Course Catalogue

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Ranging broadly across the ancient world from Mesopotamia, Egypt and Nubia to Greece and Rome, this course introduces students to outstanding women of the past, from the (in)famous to the relatively unknown. We will explore the sources - both direct and indirect - that help us reconstruct the lives and experiences of women in the ancient Mediterranean world and its environs, using key themes to guide comparative case studies.

10 x 2hour seminar over 10 weeks as scheduled on MyCampus. This is one of the Honours options in Classics and may not run every year. The options that are running this session are available on MyCampus.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for Honours entry into Classics and Ancient History, and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

CLASSIC5128 Women and power? The extraordinary and ordinary women of the ancient world (PG)

None

- Critical analysis (2000 words, 70%)

- Portfolio (1000 words, 30%)

Reassessments are normally available for all courses, except those which contribute to the Honours classification. Where, exceptionally, reassessment on Honours courses is required to satisfy professional/accreditation requirements, only the overall course grade achieved at the first attempt will contribute to the Honours classification. For non-Honours courses, students are offered reassessment in all or any of the components of assessment if the satisfactory (threshold) grade for the overall course is not achieved at the first attempt. This is normally grade D3 for undergraduate students and grade C3 for postgraduate students. Exceptionally it may not be possible to offer reassessment of some coursework items, in which case the mark achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade. Any such exceptions for this course are described below. 

This course aims to:

■ Present key primary sources that might enable the reconstruction of the social and cultural roles of ancient women, paying particular attention to their possible biases

■ Investigate the lives and experiences of ancient women by broad comparative themes, touching on aspects like religion, politics, sexuality, ethnicity

■ Analyse ancient perspectives on ancient women across cultures, balancing predominantly male ancient sources with direct glimpses of women themselves

■ Critique modern scholarly and some popular views on ancient women and contextualise these against the primary evidence

■ Consider the nature of 'power' and how that might have applied to the women studied in the course.

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

■ Contextualise primary sources on ancient women culturally and temporally and make cross-cultural comparisons

■ Critically analyse secondary sources and their approach to ancient women

■ Use key themes to compare and contrast our evidence for the experience of ancient women in their respective cultural worlds

■ Explain and present the legacies of key ancient women in light of ancient and modern perceptions of them.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.