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Intercollegiate modules

Intercollegiate modules

Working together with our partner institutions, we offer a range of specialisms and expertise in the study of the Classical world.

The Classics department at Royal Holloway, University of London, is part of a University of London consortium, with King's College London, UCL and the Institute of Classical Studies. Consequently, studying at Royal Holloway means that you can also access excellent modules at our partner institutions.

The Institute of Classical Studies operates as a host for basic information, which is available here. For detailed information about specific courses, you need to look at the appropriate institutional site, for the Institute of Classical Studies, King's College London, UCL Ancient History, and UCL Greek and Latin. 

More details about the registration process for RHUL MA students will be e-mailed to all students in August. However, if you have queries or would like to discuss MA options, please e-mail Professor Richard Alston or the Humanities Office. 

The modules provided by Royal Holloway Classics are listed below. 

This is the core course for the Intercollegiate MA in Ancient History; all students on this degree programme will automatically be enrolled on it. Please ensure that you complete an intercollegiate registration form if you are a student at KCL or UCL so that you can be given access to the course Moodle as quickly as possible.   

Course convenor: Dr Christos Kremmydas 
Teaching: Friday: 2-4

40 credits.

Letters are a critical means of communication in the ancient world, as well as significant genre of literature. While we often encounter the occasional letter in isolation, this course offers the opportunity to consider the form as a genre and the work of one particular individual author within it. Through close study of a selection of letters drawn from Seneca and a range of other authors, students will explore the multitude of ways that the letter form was used in Latin. Students will leave this course with a thorough appreciation of the letter as a genre, its place in the social history of Rome, and a good understanding of how Seneca in particular plays with that genre to his own ends.
Please note that this course will be taught in the original Latin and that there is no option to take it in translation. Students taking this course must have advanced Latin at BA level (equivalent to completing CL1776 Latin Language & Reading at Royal Holloway). 
Learning Outcomes
  • Read a wide range of examples of letters from Latin literature in the original language.
  • Analyse key features of epistolary technique in detail.
  • Recognise and discuss the deployment of features of the letter genre for literary effect.
  • Critically engage with key scholarship around the letter genre and the target author.
  • Understand key critical issues around the use of letters in Latin literature.
  • Independently develop and execute a research essay on an aspect of Latin letters which offers a creative and original argument. 
Course convenor: Dr. Liz Gloyn
Assessment: one essay of 4,000 words each; one fifty minute in-class test. 
Teaching: autumn term; three hours per week (two hours shared with undergraduate advanced author students, one hour dedicated MA seminar) should face-to-face teaching be possible in the autumn. If students are unable to attend in person, or Liz is unable to attend, there will be on-line provision for all sessions. 
Face-to-face provision will be at Royal Holloway's Egham campus.

The course will give students a thorough understanding of the main events of Alexander the Great’s reign as presented by the available primary sources and encourage students critically to consider the issues raised by the extant ancient sources and to engage with modern scholarly discussions. The appreciation of historical context (Greek and Achaemenid) will be important for the students’ deeper understanding of key issues in the study of Alexander’s reign, such as the administration of the vast empire, the foundation of cities and the various challenges he faced in the East. The first part of the course (until Christmas) will seek to deepen students’ familiarity with the available primary sources while the second will be more thematic in its approach. Lecture and seminar topics to be covered in the second part of the course will include the following: Alexander’s relationship with the Greeks in the mainland and Asia Minor, Hellenicity, Panhellenism and Hellenization, Alexander’s military strategy, Persian Kingship and Macedonian monarchy, Alexander’s divinity/deification, and aspects of the reception of Alexander’s legend.

Teaching for course consists of a BA lecture and a dedicated MA seminar. The MA seminar builds on texts/themes introduced by the lectures but goes into greater depth. A separate MA seminar worksheet will be given to the students in advance of the class and the reading will be more extensive as appropriate to a postgraduate course.

Course convenor: Dr Christos Kremmydas

Lecture: Tuesdays 1-2pm

MA Seminar: Tuesday 3-4pm

Assessment: Two essays of ca. 3,500 words each. Students will also give one unassessed (formative) oral presentation (8-10 mins).

Reading list: contact the course tutor

This course provides you with the opportunity to engage in an-depth study of the material remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum and assess their special value as well as their limitations as primary sources for archaeologists and cultural historians. We analyse the different types of finds and general issues of preservation, excavation, chronology, and presentation of the sites to the public as well as a range of topics relating to the specific types of evidence for which the Vesuvian sites are renowned. The course aims to to introduce you to the wide variety of material evidence from Pompeii and Herculaneum and how it can be used to discuss a range of issues relevant to the study of the Roman world in general (housing, diet, mobility, politics, literacy etc.)

Course convenor: Erica Rowan

Lecture: Thursday 12-1pm

MA Seminar: Thursday 2-3pm

Reading list: contact the course tutor

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