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Overview

Papers belonging to Schedule F feature topics in Greek and Latin Literature (FA), Ancient Philosophy (FB), Ancient History (FC), Classical Art and Archaeology (FD), Classical Philology and Linguistics (FE), Interdisciplinary Classics and Classical Reception (FX), and require no specific engagement with Greek and/or Latin texts.

 

Scope and structure of the examination in 2023-24

Each Schedule F paper requires candidates to write one submitted essay, chosen from the a list of titles to be released on the Monday of Week 8 of Lent Term. The essay must be submitted by 12 noon on the Monday of Week 5 of Easter Term. There is a word limit of 2,500 words for each essay, including notes, but excluding bibliography. For these essays, candidates will receive no supervision. Candidates will have to declare that each submitted essay is their own work, and does not contain material already used to any substantial extent for a comparable purpose. Essays must be word processed (1.5 spacing) unless permission has been obtained from the Faculty Board to present them in handwritten form. The style of presentation, quotation and reference to books, articles and ancient authorities should be consistent and comply with the standards required by a major journal (such as The Cambridge Classical Journal).

 

FA papers (Greek and Latin Literature)

There will be no FA papers in 2023-24.

 

FB papers (Ancient Philosophy)

FB1 PLATO PHAEDO

PROF. G BETEGH
(8L: Lent)

COMBINATION REQUIREMENT: candidates offering this paper cannot offer EB1 Plato Phaedo as well (lectures will be shared).

Aims and objectives

  1. To introduce a central work of philosophy in ancient Greek.
  2. To introduce current techniques of philosophical analysis.
  3. To enable students to evaluate sympathetically philosophical positions and arguments with which they may not agree.

Course Description

The Phaedo is a literary and philosophical classic, portraying Socrates’ final conversation, directly before his execution, as a defence of the soul’s immortality. It contains a series of celebrated but controversial arguments, as well as a myth of the afterlife, and is also a major source for Plato’s Theory of Forms.

Read the text in advance and bring a copy to the lectures.

Content note: The first two lectures discuss arguments about suicide.

Introductory readings

  • Bostock, D., Plato’s Phaedo (Oxford, 1986)
  • Ebrey, D. Plato’s Phaedo: Forms, Death and the Philosophical Life (Cambridge, 2023)

Recommended editions/commentaries of texts

  • Greek text, edited by C. Strachan, in vol. 1 of the Oxford Classical Text of Plato (Oxford 1995), or in the edition by C.J. Rowe (Cambridge 1993), which also has a very helpful commentary.
  • English translation in D. Sedley and A. Long, Plato, Meno and Phaedo (Cambridge 2011), or in D. Gallop, Plato, Phaedo (Oxford 1975). The latter includes an excellent philosophical commentary.

Further reading, and analytic handouts, will be provided at the lectures.

 

FB2 CICERO ON FATE AND HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHY

DR L. CASTELLI
(8L: Michaelmas)

COMBINATION REQUIREMENT: candidates offering this paper cannot offer EB2 Cicero On Fate and Hellenistic philosophy as well.

Aims and objectives

  1. To introduce a central work of philosophy in Latin.
  2. To introduce current techniques of philosophical analysis.
  3. To enable students to evaluate sympathetically philosophical positions and arguments with which they may not agree.

Course Description

On Fate (De Fato) is one of Cicero’s philosophical dialogues designed to provide a comprehensive account in Latin of the state of philosophical inquiry.  It sets out Stoic and Epicurean views about the nature of moral responsibility and the explanation for voluntary action against the background of their respective physical theories, their views of necessity and possibility, and their understanding of the logic of future-tensed statements.  It offers an introduction to those long-standing philosophical questions, the Hellenistic philosophical landscape, and the sceptical Academic stance that Cicero prefers.

Read the text in advance and bring a copy to the lectures.

Introductory readings

Relevant context and further texts are found in A. A. Long and D. N. Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers (Cambridge, 1987), sections 20, 38, 62 .

You can familiarise yourself with the protagonists of this course by reading the relevant sections of The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics (chs. 3, 5, 6, 7), The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism (chs. 5 and 8), and The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Scepticism (chs. 3–6, 7, 8, 11).

Recommended editions/commentaries of texts

The Loeb edition with translation by H. Rackham or the translation in the edition by R. W. Sharples (Aris and Phillips 1991), which also has a very helpful commentary.

Further reading, and analytic handouts, will be provided at the lectures.

 

FB3 ARISTOTLE - THE GREATEST HITS

DR C KEIME
(8L: Lent)

Aims and objectives

  1. To introduce one of the greatest philosophers.
  2. To introduce current techniques of philosophical analysis.
  3. To enable students to evaluate sympathetically philosophical positions and arguments with which they may not agree.

Course Description

Aristotle is often thought of as the thinker who brought philosophy back to ‘the real world’ following the metaphysical flights of Plato’s theory of Forms, which he famously rejected and criticised explicitly. The main constituents of reality for him were identifiable substances (ousiai), primarily animals and plants, and he developed a conceptual toolbox for their analysis, including his celebrated ten categories and four causes, as well as his analysis of substances into form and matter (hylomorphism). The development and presentation of these key ideas will be a central component of this course, as will Aristotle’s answers to fundamental questions such as: What is nature? What is human nature? What distinguishes human beings from other living beings?  What is the relationship between soul and body? How can human beings get to know the world? How can we be happy and how can we realise our full potential? The answers he offers create one of the most comprehensive, systematic and durable philosophies ever known in intellectual history, covering everything from living organisms to literary texts.

Introductory readings

This course builds on the introductory lectures on Aristotle’s ethics in Part 1a, and enables students to situate his ethical thought within the broader context of his philosophy. A good way to get a taste before you start is to read Jonathan Barnes, Aristotle: a very short introduction (Oxford University Press).

Further introductory reading:

  • Lear, J., Aristotle: The Desire to Understand, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
  • Shields, C., Aristotle, London: Routledge, 2007.
  • The course will make reference to a range of Aristotle’s works, including: Categories, Physics (book 2), Metaphysics (books 1 and 7 = A and Z), De anima, Parts of Animals (book 1), Nicomachean Ethics.
  • They are all included in The Complete Works of Aristotle. The Revised Oxford Translation ed. J. Barnes, which is available online.

 

FB4 EARLY GREEK PHILOSOPHY

PROF G. BETEGH
(8L: Michaelmas)

Aims and objectives

  1. To introduce the variety and scope of the thoughts of early Greek philosophers within their historical and cultural context.
  2. To introduce current techniques of philosophical analysis.
  3. To enable students to evaluate sympathetically philosophical positions and arguments with which they may not agree.

Course Description

The earliest Greek philosophers put forward startling ideas about the world and supported these ideas by powerful arguments. These views and arguments had a lasting effect on the subsequent history of Greco-Roman philosophy, and beyond. Building on the introductory lectures on early Greek Philosophy in Part IA, this course focuses on the second main period of Pre-Platonic philosophy. We start with Parmenides’ startling argument, presented as the teaching of a goddess, that since ‘what is not’ cannot be, we must also deny the possibility of change and plurality. We will begin by examining this argument, perhaps the earliest Greek example of sustained deductive reasoning. We will continue by looking at the arguments that Zeno devised to show that those who rejected Parmenides’ argument were committed to no less paradoxical claims about the possibility of plurality and motion. Then we will consider the theories of thinkers – Empedocles, Anaxagoras and Democritus – who apparently accepted the force of Parmenides’ arguments, but still wanted to maintain that we are not mistaken when we think that there is change and plurality in the world. We will consider how these thinkers approached questions such as the nature of reality and the possibility of humans acquiring knowledge of it.

Introductory readings

A.A. Long (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy (1999), J. Warren, Presocratics (2007), G.S. Kirk, J.E. Raven & M. Schofield, The Presocratic Philosophers (1983, 2nd ed.), and M. Sassi, The Beginnings of Philosophy in Greece (2018).

 

FC papers (Ancient History)

FC1 THE INEQUITABLE COSMOS OF ARCHAIC AND CLASSICAL GREECE

PROF R. OSBORNE
(8L: Lent)

Aims and objectives

  1. To introduce the wide range of social and economic circumstances experienced by difference groups within the Greek world;
  2. To draw attention to the wide range of different source material that must be deployed in order to access the full range of ancient Greek social and economic history
  3. to ensure that groups which do not get much attention in political history are properly taken into account in a holistic view of the world of the Greek city-state.

Course Description

The lectures will cover the following topics:

  1. How do we define inequality and measure it in antiquity.
  2. The making of Hellas: the ‘Greeks’ and the ‘others’. Race and ethnicity in the Greek world.
  3. Inequitable constitutions: tyrannies, oligarchic power, and the case of Sparta
  4. Athenian democracy and its discontents: equality of speech and equality before the law –political participation and representation, demagogues and ‘sycophants’.
  5. Production and exploitation in the Greek world: class, poverty, labour, distribution of wealth, modes of production.
  6. The lives of the unfree: Greek slavery at Gortyn, Sparta, Athens.  
  7. Gender at work: inequalities in the family and between genders.
  8. Cultural and cultic inequalities: issues of literacy, cultural inequality, control of literature and interpretation, and the question of interpretive authority in respect to divine matters (oracles; priesthood and class; philosophy and prophecy).

Content note: Greek attitudes to race and ethnicity are discussed in lecture 2.

Introductory readings

  • P. Cartledge, The Greeks: A Portrait of Self and Others, 2nd ed. (2002)
  • JACT The World of Athens Revised edition (2008)
  • R. Osborne ed., Classical Greece (Oxford Short History of Europe, vol.1) (2000)
  • M Whitby ed. Sparta. Edinburgh Readings on the Ancient World (2002)
  • P. Cartledge The Spartans. An Epic History, 2nd edn (2003)
  • P. Hunt Slavery in Ancient Greece and Rome (2018)
  • K. Bradley & P. Cartledge (eds) The Cambridge World History of Slavery. Volume I: The Ancient Mediterranean World (2011).
  • W. Scheidel, I. Morris, R. Saller eds. The Cambridge Economic History of the Graeco-Roman World (2007)

 

FC2 RES PUBLICA - INEQUALITY AND SOCIAL CHANGE IN THE ROMAN WORLD

DR L. NICCOLAI
(8L: Michaelmas)

Aims and objectives

  1. To explain the complicated social and political structure of the Roman Republic and Principate
  2. To explore the human basis of the Roman economy and the place of slave labour
  3. To show how Roman law can be used as evidence, and the social history it enables.
  4. To shed light on the place of cult and religion in Roman politics and society.

Course Description

The lectures will cover the following topics:

  1. Political representation in the Roman Republic: class structure; patricians and plebeians
  2. The economy of the imperium: sources of income, distribution of labour, enrichment of landowners and traders.
  3. Human revenue: the Roman slave trade – subjugation, enslavement, economic exploitation of slaves, slave revolts?
  4. Social mobility and social upheaval in the crisis of the late Republic
  5. The imperial order: rewriting social dynamics, old and new inequalities under the principate
  6. Sacred hierarchies: cult and society in imperial Rome
  7. The rule of law: Roman law as describing and prescribing inequalities – citizenship; women; slaves and freedmen.
  8. Othering and acculturation in the ‘global empire’: how different ethnicities and races are spoken of and accommodated within the Roman empire; representation, rhetoric, and acculturation.

Introductory readings

  • P. Hunt Slavery in Ancient Greece and Rome (2018)
  • K. Bradley & P. Cartledge (eds) The Cambridge World History of Slavery. Volume I: The Ancient Mediterranean World (2011).
  • W. Scheidel, I. Morris, R. Saller eds. The Cambridge Economic History of the Graeco-Roman World (2007)
  • P. Garnsey and R. Saller, The Roman Empire (second revised edition, 2014)
  • M. Peachin ed., The Oxford Handbook of Social Relations in the Roman World (2011)
  • A. Giardina ed., The Romans, trans. L.G. Cochrane (1989)

 

FD papers (Classical Art and Archaeology)

FD1 MYCENAE - CITY OF LEGEND?

DR Y. GALANAKIS
(8L: Lent)

Aims and objectives

  1. To introduce students to one of the most celebrated sites of classical antiquity through the lens of critical historiography and reception studies
  2. To familiarise students with different art and archaeological datasets, especially in periods with limited or no textual records
  3. To allow students to become familiar with archaeological theory and practice, from excavation to interpretation

Course Description

Mycenae is one of the most important cities of the ancient world. Following the excavations and dazzling discoveries there of Heinrich Schliemann in the 1870s, Mycenae became one of the most important type-sites for the archaeology of the Bronze Age Aegean, paving the way for the systematic exploration of Greece's rich pre-classical past. Known in Homer as 'rich in gold' and immortalised in ancient Greek literature as the capital of Agamemnon, Mycenae has long been vested in a legendary aura.

This course examines in detail the site's history, art and archaeology from its earliest Neolithic beginnings down to its modern rediscovery. Among the aims of the course is to familiarise students with sources, methods, and tools available to us today that can help us reconstruct and understand the history and significance of a site over time.

As part of the course, we will explore the identity and power base of Mycenae's elite, through exploring high status artefacts, monumental architecture, iconography, and evidence for cult activity. The 'shaft graves' as well as Mycenae's palace, administration and industries are discussed, along with the few – yet highly informative – Linear B documents. The modern rediscovery of Mycenae by the western world is set alongside Schliemann's methods and practices and the impact his work had on modern scholarship, especially with regard to understanding Greece's Bronze Age past.

With the Faculty of Classics holding the Mycenae Excavations Archive (https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/mycenae) and remarkable collections of Mycenaean potsherds, one of the lectures focuses specifically on archival archaeology and how to reconstruct a site’s histories by doing archaeology in reverse: from archival documentation back to the archaeological trenches and from there to interpretation.

Introductory readings

  • E. French, Mycenae. Agamemnon's Capital (Stroud, 2002)
  • Gere, C. The Tomb of Agamemnon: Mycenae and the Search for a Hero (London, 2006)
  • Wardle, K.A. and D. Wardle, Cities of Legend. The Mycenaean World (Bristol, 2001 repr.)
  • C. Shelmerdine, The Cambridge Companion to the Aegean Bronze Age (Cambridge, 2008).

*There is also a well-illustrated, introductory, online catalogue free to browse and/or download as a .pdf: https://www.latsis-foundation.org/content/elib/book_27/mycenae_en.pdf

 

FD2 THE WORLD OF THE GREEK SYMPOSIUM

PROF M. SQUIRE
(7L, 1C[2hr]: MIchaelmas)

Aims and objectives

The course aims to equip students with a range of intellectual, practicable and transferable skills appropriate to a Part IB course. In particular, students will be able to demonstrate:

  • a knowledge and understanding of the Greek symposium and its historical, social and political importance, using a variety of primary archaeological materials;
  • in particular, a knowledge and understanding of the various forms, styles and subjects of sympotic pottery, especially Attic pottery between the sixth and early fourth centuries (‘black figure’ and ‘red figure’);
  • a knowledge and understanding of different scholarly approaches to this material and their broader intellectual historical contexts;
  • a critical understanding of changes in vase-painting form and iconography (including subjects and styles, between the sixth and fifth centuries), at an appropriate level for a Part IB course, and an evaluative awareness of how such developments relate to broader social, cultural and political developments;
  • an ability to identify and critically analyse a range of different archaeological materials, and to assess their diverse contributions as historical evidence;
  • an ability to engage with the subject in a systematic and thematic way, making connections between different types of evidence and intellectual approaches;
  • an ability, developed both through lectures and supervision(s), to formulate coherent written and oral responses to the issues, themes, concepts and challenges;
  • an ability to apply to the topic ideas and approaches gained from other Part IA/Part IB courses and papers, as well as to apply in turn insights from this course to other areas of study;
  • an ability to articulate their own views through sustained and structured argument, derived not only from material discussed in lectures and supervision(s) but especially through their own guided independent learning.

Course Description

The symposium (literally a ‘drinking together’) was one of the most important cultural institutions of Archaic and Classical Athens. We know about it from a variety of Greek literary texts. But what actually happened at the symposium? What social, political and cultural functions did it fulfil? And how did this topsy-turvy world of the symposium at once subvert and reinforce contemporary ideas and values?

This interdisciplinary course explores the world of the symposium through a range of archaeological materials. The primary focus, though, is on Athenian painted pottery – that is, the imagery that framed the very vessels that symposiasts used. Proceeding thematically, and with an eye to the different ways in which this material has been studied, we will explore how vase-painting actively constructed the symposium within the Greek cultural imaginary. Topics range from depictions of sex and drinking games to cultural ideas about the gods, myth, intoxication and identity politics. Along the way, we will also be looking at domestic archaeology (the space of the andron within the Greek house), as well as its broader material cultural adornment. More generally, we will be asking how classical archaeologists might best approach such materials within the larger project of Greek social, political and cultural history.

Introductory readings

  • C. Bérard (ed.) (1989) A City of Images: Iconography and Society in Ancient Greece
  • J. Boardman (2001) The History of Greek Vases: Potters, Painters and Pictures
  • M. L. Catoni (2010) Bere vino puro: immagini del simposio
  • H. M. Franks (2018) The World Underfoot: Mosaics and Metaphor in the Greek Symposium
  • F. Hobden (2013) The Symposion in Ancient Greek Society and Thought
  • F. Lissarrague (1990) The Aesthetics of the Greek Banquet: Images of Wine and Ritual, trans. A. Szegedy-Maszak
  • O. Murray (ed.) (1990) Sympotica: A symposium on the symposion
  • R. T. Neer (2002) Style and Politics in Athenian Vase-Painting: The Craft of Democracy
  • R. Osborne (2018)The Transformation of Athens: Painted Pottery and the Creation of Classical Greece
  • T. Rasmussen and N. Spivey (eds.) (1992) Looking at Greek Vases
  • A. Steiner (2007) Reading Greek Vases
  • K. Topper (2012) The Imagery of the Athenian Symposium

 

FD3 US & THEM: THE PARADOX OF THE ROMAN ECONOMY

DR A. LAUNARO
(8L: Michaelmas)

Aims and objectives

  1. To explore a wide range of Roman material culture in the context of its production, distribution and consumption
  2. To introduce students to some key aspects and problems of the archaeology of the Roman empire
  3. To introduce a range of theoretical and practical approaches to the study of the ancient economy in general, and more specifically in its Roman dimension

Course Description

The wondrous achievements of Roman architecture and the lavish expenditure in works of art that came along with it still lie before our very eyes. When one considers, however, that atmospheric pollution levels at the height of the Roman Empire could rival those of the early Industrial Revolution, that Roman trade extended far across the Indian Ocean and that the city of Rome harboured a population of a million people, it becomes clear that this must have been the result of quite a unique combination of specific conditions. Indeed archaeology suggests that similar patterns had not occurred before and – most importantly – were in fact not to be seen again for more than a thousand years afterwards. This awareness cannot but raise very important questions about the relationship between ‘ancient’ and ‘modern’. Acknowledging the significance and extent of actual similarities makes it even more important to properly define and explain the nature of the differences: what – if anything – made them different from us?

The aim of this course is to explore this intriguing question by critically reviewing the varied array of available evidence about the structure and performance of the Roman economy – moving dialectically between aspects of economic theory, material culture and art history. As such it will look at technological development and manufacture patterns, it will place artistic and architectural practice in its broader social-economic context, it will explore the extent of trade and supply, and it will address the issue of economic growth and relevant cultural attitudes. This journey will eventually lead us to discuss to what extent and in precisely what terms the insights we derive about the modern economy can be effectively used to illuminate the Roman one… and vice-versa.

Introductory readings

K. Greene (1986), The Archaeology of the Roman Economy (London); W. Harris (2015), Prolegomena to a study of the economics of Roman Art, in American Journal of Archaeology 119.3: 395-417; C. Marcone (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Art and Architecture (Oxford) [107-414]; B. Russell (2013), The Economics of the Roman Stone Trade (Cambridge); W. Scheidel, I. Morris and R. Saller (eds.) (2007), The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World (Cambridge) [1-171, 485-768]; W. Scheidel (ed.) (2012), The Cambridge Companion to the Roman Economy (Cambridge); A. Wilson (2006), The economic impact of technological advances in the Roman construction industry, in E. Lo Cascio (ed.), Innovazione Tecnica e Progresso Economico nel Mondo Romano (Bari), 225-236.

 

FD4 GREEKS OVERSEAS

DR J. REMPEL
(8L: Lent)

Aims and objectives

  1. To introduce students to some key aspects and problems of the archaeology of ancient Greek colonisation
  2. To explore a wide range of archaeological evidence in the context of new Greek settlements established in the Mediterranean and Black Sea
  3. To introduce a range of theoretical and practical approaches to the study of the archaeology of ancient Greek colonisation

Course Description

In the 8th to 6th centuries BCE, hundreds of new Greek settlements were established around the Mediterranean and Black Seas, a migration form the Aegean Greek world that is usually referred to as ‘early Greek colonisation’. Traditionally, this has been seen as a uniquely Greek process, with trade and/or land hunger as drivers and the expansion of Greek culture into new barbarian territories a notable outcome. Today, as a result of increasing archaeological evidence and rapidly developing theoretical approaches, we know that the picture is much more complex: not only do these new settlements represent a range of responses to particular regional circumstances, but Greek communities were establishing new settlements alongside – and sometimes together with – other highly mobile populations. Greek interactions and trade with their non-Greek neighbours was also much more complex, with transformations of cultural practice happening in multiple directions. In fact, the range of types and experiences of new Greek settlements and the lack of a centralised authority – like an empire – driving their foundations has led some argue that colonisation is an inappropriate framework for understanding them.

Through an examination of the archaeological evidence for what is known as early Greek colonisation, this course aims to investigate the processes of Greek migration and the impact of their settlements. With a focus on the architecture, material culture and burials of different types of settlements from the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions, the course will address the roles that trade, agricultural production, urbanisation and cultural interactions played in the foundation and development of new Greek settlements. The contribution of more recent theoretical approaches, like globalisation and network analysis, to our understanding of this topic will also be considered.

Content note: This course will consider western constructions of race in the context of colonisation.

Introductory readings

J. Boardman (1999) The Greeks overseas: their early colonies and trade. 4th ed.

F. de Angelis (2009) Colonies and colonization. In B. Graziosi et al. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Hellenic Studies, pp. 48-64.

M. Dietler (2005) The archaeology of colonization and the colonization of archaeology: theoretical challenges from an ancient Mediterranean colonial encounter. In G. Stein (ed.) The Archaeology of Colonial Encounters: Comparative Perspectives, pp. 33-68.

P. van Dommelen (2012) Colonialism and Migration in the Ancient Mediterranean. Annual Review of Anthropology 41.1: 393-409.

L. Donnellan, V. Nizzo, G.J. Burgers, eds. (2016) Conceptualising Early Colonisation.

J. Hall (2007) A History of the Archaic Greek World. Chapter 5: New Homes Across the Seas, pp. 96-125.

T. Hodos (2006) Local Responses to Colonization in the Iron-Age Mediterranean.

R.G. Osborne (1998) Early Greek colonisation? The nature of Greek settlement in the West. In N. Fisher and H. van Wees (eds) Archaic Greece: New Approaches and New Evidence, pp. 251-270.

 

Optional Art & Archaeology courses

The following optional courses will provide interested students with additional content which they may find useful. These courses are open to all Part IB, Part II and MPhil students.

 

Roman Architecture

DR K. BEAUFAY
(4L: Lent)

This course offers a thematic introduction to the architecture of the Roman period. The focus is on human agency – not just on users, but also on patrons, builders and architects—in order to explore the impact and role of architecture on society. Lectures will look at different ways to approach and study architecture: art historical, architectural/design, economic, structural/construction, sensorial. Along the way we will also tackle questions of urbanism, economy, construction and technology (esp. water), among others. Although we will focus on the Mediterranean, the course looks outside of Italy—and to materials beyond Pompeii, Campania and Rome alone. 

Introductory readings: DAVIES P. J. E. (2017) Architecture and politics in Republican Rome, Cambridge; GROS P. (2001–2002) L'architecture romaine : du début du IIIe siècle av. J.-C. à la fin du Haut-Empire, 1. Les monuments publics, 2. Maisons, palais, villas et tombeaux, Paris; LANCASTER L. C. (2015) Innovative vaulting in the architecture of the Roman Empire: First to Fourth centuries CE, New York; WARD-PERKINS J. B. (1994) Roman imperial architecture, 2nd edition, New Haven.

 

The Archaeology of Rome's North-Western Provinces

DR T. MATTHEWS BOEHMER
(4L: Lent)

This course introduces the archaeology of Germania, Gallia Belgica, and Britannia in order to explore the history of Roman-period north-western Europe. The aim is to encourage students to assess the interaction between different types of sources – including between material and textual evidence – when thinking about imperial occupation. In particular, we will be evaluating the relevance of archaeology to current debates about identity, resource exploitation and community relations, while also thinking across provincial boundaries. The course will be comprised of four one-hour lectures: 1) Introduction: learning about the ‘outer ring’ of Rome’s provinces; 2) Forms of urbanism in north-western Europe; 3) Rural lifeways: acceptance or rejection? 4) ‘Who’s that knocking?’: Connections between and across communities.

Introductory readings: H. Eckardt 2014 Objects and Identities; M. Pitts 2020 The Roman Object Revolution; J. Webster 2001 Creolising the Roman Provinces, American Journal of Archaeology 105.2: 209–25; G. Woolf 1998 Becoming Roman.

 

FE papers (Classical Philology and Linguistics)

FE1 HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS OF GREEK AND LATIN

DR N.A.S. ZAIR
(8L: Michaelmas)

Aims and objectives

  1. To introduce students to the diachronic study of the Greek and Latin languages
  2. To introduce the methods and principles of historical linguistics
  3. To introduce and develop students’ understanding of the key sound changes that took place in the history of the Greek and Latin languages
  4. To develop students’ understanding of the motivations for and processes of language change
  5. To develop students’ understanding of modern linguistic theory, and how it can be applied to ancient languages

Course Description

An introduction to language change, with particular reference to the pre-history and history of Latin and Greek. The course will concentrate closely on the phonological development of the languages, in particular the principal historical Greek and Latin sound changes, such as loss of /h/ and /w/ in Greek, labiovelars, changes in the Greek vowel system, rhotacism and vowel weakening in Latin.

Those taking either EE1 or EE2 are recommended to also attend lectures for Historical Linguistics of Greek and Latin, even if they are not taking that paper.

 

FX papers (Interdisciplinary Classics and Classical Reception)

There will be no FX papers in 2023-24.

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