UNIVERSITY OF LONDON M.A. Courses in: Ancient History Classical Art & Archaeology Classics Late Antique & Byzantine Studies 2008 - 2009 Published on behalf of: The Institute of Classical Studies King's College London, Classics Department Royal Holloway, Classics Department University College London, Greek and Latin Department University College London, History Department

History Courses

The list of courses given below is as accurate as is possible, but provision of courses is subject to demand, and courses may have to be withdrawn or added if necessary. Updates to the courses on offer will be posted on the website at the earliest opportunity.

'Dedicated M.A. course' means 100% M.A. teaching.

'B.A./M.A. course' normally means a 50/50 package.

'B.A./M.A. course, subject to numbers' normally means a 50/50 package unless the numbers of M.A. takers make it appropriate to arrange a separate M.A. group.

* indicates a dedicated M.A. course.

+ indicates a language-testing or language-acquisition course for M.A. Classics.

All courses are coded K - if taught exclusively at King's College London; M or CLASM - if following a common syllabus shared between colleges; CL or HS - if taught exclusively at Royal Holloway, University of London; CLASU, CLASG or HISTG - if taught exclusively at University College London; or MB - if they are taken from the M.A. in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies.

*M500 Sources and Methods in Ancient History

The course provides an introduction to some of the disciplines, methodologies, problems and themes that may be encountered by those undertaking research work in the field of ancient history. The topics covered range from papyrology, numismatics and archaeology to general issues of method in ancient history. The objective is that students beginning research should be equipped with the knowledge, skills and bibliography that will enable them to develop a research project and pursue it successfully. Seminars are given by staff with personal research interests in the topics discussed. This is the core course for the M.A. in Ancient History.

Dedicated M.A. course.

Assessment: two essays of 6,000 words each, with guidance from the lecturers in the relevant part of the course.

Teachers: various contributors; coordinator - Professor Richard Alston (RHUL).

Weekly seminars throughout the teaching year, Thursdays 14.00-16.00, in room NG 14; the first class will be on 2/10/08; on 11/12/08 the class will be in ST 275.

CL5319 Greek Religion in a Mediterranean Society

Greek religion operated in a vast religious space, the Mediterranean (and beyond), in which the Greeks lived in constant interaction with many other peoples, all linked to each other by the sea. This MA course aims to get away from the traditional picture of Greek religion and its system of beliefs and practices as products of the polis-context; rather we shall examine how Greek religion functioned in a society characterised by maritime mobility and cultural exchange well beyond the cities of Athens and Sparta.
The aim of the course is therefore to present the traditional approaches applied to the study of Greek religion and examine how we might be able to complement or supersede them. The first part of the course will introduce basic features of Greek religion, such as the nature of a polytheism, sacrifice, myth and ritual, and the interaction of religion and social structure in the Greek city, before in the second part embarking on the analysis of Greek religion in the wider context of Mediterranean mobility, treating topics such as economics, pilgrimage, network-analysis, minorities and migrations, orientalism and ethnicity, and the role religion played to foster, deconstruct and manipulate these and other categories in the historical process. Evidence studied ranges from historical sources to Greek poetry and drama, archaeology of cult, and Greek religious art and iconography. Although the focus is on the archaic to Hellenistic periods, Greek religion will be set into a comparative perspective of Mediterranean religions from antiquity to the modern day. The course will also have a focus on methods used in religious and cultural anthropology, and the study of long-term Mediterranean history.
The lectures will be shared with 15 undergraduates in their final year at Royal Holloway; there is a dedicated MA seminar taking place at Bedford Square in Central London. Students are expected to prepare weekly reading and to participate in class. In addition to the formal presentations (see below), brief informal ones may occasionally be assigned ad hoc.

B.A./M.A. course.

Assessment: 1 formative essay, to be developed into an exam essay; 2 further exam essays, based on presentations in class. Essays should be 4000 words (adding up to no more than 12,000 words altogether).

Teacher: Dr Barbara Kowalzig (RHUL)

Meetings: 1 Lecture per week (shared with BA students) on Mondays, 1-2pm, Royal Holloway
1 Seminar per week on Wednesdays, 11-12pm, Bedford Square.

*M730 Greek Epigraphy

For details see Literature Courses.

*M731 Latin Epigraphy

For details see Literature Courses.

*M383 Greek Papyrology

For details see Literature Courses.

*K410 Territory and Indentity in Ancient Greece

The course studies how the peoples of the ancient Greek world defined themselves in terms of their origin, in the senses of both birth and place. The purpose of the course is to investigate multiple layers of social content embedded in the term 'ancient Greeks'. Engaging with this broad concept, the students learn to expose and explore the patchwork of many civic and territorial identities that underlie the overarching concept of 'the Greeks': regional, ethnic, polis, tribal (also defined by affiliation to kin-groups), and demotic identities.

The scope of enquiry in this course is both diachronic and synchronic. We would want to know both how the self-identifications of the Greeks came about and changed over time (Late Bronze Age to the late Classical period), as well as how multiple levels of self-reference functioned simultaneously in the inter-polis and intra-polis, regional, ethnic and panhellenic contexts, in specific historical periods. The discussions will range from the panhellenic categories of Hellenes and Hellas, and what Herodotus called to hellikon, to case studies of specific territorial groups of ancient Greece, and the means they used to express their identities.

The course draws upon ancient Greek textual, epigraphic and archaeological evidence. Cross-disciplinary approaches to the issues of place and identity, developed in the fields of cultural anthropology, ethnology and psychology, are introduced when appropriate. Some proficiency in ancient Greek is desirable, but all readings are also available in English.

Dedicated MA course

Teacher: Dr Irene Polinskaya (KCL)

Assessment: two essays of 3000-words (25% each) and one essay of 6000-words (50%).

Meetings: 20 two-hour seminars over two terms, time and location to be confirmed.
Students will be expected to make presentations in class.

*91AHG003 Change and Continuity in the Ancient Near East

The course focuses on the period c. 800-128 BC, covering the Neo-Assyrian, Babylonian, Achaemenid and Seleucid empires. The aim is to analyse structural shifts and continuities, by examining the states in their Near Eastern setting. Throughout the emphasis is on critical evaluation of a diverse corpus of evidence and assessment of relevant scholarly literature.

Dedicated M.A. course.

Assessment is by five pieces of written work, totalling c. 12,000 words.
Relevant languages: ancient - Greek, Akkadian, Old Persian, Aramaic, Egyptian, Hebrew; modern - French, German.

Teacher: Professor Amélie Kuhrt (History, UCL).

The course is taught in twenty two-hour classes, with students expected to complete specific reading of sources and articles for each session. Depending on size of class and readiness of students, at least two class presentations by each student are expected.
Meetings over two terms, times & locations to be confirmed, History Department, UCL.

*HISTG003 Cities and Sanctuaries in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor

This course aims to introduce students to a central and much-debated theme in the history of Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor, namely the relations between sanctuaries and the cities into whose territories they were - eventually - incorporated. The focus will be on sanctuaries as self-contained communities (from temple states to sacred villages). We will explore models developed by historians to explain changes in the structure of these temple-sites in the course of the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Much of the evidence is under-explored or has been discussed only in specialist publications, and students will be introduced to the nature and the potential of the archaeological and epigraphical material and be given a sense of the kinds of questions that can be asked. Secondary reading for this course will be mainly in English, French or German. Relevant literary sources are mostly available in translation; inscriptions are not, or largely not. An ability to read ancient Greek is required.

Dedicated M.A. course.

Assessment: three essays of c. 4,000 words each, on topics agreed with the tutor.

Teacher: Dr Riet van Bremen (UCL).

Teaching: twenty two-hour classes throughout the year at UCL, in room 301, History Department, at a time to be arranged.

*91AHG026 Codes and Practice: the World of Roman Law from Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages

As the inspiration for the Civil Law codes of modern Europe, the body of Roman law as received and studied in western Europe since the later Middle Ages gives the impression of a stable and static system. This course aims to provide students with an introduction to the shape of the living body of Roman law from classical antiquity to the early Middle Sage and the historical issues that raises. For in fact, of course, the classic texts of Roman law developed over a millennium or more in response to changing social and political environments as the society to which they related developed from a modest central Italian city republic into an imperial superstate before setting out on divergent paths in the aftermath of the fall of the western empire. This course charts the relationship between the production of normative texts, legal interpretation, and legal practice against this shifting social and political background. At various junctures the development of this legal system was punctuated by attempts to codify certain sections. The core of this course comprises the analysis of the surviving or partially surviving codifications (e.g. the Theodosian and Justinianic Codes, the Brevarium of Alaric, and the Digest) as well as those reconstructed from later sources (e.g. the XII Tables and the Edictum Perpetuum) against their historical context so as to expose students to the full complexity of the texture of the source material. Interspersed are sessions analysing the actual practice and social impact of Roman law based on specific case studies.

There are no specific prerequisites, though students will be encouraged to use and develop their knowledge of Latin and/or Greek. Desirable also is some basic reading knowledge of Italian, French, and German.

Dedicated M.A. Course

Assessment is by 3 essays of c.4000 words each, on topics agreed with the course teacher(s). In addition students will be required to prepare up to four short individual assignments (presentations and/or book reviews) for discussion in the seminar classes but these will not count towards assessment.

Teacher: Dr Benet Salway (UCL)

Meetings: the course is taught in 20 two-hour classes over two terms, Thursdays 11-1 in room B.18, 23 Gordon Square.

*M592 Mystery Religions in the Greek and Roman Worlds

The course will look at the variety of initiatory cults that existed in the Greek and Roman worlds, from the seventh or sixth century BC to the fourth century AD, including examination of the Eleusian mysteries and those of Samothrace, and Orpheus, Pythagorean cults and cults of Isis and Mithras. Three issues will be considered in particular detail: the nature and difficulty of using the source material (which is of widely differing types); the elements typically found in mystery cults, and the recurrence of these elements in different cults, and hence the relationship between different cults; and the role of these cults in the social ordering of communities in the Greek and Roman worlds. Students who take the course will gain a greater understanding of how to deal critically with different types of evidence, experience of a range of methodologies in the study of religion, and deeper understanding of the nature of ancient society.

Dedicated M.A. course

Assessment: three pieces of written work totallying 12,000 word: one essay on a topic related to the Greek world, another essay on a topic related to the Roman world, and one study of a document or group of documents.

Teacher: Dr Hugh Bowden (KCL)

Teaching: one two-hour seminar for twenty weeks, in room S.8.08 in the History Department at King’s from 09.00-11.00 on Mondays, starting on 6 October.
Students will be expected to prepare for the seminars by reading and, when appropriate, will give presentations.

M900 Roman Britain

The course is a case study in Roman Imperialism and and introduction to the material culture of the Roman empire. It covers the conquest of Britain, its transformation into a Roman province, later changes in its administration and defence, and the impact of incorporation into the Roman empire on the physical environment, religion, economy and society of Britain.
The course develops students' ability to understand and use archaeological evidence of all types, and Latin epigraphic sources, for historical reconstruction of processes of social and economic change; the problem of using concepts such as 'Romanisation is constantly confronted.
'Knowledge of Latin helps with the interpretation of individual source materials, but is not a prerequisite.'

B.A./M.A. course

Teacher: Dr John Pearce and Professor Henrik Mouritsen (KCL)

*CL5460 Culture and Identity from Nero to Hadrian

For details see Literature Courses.

*(+)K280 Tacitus and Nero

For details see Literature Courses.

General Courses Page