Classical Archaeology and Ancient History

Honour Moderations in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History | Honour School of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History

Honour Moderations in Classical Archaeology and Ancient History 

In Mods you take four papers. Two are core papers on relatively short but revolutionary periods, one Greek and one Roman, that integrate history and archaeology and introduce you to different approaches to the subject and to the different kinds of evidence and the questions that they can answer. Two further papers are Special Subjects, one archaeological and one historical, chosen from lists of options. In place of one of the Special Subjects you may take an option to learn either ancient Greek or Latin from scratch.

Field work and training in excavation techniques and recording are a requirement fulfilled by participation in an excavation normally during the summer vacation after Mods - either in the University excavation in Britain or in another approved field project.

I-II: Core Subjects: Approaches to Classical Archaeology and Ancient History

These core subjects look at two periods of revolution and rapid re-orientation, one Greek, one Roman. The periods are approached simultaneously from historical and archaeological perspectives, and are designed to introduce the methods and materials available for the study of the ancient world and to cut across and between periods studied in Finals. Opportunity is taken to introduce the history of the two converging disciplines of ancient history and classical archaeology, and attention is paid to methodology and the complementary nature of written, material, and visual evidence. The broad subjects engaged are the effects of two quite different historical upheavals on the political, social, material, and visual environments of Early Greece on the one hand and Late Republican Rome on the other - as well as their effects on the forms and character of the surviving historical and archaeological records of the two periods and the ways they can be studied. Both these courses are taught in small classes led by an ancient historian and an archaeologist together.

• I: Aristocracy and democracy in the Greek world 550-450 BC
• II: Republic to Empire: Rome 50 BC to AD 50

III-IV: Special Subjects and Languages

Special Subjects and Languages You choose two special subjects, one from each group below, or one special subject from either group and an ancient language.
Archaeology: The subjects are concerned with the most characteristic products of several broad periods -- the Bronze and Dark Ages to 700 BC, the Archaic and Classical periods, and the Roman period. Any one of these courses provides a good foundation in the materials and methods of Classical Archaeology. You learn here how to interpret monuments, images, and artefacts, how to relocate them in their ancient contexts and their own evolving traditions, and how they can be made to do broad historical work. These subjects provide training in the handling of material and visual evidence.

• A1: Homeric Archaeology and Early Greece from 1550 to 700 BC
• A2: Greek Vases
• A3: Greek Sculpture c.600 - 300 BC
• A4: Roman Architecture
• B1: Thucydides and the West
• B2: Aristophanes' Political Comedy
• B3: Cicero and Catiline
• B4: Tacitus and Tiberius
• C1: Beginning Ancient Greek
• C2: Beginning Latin
• C3: Intermediate Ancient Greek
• C4: Intermediate Latin

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Honour School of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History 

In your second and third years, leading up to Finals, you build on the work done in Mods and expand your range in time and theme. Note that there are major changes to the syllabus this year. You will take six options and a site or museum report (equivalent to one paper).

The options are chosen from a list of Integrated Classes, which bring together historical and archaeological approaches to a particular period; Core Papers, which deal with central topics in Greco-Roman studies; Further Papers, whose range allows you either to build up concentrated expertise in some central areas and periods or allows you to extend into earlier and later periods, and into non-classical cultures; and Classical Language Papers, which allow you to begin or continue the study of Greek or Latin. When choosing your six options, you must include at least one of the Integrated Classes (Group A) at least one of the Core Papers in Classical Archaeology (Group B) at least one of the Core Papers in Ancient History (Group C) no more than one of the Classical Language Paper(Group F)

At least two of the six papers must be archaeological (From B and D) and at least two must be historical (from C and E), unless a language paper is taken , as this can replace one of the archaeological or historical requirements.

I-IV: Core Papers, Special Subjects and Languages

• A1: Early Greece and the Mediterranean c. 950-550 BC: archaeology and history
• A2: Rome, Italy, and the Hellenistic East, c.300-100 BC: archaeology and history
• B1: Greek Art and Archaeology from c.500 to 300 B.C.
• B2: Cities and Settlement under the Roman Empire
• B3: Art under the Roman Empire, AD 14-337
• B4: The Archaeology of the Late Roman Empire, AD 284-641
• C1: Thucydides and the Greek World: 479 BC to 403 BC
• C2: Alexander the Great and his early Successors
• C3: Roman history 146-46 BC
• C4: Politics, Society and Culture from Nero to Hadrian
• D1: Egyptian Art and Architecture
• D2: The archaeology of Minoan Crete, 3200-1000 BC
• D3: The formation of the Islamic world, AD 550-950
• D4: Scientific Methods in Archaeology
• D5: Greek and Roman Coins
• D6: Mediterranean Maritime Archaeology
• E1: Epigraphy of the Greek and/or Roman World
• E2: Athenian Democracy in the Classical Age
• E3: Sexuality and Gender in Greece and Rome
• E4: Cicero: Politics and Thought in the Late Republic
• E5: Religions in the Greek and Roman World from c.31 BC to AD 312
• E6: St. Augustine and the Last Days of Rome, AD 370-430
• F1: Intermediate Ancient Greek
• F2: Intermediate Latin

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V-VI: Special Subjects and Languages see I-IV

VII: A Site or Museum Report

• A: Site Report
• B: Museum Report

VIII: An Optional Additional Theses

Students may prepare, if they wish, an additional thesis (of not more than 15,000 words) on a subject of their choice within the area and period of the degree, provided that it does not overlap with the subject of the Report offered in VII or with a thesis offered as a Special Subject option. Detailed instructions on the arrangements for theses and the Report are included under Regulation 3 of the Examination Regulations 2011, pp. 176-180. Avoidance of overlap is dealt with there in section 3(b).

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