Ancient History MA
Athenian Democracy: Model Or Mob-Rule? CLASSIC4001
- Academic Session: 2026-27
- School: School of Humanities
- Credits: 20
- Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
- Typically Offered: Either Semester 1 or Semester 2 (Alternate Years)
- Available to Visiting Students: Yes
- Collaborative Online International Learning: No
- Curriculum For Life: No
Short Description
This course offers the opportunity to study the earliest form of democracy in the Western world as well as ancient and modern attitudes to it.
Timetable
Two one-hour sessions per week 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.
Excluded Courses
None
Co-requisites
None
Assessment
The standard assessments for this course are:
■ Examination (90 minutes duration) - 50%
■ Essay (2,000 words) - 50%
If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:
■ There are no alternatives to the assessments, but extra time or flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustment (Students should follow the usual process for extensions).
Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor. 
Main Assessment In: April/May
Are reassessment opportunities available for all summative assessments? Not applicable
It is the default expectation that all courses will offer opportunities for reassessment or deferred assessment. Where it is not possible to offer this in some assessment components, the grade achieved at the first attempt will be counted towards the final course grade, and any exceptions for this course are described below.
[No exceptions]
Course Aims
This course will provide the opportunity to:
■ Explore in detail the history of the earliest form of democracy in the Western world as well as ancient and modern attitudes to it
■ Engage closely with a range of literary sources for Classical Athenian democracy
■ Become familiar with important secondary literature on the subject
■ Discuss ancient and modern theories and opinions about democracy
■ Reflect on democracy, ancient and modern, as a type of constitution
Intended Learning Outcomes of Course
By the end of this course students will be able to:
■ Describe the historical context of the Classical Athenian democracy and its functioning
■ Analyse and evaluate a range of ancient texts as historical sources for Athenian democracy and ancient attitudes to it
■ Summarize and evaluate modern theories about the Athenian democracy
■ Formulate your own interpretations of the sources with due regard for recent scholarship
■ Formulate lucid arguments which demonstrate engagement with primary sources and secondary literature