Classics

The course is an introduction to the study of ancient historiography, itself a crucial element of the study of history, past and present. I.e. the course encourages students to analyse a good number of ancient historians and histories, especially the key figures and key texts in the development of the practice we call history, including Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius, Livy, Cassius Dio, Tacitus, Ammianus Marcellinus, and others. The selection of authors to be studied in any one year depends on the research expertise of staff teaching the course so as to allow maximum scope for cutting-edge teaching based on new research undertaken by staff at Edinburgh.

The course introduces students to the history, literature, and culture of those who spoke and wrote in Greek over almost two millennia beginning in late antiquity, and still do today. The first half of the module focuses on the Byzantine period, from the foundation of the capital city of Constantinople in 330 AD to the conquest of the Byzantine empire in 1453 by the Ottoman Turks (who renamed the city Istanbul). The second half follows the fortunes of Greek speakers during and after the breakup of the empire, and focuses on the building and consolidation of a Greek nation state in the early 19th century, the cultural achievements of Greeks since, particularly in literature, and their troubled relationship with Europe that lies at the root of the financial and social crisis that broke out in Greece in 2010.

This Course provides students with the foundations of the ancient Greek language and prepares them for the reading of original, un-adapted Greek texts in Elementary Greek II and intermediate Greek modules.

This course closely reviews the significance of myths by exploring several topics, such as the relation of myth to ritual or the hero’s quest. The focus is on ‘Classical’ mythology that is, the myths of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Classical traditions are explored within the broader context of myths from all over the world. The primary focus is the questions of what mythology is and what its purpose and significance in society. What are the differences and similarities between myths and fairy tales? What role did mythological stories play in the religious and ritual contexts in which they originally functioned? How can we understand the significance of these seemingly bizarre and often gruesome stories?