Texts and Contexts

Taken by all Mods candidates

This paper includes four topics for study, two Greek, two Roman, all compulsory: The Persian Wars and Cultural Identities (Herodotus), Dionysus, Drama, and Athens (Euripides, Bacchae; Aristophanes, Frogs); Love and Luxury (Cicero, pro Caelio; Catullus, Propertius 1), Class (Petronius, Juvenal). These topics feature important and attractive texts and archaeological material; as well as introducing major themes in social and historical study, they will help you to see how links can be made between different parts of the subject. The Examination Regulations prescribe the specific texts that must be studied. The balance of reading in Greek/Latin and in translation will vary according to whether you take Course IA, IB, IC, IIA, or IIB. For each year a body of archaeological images will be placed on WebLearn before the start of the course, and from this will be drawn the images used for the compulsory picture question. Reading images and monuments is a vital skill in Classics (and more broadly). To get the most out of the subject students need to learn how to talk about images, and there will be a lecture course designed to make sure the skill is acquired by all. The images can be accessed via this page on Weblearn:

http://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/human/classics/teaching/ll/contexts/
A specimen paper is available on Weblearn, via this page:
http://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/human/classics/teaching/ll/tandcnew/