Texts and Contexts

Taken by all Mods candidates

This paper proposes ten topics for study, of which you will have to choose six. The Examination Regulations prescribe the specific texts and other evidence which must be studied. All of these topics raise important, interesting and intricate issues about literature, history and archaeology. Candidates must show knowledge of both the texts prescribed and the literary problems connected with them (‘Texts’) and the social and cultural contexts in antiquity in which they were composed and received (‘Contexts’). Some questions will be connected more with Texts and some more with Contexts, but they will all in a broad sense relate to the ten themes set for the paper. In addition, there will be many opportunities to show understanding of the specifically archaeological evidence and the problems that arise from it. The balance of reading in Greek/Latin and in translation will vary according to 36 whether you take Course IA, IB, IC, IIA, or IIB. Specimen questions for this paper are now available on Weblearn (http://www.weblearn.ox.ac.uk/site/human/classics/teaching/ll/contexts/).