MA Classics and Ancient History

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Hellenistic Poetry

Course unit fact file
Unit code CAHE60302
Credit rating 15
Unit level FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Available as a free choice unit? Yes

Overview

Callimachus, Theocritus, and Apollonius of Rhodes are the three most important poets of the first half of the third century BC. Working principally in the recently founded city of Alexandria, they helped to shape all later views of ancient literature, from those of Virgil and Ovid to our own. They played a crucial role in the establishment of Greek culture in Egypt, now ruled by the descendants of Ptolemy I, one of Alexander the Great’s generals.

The conquests of Alexander greatly expanded the horizons of the Greek world: this course examines the changed situations and contexts in which the poets worked, very different from those of earlier poets, the relationship between the different poets, and their attitudes to and reform of the past, from their use of Homer to their treatment of perceptions of the Greek world.

No prior knowledge of Greek required: all texts will be studied in translation.

Aims

  • To study one of the most interesting and influential periods in Greek literature.
  • To develop a broad knowledge of central texts of Greek poetry.
  • To increase students’ awareness of current debates on a wide variety of relevant critical and theoretical topics.

Knowledge and understanding

  • Understanding of the cultural and political contexts in which Hellenistic poetry was produced.
  • Knowledge of key aspects of the poetry of Callimachus, Theocritus and Apollonius.
  • Understanding of the relationship between the work of the three poets and their predecessors.

Intellectual skills

  • The ability to construct an argument in written and oral form;
  • The ability to assimilate and summarise large quantities of evidence, and to engage critically and analytically with this evidence
  • The ability to conduct independent research at a sophisticated level, and to present the results in a professional manner with appropriate and detailed reference to sources and modern published scholarship.

Practical skills

  • Time-management
  • The ability to work co-operatively in small groups
  • The ability to engage in critical discussion and debate.

Transferable skills and personal qualities

  • The ability to analyse and examine complex information, as exemplified by the complex poems of three major poets.
  • An ability to synthesise an argument in a cogent form, as exemplified by the writing of essays on the poetry of the Hellenistic period
  • The ability to retrieve information from complex sources and present it in a compelling and cogent fashion, as exemplified by engaging at a sophisticated level with difficult primary and secondary material.
  • Development of presentation and discussion skills (including confidence) through face-to-face discussion of difficult topics in class.

Employability skills

Other
The course involves a large number of important employment skills, most notably an ability to analyse and examine complex information, an ability to synthesise an argument in a cogent form, the ability to retrieve information from complex sources and present it in a compelling and cogent fashion.

Assessment methods

Method Weight
Written assignment (inc essay) 100%

Feedback methods

Feedback method

Formative or Summative

Written feedback on formative assessment

Formative

Written comments on unit VoiceThreads

Formative

Written feedback on summative assessment

Formative and summative

Class discussion, oral feedback

Formative

Recommended reading

Fantuzzi, M., Hunter, R.L. 2004. Tradition and Innovation in Hellenistic Poetry. Cambridge.

Hunter, R.L. 1993. Jason and the Golden Fleece. Oxford.

Hunter, R.L. 1993. The ‘Argonautica’ of Apollonius: Literary Studies.  Cambridge.

Nisetich, F. 2001. The Poems of Callimachus. Oxford.

Verity, A. 2002. Theocritus: Idylls. Oxford.

Translations for most of the texts we cover are readily available online, e.g. via loebclassics.com, but Hunter (Jason and the Golden Fleece), Verity and Nisetich are particularly recommended.

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Practical classes & workshops 3
Seminars 14
Independent study hours
Independent study 130

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Andrew Morrison Unit coordinator

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