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- UCAS course code
- VL46
- UCAS institution code
- M20
Course unit details:
Roman Women in 22 Objects
Unit code | CAHE20532 |
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Credit rating | 20 |
Unit level | Level 2 |
Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
Available as a free choice unit? | Yes |
Overview
This course explores the material culture of Roman women. This includes any kind of object, artefact or archaeological evidence related to women, used by women or even produced by them. Twenty-two key objects, one for each lecture and dating from the early Principate to Late Antiquity, will be used as tools to introduce wider topics (e.g. the archaeology of birth and childcare; marriage and relationships in material culture), archaeological corpora (e.g. portraits, terracotta votive offerings, textiles), and specific archaeological contexts (e.g. female burials, female public and domestic spaces) in order to investigate women’s lives and roles in Roman society. Through close analysis of evidence in lectures and seminars, students will learn different approaches and methodologies to critically engage with Roman material culture.
Aims
- to be introduced to the study of women in antiquity
- to learn how to analyse material evidence in order to explore ancient women lives
- to locate material evidence into the wider historical background
- to learn how to use archaeological objects for research
Knowledge and understanding
- to understand how archaeological objects are related with the study of Roman women
- to understand how objects were produced, used and exchanged or commodified in the Roman world
- to be able to classify ancient objects according to their aims, contents and material aspect
Intellectual skills
- To construct an argument in written and oral form
- To assimilate and summarise large quantities of evidence, and to engage critically and analytically with this evidence
- To conduct independent research
- To present the results in a professional manner with appropriate and detailed reference to sources and modern published scholarship
Practical skills
- to manage time
- to engage with collections of material evidence
- to engage in critical discussion and debate
Transferable skills and personal qualities
- to be able to communicate ideas in appropriate written and oral form
- to work in groups
- to analyse data and be able to interpret them
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 collaborate with experts in different fields, the retrieve information from complex sources and present it in a compelling and cogent fashion.
Assessment methods
Assessment task | Formative or Summative | Weighting within unit (if summative) |
Poster | Formative & summative | 50% |
Essay | Summative | 50% |
Resit Assessment
Assessment task |
Essay |
Feedback methods
Feedback method | Formative or Summative |
Written feedback | Students will receive summative and formative feedback on their coursework assessments. Students are encouraged to submit a draft of the review to the course convenor for written formative feedback in advance of the final submission. |
Oral feedback | The seminars are a place for directed discussion and thus provide verbal formative feedback on the development and presentation of argument and interpretation on a weekly basis. In advance of submitting written coursework, students are encouraged to discuss their plans with the course convenor who will provide formative feedback. |
Recommended reading
- · E. D’Ambra, Roman Women, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2007
- · E. Fantham, H. Foley, et al., Women in the Classical World: Image and Text, Oxford: 1994
- · S. Pomeroy, Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity, London: Penguin Random House 1995 2nd ed
- · J. Rowlandson (ed.), Women and Society in Greek and Roman Egypt: A Sourcebook, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1998
- · P. Zanker, Roman Art, Los Angeles: Getty Publications 200
Study hours
Scheduled activity hours | |
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Lectures | 22 |
Seminars | 11 |
Independent study hours | |
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Independent study | 167 |
Teaching staff
Staff member | Role |
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Duncan Keenan-Jones | Unit coordinator |