BA Art History and History

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Drawing on literary, art historical and archaeological evidence, this course introduces you to key developments, concepts and ideas common to many ancient societies in and around the Mediterranean between the Neolithic and Roman periods. Intentionally designed to be interdisciplinary, you will explore how ancient people lived and died from a variety of angles and thus gain insights into theoretical approaches and philosophical underpinnings of core disciplines in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. Topics explored revolve around central issues experienced by mankind, and include the appearance of cities and resulting consequences of urbanisation, the emergence of writing and the social impact of literacy, the nature and importance of public entertainment, how societies cope with death and the legacy of the past. You will explore several central themes in lectures, seminars, and your written submissions, and engage directly with the ancient evidence at the heart of each issue. By doing so, you will gain a broad foundation in the ideas and concepts you will use throughout your degree programme.

1. To introduce students to a range of issues at the very core of ancient (and indeed modern) societies through a series of case studies.
2. To introduce students to a wide variety of pertinent literary, art historical and archaeological evidence from ‘Old World’ societies.
3. To help students develop an awareness of the diversity of theoretical approaches, concepts and evidence available for the analysis and interpretation of social issues.
4. To encourage students to develop critical skills by analysing a variety of key evidence types.

• Acquired basic knowledge of core issues for different cultural and (pre)historical contexts from the ‘Old World’.
• Developed an awareness of different types of evidence, as well as an appreciation of the problems involved in marshalling these different kinds of evidence.
• Demonstrated some knowledge of the critical methods which link many of the disciplines within the School.

• Demonstrated an ability to evaluate and reflect upon different theoretical approaches and evidence types.
• Acquired experience in summarizing ones intellectual position.
• Acquired experience in marshalling the evidence to support one’s own argument.

• Acquired experience in presenting and reflecting upon evidence orally in a group context.
• Demonstrated an ability to utilize Blackboard.
• Demonstrate an ability to research a topic using library and internet resources.
• Developed an awareness of appropriate academic conventions for presentation of written arguments.
• Acquired experience in planning, conducting and presenting an essay of 2,000 words.

• Acquired experience in contributing to group discussions.
• Demonstrated an ability to communicate in written work.
• Developed experience in a critical use of the Internet to retrieve information.
• Gained experience in utilizing computer word processing software.
• Gained practice in managing time and working to deadlines. 

Edwards, C. 2007. Death in Ancient Rome. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.

Garland, R. 1985. The Greek Way of Death. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.

Kyle, D.G. 2007. Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World. Oxford: Blackwell.

Marcus, J. and Sabloff, J.A. (eds), 2008. The Ancient City: New Perspectives on Urbanism in the Old and New World. School of American Research Press.

Powell, B.B. 2009. Writing. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Storey, G. (ed.) 2006. Urbanism in the Preindustrial World: Cross-Cultural

Approaches. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.

Thomas, R. 1992. Literacy and Orality in Ancient Greece. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.

Vlassopulos, K. 2010. Politics: Antiquity and its Legacy. I.B. Tauris.