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

Late Antique & Byzantine Studies 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given below is as accurate as is possible, but provision of courses is subject to demand, and courses may have to be withdrawn or added if necessary.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.

[Pre-approved courses from the federal M.A. in Late Antique & Byzantine Studies.]

*MB03 Methods and Techniques

All students must attend the introductory seminar, MB03 Introduction to Byzantium; this meets weekly in the first seven weeks of the first semester, when a variety of experts provide an introduction to their own subject. In mid January and early June the seminar is reconvened, and students are expected to make their own presentations of their dissertation topics. Attendance at the Seminar is a requirement; there is no assessed work.

All students must also take one language testing course (marked + in the list of courses), one skills course (marked * in the list of courses) and one further taught course:

I Research Skills

*+K005 Greek for Beginners: for details see Language Courses.

*+K015 Intermediate Greek: for details see Language Courses.

*+MB02 Byzantine Greek: for details see below.

*+CLASU055 Latin for Beginners: for details see Language Courses

*+CLASM065 Intermediate Latin: for details see Language Courses

*+K290 Medieval Latin Literature: for details see Literature Courses

*+Another relevant language at an appropriate level.

MB23 Elementary Greek Palaeography.

Greek Palaeography: M380 in the MA in Classics: for details see Literature Courses

Latin Palaeography: M381 in the MA in Classics: for details see Literature Courses.
This course may be taken by students who are starting to learn Latin.

Latin Epigraphy: M731 in the MA in Classics: for details see Literature Courses.

Greek Epigraphy: M730 in the MA in Classics: for details see Literature Courses.

Greek Papyrology: M383 in the MA in Classics: for details see Literature Courses.

An appropriate unit from the MA Digital Humanities (which includes Methods and Techniques now AVMMET) and MA Digital Culture and Technology (KCL). For information look at the 2006-2007 options courses available in the Centre for Computing in the Humanities. Please contact Professor Charlotte Roueché, if you require advice.

*+MB02 Byzantine Greek II

The aim of this course is to provide students who arrive with a reasonable knowledge of Classical or Byzantine Greek with a wide experience of reading and translating Byzantine authors. Over the year students will read extensive passages from at least four different authors.

Dedicated M.A. course.

Assessment: One three-hour written examination in May.

Teacher: to be confirmed (KCL).

Meetings: Two hours a week throughout the year, day and times to be arranged. Students will be expected to prepare written translations each week.

*MB23 Elementary Greek Palaeography

The course concentrates on the minuscule script from the 9th-15th centuries. It aims to bring students up to a level where they would be able to transcribe texts from facsimiles of Greek manuscripts, and distinguish different styles. The material is adapted each time to the level of the class. In general the course covers simpler minuscule literary hands, nomina sacra, ligatures, abbreviations and symbols. The course involves 40-60 hours of teaching and coursework, mainly transcribing texts from facsimiles of manuscripts and commenting on the layout of the text and on the script, either in class or individually. This course may be taken by students who are starting to learn Greek.

Dedicated M.A. course.

Assessment: one three-hour unseen written examination in May.

Teachers: Dr C Dendrinos (RHUL)

Meetings: at RHUL, on Wednesdays from 16.00-18.00.

II Special Subject Courses

MB07 The reign of Constantine I

B.A./M.A. course in term 1, thereafter a dedicated MA class.

Assessment: 2 long essays, 3,000 words (50%); one unseen examination in May (50%)

Teachers: Professor Charlotte Roueché

Meeting: 1 two hour class every week, throughout the year. Students will be expected to write short essays, as well as their coursework essays, and make at least one presentation to the class.

*MB10 Living in Byzantium: Material culture and built environment (c. AD300-1500)

The course provides an introduction to the varied physical remains of all types left behind by Byzantine civilization: architecture, painting, the so-called minor arts, and manufactured objects. The selection of material and issues to be examined range from the urban and rural landscapes, fortifications, palaces, houses, monasteries and churches, to mosaics, frescoes, sculpture, enamels, ivories, reliquaries, lead seals and pottery as well as traded goods. This wide range of topics will be investigated chronologically as well as thematically from a primarily functional and practical point of view, in order to trace and highlight the changes that occurred over the centuries, signaling different stages in the millennial existence of Byzantium.

Dedicated MA course

Assessment: two 4,000-word essays (25% each) and a 2-hour end of course examination (50%).

Teacher: Dr Tassos Papacostas (KCL)

Meetings: one two-hour weekly class over two terms, time and place to be confirmed

MB303 Byzantium and the West, A. D. 800-1054

Dedicated MA course.

Assessment: 2 long essays, 3,500 words (50%); one unseen examination in May (50%)

Teachers: Dr Dionysios Stathakopoulos

Meetings: 1 two hour class every week, throughout the year. Students will be expected to write their coursework essays, and make at least one presentation to the class.

+AB/MA26 The Greek Novel and its Influence (1st to 21st Centuries)

The focal point for the course is the study by Margaret Anne Doody, The True Story of the Novel (1996), which reappraises the historical development of the genre, through two millennia, in relation to its earliest known starting pint, the novels (or romances) of ideal love written in Greek during the first four centuries of the Common Era/AD. The other core theoretical and historical approach to the subject is the influential essay by M. M. Bakhtin on the chronotope in the novel, from the 1st to the 19th centuries.

Assessment: three essays of 3,000 words each.

Two hours a week throughout the year, time to be arranged.

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

*HS5127 Greek Hands of the Palaeologan Period (13th-15th century)

The course examines Greek hands of the Palaeologan period (13th-15th century) in the wider context of Byzantine history, education and culture. One of the important aspects of this course is that it deals also with classical Greek texts and their transmission to the West through Byzantium.

The course focuses on the following areas: (a) the political and cultural changes in the Byzantine Empire following the capture of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204, the recapture of the City by Michael VIII Palaeologus in 1261 until its fall to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, as these are reflected in the various Greek literary, documentary and scholarly hands; (b) the theological dialogue between the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic theologians that culminated in the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1439) as attested in Greek manuscripts; (c) the activity of Greek scholars and scribes in Byzantium and Western Europe, and their role in the translation of Latin texts and the transmission of classical Greek texts during the Renaissance; (d) the passage from the Greek manuscript to the Greek printed book, especially in Italy.

This course is a progression of the MB23/HS5123 Elementary Greek Palaeography, M380 (Advanced), and MB03.iii.b Assignments in Greek Palaeography MA courses. It is addressed mainly to students attending the University of London federal MA programmes in Classics and in Late Antique and Byzantine Studies (LABS), RHUL MA History: Hellenic Studies, and MPhil/PhD students and scholars of the University of London who pursue research in the field. It is offered on alternative years with HS5128 Byzantine Autographs of the Palaeologan Period (13th-15th century).

Dedicated M.A. course.

Prerequisites: Reading knowledge of Greek

Assessment will be by three written assignments of maximum 4,000 words each.

Teacher: Dr Charalambos Dendrinos (RHUL).

Meeting: times and location to be confirmed.

*+K290 Medieval Latin Literature

*Ancient Political Thought and its Medieval Legacy (0.5 cu)

This module will explore major themes and topics within ancient political thought, examining how, where and in what contexts ancient political thinkers from Plato to St Thomas Aquinas developed distinct approaches to the relationship between individuals and their political communities. We shall pay particular attention to debates over the relationship between law, theology and theories of political action. Another major theme of the course will be the relationship between texts and theorists: the formation of different and distinctive 'schools' of thought and the gradual development of a canon of texts which remains foundational for modern Western political theory today. Through a study of some of the important and influential theorists in the history of ancient political thought - such as Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Cicero or St Augustine - we shall first seek to contextualise their ideas in the time and circumstances under which they were writing, before moving on to examine the legacy of key ideas and concepts (for example justice, political community, property, political ethics and slavery) in later medieval contexts.

Dedicated MA course

Assessment: one 4-5,000 word essay.

Teacher: Dr Caroline Humfress (Birkbeck).

Meeting: one two-hour seminar weekly at Birkbeck, to be scheduled for the Spring term 2009.

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

*Arabic Philosophy

The course aims to give students an understanding of the historical development and philosophical interest of philosophy produced in the Arabic-speaking world, focusing on the time period from al-Kindi (9th century) to Averroes (12th century), which one might call the 'classical' period of Arabic thought. However some attention will be paid to developments after the classical period towards the end of the course. A further aim of the course is to bridge the gap between existing graduate courses in Post-Aristotelian and Medieval Philosophy.

Dedicated M.A. course.

Assessment: to be confirmed

Teacher: Dr Peter Adamson (Philosophy, KCL).

Meetings: throughout the year, at times to be arranged.

General Courses Page