BA Latin and Italian

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Men, Beasts and Marvels: the Limits of Nature in Classical Antiquity 

Course unit fact file
Unit code CAHE33361
Credit rating 20
Unit level Level 3
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Available as a free choice unit? Yes

Overview

The course examines Greek and Roman attitudes to nature. How did they comprehend and explain the world around them?  What was their perception of their own place within that world and how did it relate to the other constituent parts of nature, animate and inanimate?

Starting with nature in its broadest sense, the course includes an introductory overview of ancient cosmology, from the earliest creation myths to the rationalising views of the Pre-Socratics and the later world views of Plato, Aristotle, and the Epicureans and Stoics. We also look at ideas developed to facilitate comprehension of what was beyond measurement, e.g. microcosm and macrocosm and the relation of the universe to the notion of the divine.

 Life in Nature introduces the view prevalent in classical antiquity that the natural world existed for the benefit of humanity, together with the practical and ethical issues raised by this teleological idea, including the relationship between man and the other animals and the impact of human activity on the natural landscape.  As geographical  knowledge and opportunities for travel increased, we consider ideas which placed humanity in a broader context than that delineated by political borders.

 The final part of the course is devoted to the cultural effects of the expanding horizons of the natural world, in particular the reception of the new and wondrous, including oddities ranging from natural phenomena to human and animal monstrosities, both real and imagined.  At the end, we raise the question of marvels which defy nature’s most basic parameters. Tales of the supernatural in antiquity range from near-death experiences and bilocation to narratives which are the ancestors of the modern ghost story.

An epilogue will consider aspects of the influence some of these ideas had in later eras.

Aims

To offer Level 3 undergraduate students the opportunity to study a fundamental aspect of Greek and  Roman  cultural history through the medium of a  range of representative sources.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course students will be able to:

  • evaluate the  impact of ancient attitudes to the natural world on and through a wide range of fields, from early philosophical thought to military expansion, from attitudes to natural and man-made landscapes to popular entertainment and imperial symbolism;
  • situate the evidence in its broader historical context and to consider its significance for the evolution of later ideas.

Syllabus

 

 

Teaching and learning methods

  • 2 x 1 hour lectures per week; 22 lectures in total.
  • 1 x 1 hour seminar per week; 11 tutorials in total.
  • Blackboard: all lectures will be supported either by PowerPoint or by a handout, both of which will be uploaded to Blackboard after each lecture. Bibliographical materials and preparation for seminars will also be uploaded on a weekly basis.
  • Additional eLearning content: some commentaries and translations are available on-line, as are resources such as the Oxford Classical Dictionary. Instruction will be given (in seminars and/or electronically) on using eLearning materials and on-line resources.

Tasks will be set for each seminar; detailed feedback on these and on summatively assessed work will be given to students to aid personal development and exam preparation.

Knowledge and understanding

By the end of this course students will be able to:

  • demonstrate an understanding of the range and evolution of attitudes to Nature in Classical antiquity
  • demonstrate an ability to evaluate a wide variety of source materials from different periods pertaining to the main themes of the course;
  • contextualise key ideas within broader historical parameters.

Intellectual skills

By the end of this course students will be able to demonstrate an enhanced ability to:

  •  perform close textual analysis and more broadly based thematic readings;
  • evaluate critically both primary evidence and secondary literature;
  • apply a range of interpretative approaches; to envisage a written text as one element of a wider historical picture;

Practical skills

By the end of this course students will be able to:

  • demonstrate good oral and written communication skills;
  • take responsibility for individual learning;
  • to appreciate the views of individuals from different cultures

In addition, students at level 3 will be able to:

  • demonstrate self-motivation in more complex assignments
  • demonstrate an enhanced ability to debate core themes and  ideas

Transferable skills and personal qualities

By the end of this course students will be able to:

  • demonstrate the ability to construct an argument in written and oral form, to pose questions about complex issues;
  • assimilate and summarise large quantities of evidence;
  • locate and retrieve relevant information from primary sources;
  • conduct bibliographic searches;
  • present the results in a professional manner with appropriate reference to sources and modern published scholarship;
  • use e-resources and gain knowledge of research methods and resources;
  • manage time and resources;
  • engage in critical discussion.

In addition, students at level 3 will be able to:

  •  pose questions about complex issues;
  • assimilate and summarise large quantities of evidence;
  • utilise evidence in a more selective and discriminating manner

Employability skills

Other
By the end of this course students will be able to: demonstrate the ability to construct an argument in written and oral form, to pose questions about complex issues; assimilate and summarise large quantities of evidence; locate and retrieve relevant information from primary sources; conduct bibliographic searches; present the results in a professional manner with appropriate reference to sources and modern published scholarship; use e-resources and gain knowledge of research methods and resources; manage time and resources; engage in critical discussion.

Assessment methods

Method Weight
Other 30%
Written exam 40%
Written assignment (inc essay) 30%

Commentaries

 

Feedback methods

  • Written feedback on formative and summative assessment (see above);
  • Additional one-to-one feedback

Recommended reading

  • M. R. Wright, Cosmology in Antiquity (London, 1995).
  • R. French, Ancient Natural History: Histories of Nature (London, 1994)
  • A. Mayor, The First Fossil Hunters (Princeton,  2000).
  • D. Felton, Haunted Greece and Rome (Texas, 1999).
  • G. L. Campbell (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Animals in Classical Thought and Life (Oxford, 2015).
  • J. Romm, The Edges of the World in Ancient Thought (Princeton, 1992).
  • R. Garland, The Eye of the Beholder: Deformity and Disability in the Graeco-Roman World (London, 1995).
  • L. Thommen, An Environmental History of Ancient Greece and Rome (tr. P. Hill, Cambridge 2012)

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 22
Seminars 11
Independent study hours
Independent study 167

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Mary Beagon Unit coordinator

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