 7 (Year 1 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | An introduction to ancient Greek and Roman literature and history. The course will be based on study of extracts from key texts. There will also be weekly study skills tuition and associated exercises, covering reading and writing skills related to the texts under consideration. |
| Course description |
¿ Introduction to Classics: the ancient world and its importance
¿ What is ¿Classics¿? What is its value and relevance to our culture and society in the twenty first century?
¿ Ovid: The Metamorphoses ¿ selected stories
¿ Introduction to myth. How myth works, and its significance then and now.
¿ Sophocles: Oedipus the King
¿ Greek tragedy and its enduring importance. The psychological and political significance of Oedipus the King.
¿ Aristotle and contemporary responses to Oedipus the King
¿ How tragedy works. The importance of tragedy in ancient Athens.
¿ Herodotus and the beginnings of History
¿ The transition from mythical understanding to rational understanding of the past. ¿History¿ and ethnography.
¿ Herodotus and the Second Persian Invasion of Greece
¿ The scale of Xerxes¿ invasion; Spartan military culture and the Battle of Thermopylae.
¿ Virgil and the Epic Tradition/ The Aeneid
¿ The Homeric inheritance, and the importance of the Trojan War in Virgil¿s founding myth.
¿ Virgil¿s The Aeneid ¿ Books 1-4
¿ ¬The journey of Aeneas from Troy to Carthage.
¿ Introduction to Rome in the first century AD.
¿ ¬Roman politics and society under Augustus and Tiberius.
¿ Suetonius on the reign of Caligula.
¿ ¬The ¿Mad¿ emperor, and the psychology and politics of his reign of terror.
This course intends to:
(i.) use Classics as a vehicle for the inculcation of key academic skills and study skills; (ii) introduce students to the study of ancient history and literature (in translation), especially those for whom this is a new subject; (iii) develop students' understanding of the texts under examination, and their wider cultural and historical significance.
The ordering of the course intends to be heuristic, introducing the student to more accessible texts and themes at the start in preparation for more complex texts and ideas later in the course. For example, Ovid is a good introduction because his text is very accessible, yet introduces students to the subtlety and sophistication of ancient myth. This prepares them well for the greater challenges which Sophocles presents at this level. Studying these authors gives students a greater appreciation of the more expansive writing of Herodotus, and of the mythos - logos transition. In this way, it is possible for students more readily to discover for themselves the comparisons and contrasts between texts, within the confines of a 10-week, 10 credit course.
OLL credit plus courses incorporate sessions devoted to specific study skills, to introduce students to the requirements of study at level 7 and above. For this course, these will include:
1. Essay planning
2. Reading a text in preparation for tutorial
3. Reading Sophocles: the challenges of studying a text in translation.
4. Source analysis
5. The importance of context: using existing knowledge to approach a text.
6. Reading Herodotus
7. Note-taking in preparation for seminars and tutorials
8. Seminar exercise (students to prepare a five minute paper on an assigned topic)
9. Seminar exercise ¿ cont¿d
10. Review; building on skills from this course.
Students should be able to demonstrate the learning outcomes in the final assessment.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | N/A |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 18 |
| Course Start |
Lifelong Learning - Session 3 |
| Course Start Date |
16/04/2018 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
78 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
One, 2,000-word essay to be submitted after the end of the course.
Formative exercise of a practice essay submitted mid-way through the course.
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| Feedback |
¿ Students will receive written feedback for their formative assessment practice essay, submitted mid-way through the session. They may discuss this with the tutor; students may contact the tutor for an informal discussion of progress at any time in the session. Students will receive detailed written feedback on their assessed work submitted after the end of the course. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the set texts, their genres, and the periods in which they were written;
- Demonstrate through oral contribution in classes, and through the assessment where applicable, an ability to analyse the primary sources in translation, and to handle critically the secondary sources (in English)
- Demonstrate, through oral contribution in classes, and through the assessment where applicable, an ability to conduct research and to structure ideas
- Demonstrate, through oral contribution in classes and through the assessment where applicable, an ability to organize their own learning and to manage their workload.
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Reading List
Extracts from the set texts will be provided on the tutor¿s website ¿ www.glaucon.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk.
¿ Aristotle, The Poetics. A. Kenny, ed. and tr., 2013. Oxford: OUP.
¿ Herodotus, The Histories. C. Dewald ed., R. Waterfield tr., 2008. Oxford: OUP
¿ Ovid, Metamorphoses. E.J. Kenney ed., A.D Melville tr., 2008. Oxford: OUP.
¿ Sophocles, Oedipus the King. E. Hall ed., 2008. Oxford: OUP.
¿ Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars. C. Edwards ed., 2008. Oxford: OUP.
¿ Virgil, Aeneid. E. Fantham ed., F. Ahl tr., 2008. Oxford: OUP.
Summaries and background reading written by the tutor will be available on the website.
For additional background reading the following are recommended:
Kelly, C., 2006. The Roman Empire: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Poole, A., 2005. Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Roberts, J., 2011. Herodotus: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
¿ Critical thinking.
¿ Handling and analysis of sources.
¿ Oral discussion.
¿ Time management.
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| Special Arrangements |
N/A |
| Study Abroad |
N/A |
| Keywords | Classics Ancient Greece Rome |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Sally Crumplin
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Zofia Guertin
Tel: (0131 6)51 1855
Email: |
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