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Faculty of Classics

University of Oxford

Lectures

The Faculty lecture list is available online. Undergraduate lectures and graduate seminars are normally only open to current students of the University. Non-members of the University should contact the relevant lecturer or seminar organiser as well as the manager of the relevant venue in advance for permission to attend. All lectures take place in Weeks 1-8 of term and last for one hour unless otherwise stated.

Please note the following indications in the online lecture list:

* This class is only open to students by prior invitation.

(biennial) This lecture/class is given in alternate academic years and will not be repeated next year.

(lc) This lecture series will be recorded on the Panopto lecture capture system.

Academic staff and students of other universities and members of the public are welcome to attend research seminars and public lectures held in the Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies. Term cards for research seminars are published at Seminars.

Students can give feedback on lectures by using an online form available in WebLearn.

Prospectuses for lectures and graduate seminars

Where lecturers have provided prospectuses for their lecture series or graduate seminars, they are listed below. Prospectuses are not available for all lecture series.

Hilary Term 2020

Ancient Architecture Discussion Group
Classical Archaeology Seminar: The Archaeology of the Ancient Greek Economy

Prof A Wilson, Prof C Morgan

Comparative Philology Seminar: Luwian
Corpus Christi Classical Seminar: Ethical Reading: Authenticity

Prof C Güthenke, Prof H Najman, Prof T Reinhardt

Euripides, Orestes: Text

Dr S Scullion

These lectures are for Subject 513: “Euripides, Orestes: papyri, manuscripts, text” in the Honour School of Literae Humaniores and associated joint schools.

Greek Archaeology Group - Prehistoric and Early Greece Graduate Seminar
Greek Coins II

Dr V Heuchert

Essential for the CAAH paper on 'Greek and Roman Coins' and for the M. Stud. and M. Phil. options in Greek Coinage / Greek Numismatics, but open to all with an interest in Greek history or coinage.

The lectures aim to provide an introduction to Hellenistic coinage and to the ways we study them.  The series continues the “Greek Coins I” lectures from Michaelmas Term that dealt with Archaic and Classical Greek coins.  There will be an opportunity at the end of each lecture to examine a selection of relevant coins.

  1. Cooperative Coinage
  2. The Coinages of Philip II and Alexander the Great
  3. Hellenistic Ruler Portraits
  4. Hellenistic Monetary Policies
  5. State and Finance in the Hellenistic Period
  6. Case Study: The (Hellenistic) Mint of Miletus
  7. Greek Coinage under the Roman Republic
  8. History from Coins? Evidence of the Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek Kingdoms (S. Glenn)
Greek Lyric Metres

Dr A D'Angour

This class will give practice in learning and recognising all the main metres of Greek lyric and choral poetry, as required for scansion and comment in the MSt half-option: iambo-dactylic and dactylo-epitrite, trochaic and aeolic systems, dochmiacs, ionic and anapaestic systems.

Greek Prose Reading Class

Prof R Parker

We shall continue reading Plutarch's Life of Cicero from Michaelmas Term, 
but new participants are very welcome.  For the first session please prepare Chapters 27-29.

Historiography (Class)

Prof R Ash; Prof T Rood

This class is for Subject 503: “Historiography” in  the Honour School of Literae Humaniores and associated joint schools. 

Indo-European, Greek and Latin: Morphology

Prof. P. Probert

Together with the Phonology lectures from which they follow on, these are the core lectures for the philology subject in Classics Mods and the joint schools including Classics, and for the "Comparative Philology: Indo? European, Greek and Latin" paper in Greats and in the joint schools including Classics. They also form part of the teaching for the comparative philology papers in the taught graduate courses in Classics. Other interested people are very welcome. 

These lectures aim to introduce the morphological history of Greek and Latin and the morphology of their reconstructed ancestor, Proto-Indo-European; they also serve as an introduction to the methods and aims of reconstruction. Basic knowledge of either Latin or Greek (or both) is helpful; those taking Mods IB, IC, IIA, or IIB will be at no disadvantage.

Handouts will be provided and students will be encouraged to do some exercises; these are distributed at the end of each lecture and offer an opportunity for practice and reinforcement of new material and concepts. The Morphology course will begin in seventh week with the declension of nouns, and will continue in the first half of Trinity term.

These lectures will be repeated next year.

Indo-European, Greek and Latin: Phonology

Prof. P. Probert

Together with the Morphology lectures that will follow on from them, these are the core lectures for the 
philology subject in Classics Mods and the joint schools including Classics, and for the "Comparative 
Philology: Indo? European, Greek and Latin" paper in Greats and in the joint schools including Classics. 
They also form part of the teaching for the comparative philology papers in the taught graduate courses 
in Classics. Other interested people are very welcome. These lectures aim to introduce the phonological 
history of Greek and Latin and the phonology of their reconstructed ancestor, Proto-Indo-European; 
they also serve as an introduction to the methods and aims of reconstruction. Basic knowledge of either 
Latin or Greek (or both) is helpful; those taking Mods IB, IC, IIA, or IIB will be at no disadvantage.

Handouts will be provided and participants will be encouraged to do some exercises; these are 
distributed at the end of each lecture and offer an opportunity for practice and reinforcement of new 
material and concepts. The Phonology course will cover all the sounds reconstructed for the parent 
language, ending with the laryngeal theory. The Morphology course will begin in seventh week with the 
declension of nouns.

These lectures will be repeated next year.

Metre for Mods

Dr A D'Angour

This class will run through Latin metres, knowledge of four of which is required for the scansion question of the Mods Optional Paper: hendecasyllables, limping iambics, Sapphics, Alcaics, Asclepiadic metres.

Mods Philology Revision Class

Prof P Probert

This is a revision class geared towards those taking the special subject "Historical Linguistics and Comparative Philology" in Classics Mods, and in the joint schools that include Classics. Those taking "Comparative Philology: Indo-European, Greek and Latin" in Greats, or in the joint schools, are also welcome.

Ovid, Amores, Heroides and Metamorphoses

Dr M Robinson

In this series of lectures we will be looking at the Amores, the Heroides and the Metamorphoses. We will begin with an examination of some key general aspects, such as the importance of genre and our preconceptions regarding the poetic ‘I’, before turning to the texts themselves. The lectures will for the most part focus on close reading of particular key passages, to get a sense of the intricate mechanics of Ovidian poetry – the idea being that you can then apply this reading practice elsewhere and know what questions to ask of the text. We will combine this close reading with some wider perspectives, exploring the different approaches that scholars have taken towards these texts.

 

Week 1: Introduction to Ovid: on genre, love poetry, and the poetic ‘I’
Week 2: Amores 2.1. Superman Mr Lover Lover vs sad losers Propertius and Tibullus.
Week 3: Amores 2. Is Ovid really Superman? Ovid as lover, loser, misogynist, feminist
Week 4: Heroides. Intertextual games.
Week 5: Heroides. Are they anything more than intertextual games?
Week 6: Metamorphoses. Beginnings, Middles and Ends. Novetly, genre, and the return of Superman
Week 7: Metamorphoses. Newness in action: Apollo and Daphne
Week 8: Metamorphoses. Narrative, Politics, and The End.
Philip and Demosthenes

Dr G Westwood

This series of four lectures (weekly in HT 1-4) is intended primarily for undergraduates taking Greek History 403-336 for Lit Hum (i.e. GH3) or AMH Finals, but undergraduates and postgraduates interested in mid-fourth-century Greek history (e.g. those taking Athenian Democracy, or those who want some background for Alexander) are most welcome. Please note that this lecture series is biennial. 

Politics, Society and Culture from Nero to Hadrian

Prof N Purcell

Roman History 46 BC - AD 54: Documents

Dr G Kantor

These lectures are aimed at introducing the documentary evidence for the period to those taking Roman History I.6 (46 BC – AD 54) in Greats, and the equivalent history period in Ancient and Modern History FHS. They will focus mainly on the detailed discussion of the prescribed documentary sources for the Greats paper and their historical implications. Wider problems of using documentary evidence for Roman imperial history will also be discussed as far as time permits.

Wk. 5. Senatorial decrees and statutes.
Wk. 6. Senatorial and equestrian careers.
Wk. 7. Governors and provincials.
Wk. 8. Emperor in action: Claudian documents
Roman Religion in the Later Empire

Dr M Gassman

Of particular interest to those studying for 'Conversion of Augustine' or 'Religions in the Greek and Roman World', these lectures survey the history of Roman polytheistic religion in the period in which it found, for the first time, a rival, in an increasingly vigorous Christianity. Combining political with intellectual history, the lectures examine the repeated changes, across ca. 250-410, in the religious practices accepted and promoted by Roman emperors from Decius to the sons of Theodosius I. At the same time, they examine the reinterpretation, by both pagans and Christians, of the age-old cults of the empire's many cities, and the progressive replacement of Classical ways of doing and thinking about religion with Christian alternatives.

Roman Republican Constitution

Dr S Cohen

These lectures will cover questions related to the constitution of the Roman Republic, beginning with the central issue of what the Republican constitution was.  Lectures will cover the magistrates and the sources and types of power they possessed, the people and the plebs, and the Senate and the oligarchy. We will examine the sources of legitimate political authority in Rome and the different kinds of power available within the state, and look at the causes and effects of some of the conflicts over what was and was not constitutional. These lectures are aimed at students studying the Roman History period papers covering 241-146 BCE and 146-46 BCE, but may also be of use to those studying other periods.

Seminar on Jewish History and Literature in the Graeco-Roman Period

Prof M Goodman

Seneca, Medea

Prof S Heyworth; Prof T Reinhardt

These classes are for Subject 524: “Seneca, Medea” in the Honour School of Literae Humaniores and associated joint schools.

 

Seneca, Natural Questions Text Seminar

Dr B Taylor

Week 1: Introduction, and preface to Book 3 (BT)

Week 2: Book 3.1-10, on rivers

              Book 3.27-30, on the Great Flood

Week 3: Book 4a.1-2.16, on the flooding of the Nile, and its known course

              Book 4b.3-7, on hail and hailstorms

Week 4: Book 5.1-6, on definitions and causes of wind

              Book 5.15, 18, on the human exploitation of nature

Week 5: Book 6.12-19, on air as a cause of earthquakes

              Book 6.27-32, on phenomena associated with the earthquake in Campania

Week 6: Book 7.22-29, on comets as akin to planets

              Book 7.30-32, on the demands of philosophy, and its contemporary decline

Week 7: Book 1.3-8, on rainbows

              Book 1.16-17, on improper and proper uses of mirrors

Week 8: Book 2.2-11, on the properties of air

              Book 2.52-9, on the effects and causes of lightning

Structure of Greek II: Classical Greek Texts

Dr A Vatri

Classical Greek Texts These sessions are aimed at those taking the Greek Historical Linguistics paper in Greats, and in the joint schools including Classics, and especially at those thinking of preparing "Classical Greek (broadly conceived)" as one of their two sets of texts for this option. Other interested people are very welcome; some knowledge of Greek will be assumed.

When we study the language of (for example) a Linear B tablet or a poem by Sappho, we often focus on features that we would not expect to see in a classical text. But what about the language of classical authors themselves - are they not linguistically interesting too? To find out, please come along to these classes. Attention will be devoted to developing the skills needed to undertake an insightful linguistic analysis of (for example) the set extracts from Euripides, the Hippocratic Corpus, Demosthenes, and Menander.

These classes will not be repeated next year.

Structure of Latin II: Classical Latin Texts

Prof W de Melo

These sessions are aimed at those taking the Latin Historical Linguistics paper in Greats, and in the joint schools including Classics, and especially at those thinking of preparing "Classical Latin (broadly conceived)" as one of their two sets of texts for this option. Other interested people are very welcome; some knowledge of Latin will be assumed.

When we study the language of (for example) an early Latin inscription or a late Latin chronicle, we often focus on features that we would not expect to see in a classical text. But what about the language of classical authors themselves - are they not linguistically interesting too? To find out, please come along to these classes. Attention will be devoted to developing the skills needed to undertake an insightful linguistic analysis of (for example) the set extracts from Terence, Varro, Pseudo-Caesar, and Vitruvius.

These classes will not be repeated next year.

Virgil, Aeneid

Dr R Armstrong

This series continues the provision for students studying Mods, although those at other stages or on other courses are very welcome to attend if interested. The lectures cover a range of themes and ways of approaching the Aeneid:

Week 1: Close Encounters: Reading and Re-reading the Aeneid – a practical demonstration of the joys (hopefully) of looking in detail at a relatively short, multi-layered passage of the poem.

Week 2: Shock and Awe: Violence and the Grotesque – looks at some of the monsters of the Aeneid, together with some graphic battle-scene violence.

Week 3: In the Shadow of Olympus: Divine Authorities in the Aeneid – assessing the divine-political frameworks both adumbrated and directly presented in the poem, as well as offering some insight into the ‘small gods’ overshadowed by the Olympians.

Week 4: Lines and Limits of Comparison: exploring Vergilian similes as well as some of the broader comparisons achieved via structure and intertextuality.

Week 5: Nature in the Aeneid – an ecocritical glance at various aspects of the natural world in the poem, including seas, rivers and forests.

Week 6: Futurology: Omens, Prophecies and Foreshadowing in the Aeneid – a brief look at the troublesome theories of Fate together with examples of puzzling predictions unpacked.

Week 7: Encyclopaedia Romana: the Aeneid and Roman Knowledge – sets out some of the ways in which the poem acts as a repository of the contemporary state of culture and science.

Week 8: Stiff Upper Lips? The Emotions in the Aeneid – reflections on love, pride, anger and grief.

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