Classics

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?

We are accustomed to encountering ‘the sceptic’ as a hypothetical adversary to overcome. The ancient world, however, presents us with a rich variety of philosophers who lived their scepticism – advancing it as a viable and attractive way of life, and developing detailed systems and defences of their positions. Others attacked such sceptics and their scepticisms, and a lively debate raged. In this course, students explore these varieties of sceptical and anti-sceptical thought in the Pre-Socratic philosophers Xenophanes and Democritus, the towering Classical figures of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, the Hellenistic schools of Academic and Pyrrhonian scepticism and, finally, in the anti-sceptical treatises of Augustine and Al-Ghazali.

Chariot racing, gladiatorial combat, athletic performance, often violent, as well as the theatre and other forms of popular entertainment played a major part as spectacles in the lives of the citizens of the Roman empire throughout antiquity. By virtue of their close connections with other central areas of ancient life, including religious belief and practice, economic organization, political power and patronage, or the construction of political and/or ethnic identity, the forms taken by entertainment in any region or period are very revealing of contemporary concerns and values. This course explore the ancient evidence for Roman entertainment and spectacle from the Republic to late Antiquity, including a wide range of archaeological evidence, including art, architecture and inscriptions, as well as texts. It investigates ancient attitudes to spectacles as well as the responses of modern scholars to an aspect of Roman culture which has caused difficulties for advocates of the Classical world as epitomizing civilized values.