Latin

Core Modules

Year 1. You will take one from the following:

• Beginner's Latin

  This module can be taken by anyone with less than a B in GCSE Latin.  If students have a B or better in Latin GCSE or equivalent, they should be looking at Intermediate Latin (unless it was a very long time ago). The module sets out to provide a basic training in the Latin language for those with little or no previous experience of Latin. The emphasis is on developing the skill of analysing the structure and meaning of Latin sentences, and on efficient use of the dictionary. Students will also gain familiarity with a range of literary and epigraphic texts in the original Latin.

• Intermediate Latin

  A module intended to build on Beginner’s Latin or O-level/GCSE, extending the students' knowledge of Latin to the point where they are ready to read substantial texts.

• Latin Language and Reading

  In this module you will develop an understanding of classical Latin and how to interpret Latin texts. You will study two set texts in Latin, one prose and one verse, focussing on translation, context and understanding of grammar. You will gain practice in unprepared translation of texts of similar genres to the prepared texts and will consider selected topics in Latin grammar and syntax.

Year 2. You will take one from the following:

• Intermediate Latin

  A module intended to build on Beginner’s Latin or O-level/GCSE, extending the students' knowledge of Latin to the point where they are ready to read substantial texts.

• Intensive Latin
• Latin Language and Reading

  In this module you will develop an understanding of classical Latin and how to interpret Latin texts. You will study two set texts in Latin, one prose and one verse, focussing on translation, context and understanding of grammar. You will gain practice in unprepared translation of texts of similar genres to the prepared texts and will consider selected topics in Latin grammar and syntax.

Year 3. You will take one from the following

• Intensive Latin
• Latin Language and Reading

  In this module you will develop an understanding of classical Latin and how to interpret Latin texts. You will study two set texts in Latin, one prose and one verse, focussing on translation, context and understanding of grammar. You will gain practice in unprepared translation of texts of similar genres to the prepared texts and will consider selected topics in Latin grammar and syntax.

Optional Modules

Below is a taster of some of the exciting optional modules that students on the course could choose from during this academic year. Please be aware these do change over time, and optional modules may be withdrawn or new ones added.

Year 1

• Beginner’s Greek

  In this module you will develop an understanding of Ancient Greek grammar and syntax and learn elementary vocabulary. You will acquire basic aptitude in reading Ancient Greek text (mostly adapted, with some possible original unadapted basic texts) and consider the relationship between Ancient Greek language and ancient Greek literature and culture.

• Intermediate Greek

  In this module you will further your understanding of Greek grammar and syntax. You will look at Greek prose and/or verse texts, in unadapted original Greek, and learn how to accurately translate passages at sight.

  
  

• Greek Language and Reading

  In this module you will develop an understanding of a wide range of texts in ancient Greek. You will look at set texts in both prose and verse for translation, and complete grammar and syntax consolidation exercises. You will consider the literary and linguistic features of advanced Greek texts and examine features of grammar, syntax and style.

• Key Themes in Roman History

  In this module you will develop an understanding of the development of Roman politics and society over the extended period of Roman history, from early Rome through to the emergence of the Medieval World. You will look at the chronology and development of Rome, examining key themes in the interpretation of particular periods of Roman history, including the rise and fall of the Republic and the Imperial Monarchy. You will consider the difficulties and methological issues in the interpretation of Roman Historiography and analyse a variety of theoretical approaches used by historians.

• Studying Classical Antiquity

  In this module you will develop an understanding of how different classical disciplines interrelate. You will focus on specific academic skills such as avoiding plagiarism, approaching and evaluating a range of ancient evidence, using library and other resources, critically evaluating modern scholarship and theoretical approaches, and relating academic study to employability.

• Ancient History: Methods and Approaches
• Introduction to Roman Archaeology

  This module studies the broad spectrum of archaeological evidence for the Roman world. It will provide an introduction to the main sources of archaeological evidence and key sites across the Roman world. It will offer a taste of how we can use the evidence they provide in the study of history, society and technology during the period c. 200 BC – c. AD 300. It aims to familiarize you with the principal forms and contexts in which art and architecture developed in the Roman world; to introduce you to the uses of material culture in studying history, i.e. to study the art and architecture of Rome as part of its history, social systems, culture, and economy; and to develop critical skills in visual analysis.

• Roman Literature of the Republic

  In this module you will develop an understanding of the history of Roman literature from its beginnings until the end of the Republic. You will look at the work of the major Republican Roman authors Plautus and Terence, Lucretius, Catullus and Cicero. You will consider the issues in the earlier history of Roman literature, including the relationship with Greek models and the question of Roman originality, literature and politics, the use of literature for scientific or philosophical exposition, and the development of narrative style ant attitudes to the Roman Republican past.

• Roman Literature of the Empire

  In this module you will develop an understanding of the history of Roman literature in the early imperial period. You will look at the work of five authors selected from the Julio-Claudian period, considering the ways in which Roman literature responded to the new political conditions established by the Principate. You will develop your skills in interpretation, analysis and argument as applied both to detailed study of texts (in translation) and to more general issues.

• Introduction to Greek Literature

  In this module you will develop an understanding of the framework of Greek literary history from Homer to Heliodorus. You will look at the chronology of major authors and works, and how they fit into larger patterns in the development of Greek culture and political history. You will examine ancient literary texts in translation, considering issues in key genres including epic, lyric, drama, oratory, philosophical writing, historiography, Hellenistic poetry, and the Greek novel.

• Introduction to Ancient Philosophy

  In this module you will develop an understanding of ancient philosophical ideas and the ways in which philosophical arguments are presented and analysed. You will look at the thought and significance of the principal ancient philosophers, from the Presocratics to Aristotle, and examine sample texts such as Plato's 'Laches' and the treatment of the virtue of courage in Aristotle, 'Nicomachean Ethics' 3.6-9.

• Greek History and the City State

  In this module you will develop an understanding of the Greek World in the Classical Period. You will look at the key events in Greek History from 580 to 323 BC and place these in their historical context. You will consider historical problems and critically examine information and accounts set out in the Greek sources as well as in the works of modern historians. You will analyse a range of sources materials, including inscription, historiography and oratory, and develop an awareness of potential bias in these.

Year 2

• Horace
• Lucretius and Virgil
• Latin Love Elegy
• Roman Satire
• Latin Epic
• Latin Historiography
• Catullus and Horace
• Latin Letters
• Homer (In Translation)
• Greek Drama (In Translation)
• Cinema and Classics
• Ovid’s Metamorphoses: Art and Power in Augustan Rome
• Virgil’s Aeneid: The Empire in the Literary Imagination
• Gender in Classical Antiquity
• Greek Law and Lawcourts
• Greek History to 322 BC
• Spinning the Past: Greek Historiography from Herodotos to Diodoros

  This module will introduce you to the genre of Greek historiography, from Hecataeus of Miletus (who wrote in the early fifth century B.C.E.) to Diodoros of Sicily (who wrote in the first century B.C.E.). The module will provide you with an overview of the genre, its relationship with other literary genres (including the Homeric epics and drama), and with the narrative techniques adopted by the Greek historiographers. We shall discuss in what ways the philosophical and political agendas of individual authors shaped their representation of both the distant and the recent past, and their explanations of historical events and developments. We shall also explore the question what sources the historiographers themselves may have used as a basis for their reconstruction of the past, including oral tradition, poetry, eyewitness accounts and works of their fellow historiographers. The module aims to enhance your understanding of the methodological problems that modern Ancient Historians face when using works of historiography as evidence, to develop your skills in discussing these problems orally and in writing, and to approach and analyse the evidence critically and with good judgement. 
  The first half of the module will be thematically structured, covering the development of the genre and introducing you to a range of key methodological issues. The second half of the module will focus on six key authors and the historical contexts to which they were responding.

• Augustus: Propaganda and Power
• The Roman Republic: A Social and Economic History
• The Rise of the Roman Empire: An Economic and Social history
• Historiography of the Roman World

  The module aims to cover the full chronological range of Roman historiography from the Republic to the Empire, to educate the students in the broad sweep of Roman historiography and Roman history.

• Body and Soul in Ancient Philosophy
• The Good Life in Ancient Philosophy
• The Built Environment in Classical Antiquity
• Greek and Roman Art in Context
• Understanding Pompeii and Herculaneum
• Perspectives on Roman Britai
• Second Year Projects

Year 3

• Horace
• Lucretius and Virgil
• Latin Love Elegy
• Roman Satire
• Latin Epic
• Latin Historiography
• Catullus and Horace
• Latin Letters
• Cinema and Classics
• Roman Oratory
• Ancient Literary Criticism
• Roman Drama (In Translation)
• Greek Lyric, Eros and Social Order
• Nature and the Supernatural in Latin Literature
• Greek Literature under the Roman Empire
• Studying Ancient Myth
• Culture and Identity from Nero to Hadrian
• The Roman Novel
• Gender in Classical Antiquity
• Greek Law and Lawcourts
• Augustus
• The Roman Republic: A Social and Economic History
• The Rise of the Roman Empire: An Economic and Social history
• Alexander the Great
• The City from Augustus to Charlemagne: The Rise and Fall of Civilisation
• Body and Soul in Ancient Philosophy
• The Good Life in Ancient Philosophy II
• Understanding Pompeii and Herculaneum
• Perspectives on Roman Britain
• City of Rome
• City of Athens
• The Archaeology of the Roman Near East
• Extended Essay (Dissertation)

  The Extended Essay is a unit of independent study under the supervision of a member of staff. Students are required to write a long essay of 8,000 to 10,000 words.