Study information

From the Grand Tour to Gladiator: Modern Encounters with the Ancient World: Context

Module titleFrom the Grand Tour to Gladiator: Modern Encounters with the Ancient World: Context
Module codeHIH3171
Academic year2023/4
Credits30
Module staff

Professor Kate Fisher (Convenor)

Duration: Term123
Duration: Weeks

11

11

Number students taking module (anticipated)

16

Module description

The classical world is all around us. We encounter the classical world in museums, civic architecture, gardens, film, poetry and video games. We find classical references in political, economic, social and cultural debates on topics such as education, civic society, democracy, slavery, globalisation or imperialism. In this module, we will examine how and why the cultures of Greece and Rome still matter to global societies and cultures.

Covering roughly the period from 1750 to the present day we will excavate the ways the ancient world has shaped the modern. We will explore the centrality of Greece and Rome to concepts of civilization, national identities, political ideology, race and sexuality. Why is the ancient world so prominent in narratives of Western triumphalism, marshalled in support of white supremacy and imperial politics, harnessed to legitimate dictatorships or wielded to promote liberal democracies? How is ancient history relevant to movements for sexual liberation or deemed illustrative of the dangers of pornography? How and why are ancient cultures appropriated to shore up racialised, classed and gendered structures of oppression?

In addition, we will demonstrate the long history of radical and disruptive receptions of Antiquity. Classical culture has been used by civil rights movements and marginalized groups across the world; by Irish Republicans, the anti-Apartheid movement and Haitian Revolutionaries, for example. A rich legacy of material reveals the utility of the Classics to movements of radical critique, counterculture, anti-imperialism, patriarchal resistance, and radical reform. Is a decolonised Classics possible, or should we ‘burn it all down’?

Module aims - intentions of the module

  • Explore the range of uses of the Classical Past, for example, to make sense of experiences, to justify ideologies, to develop personal identities, to demonstrate civility, to challenge contemporary assumptions or to bolster calls for social, political or economic reform.
  • Explore the political purposes behind the representations of the ancient world.
  • Reveal the politics at stake in all uses of the Classical past, from overt propaganda to serious scholarship.
  • Use the study of the uses of the classical period to shed new light on our understanding of the modern world and its concerns.
  • Examine how the history of representations of the Classical Past have themselves changed and shaped the way that the ancient material is understood both in academia and popular culture.
  • Explore emerging methodological and theoretical debates in the fields associated with uses of the past and the purpose of history.
  • Look closely at the approaches and methodologies of the discipline of Classical Reception.
  • Integrate the theoretical literature on Classical Reception with other related debates about history writing and its cultural significance, such as the literature on the ‘uses of the past’ or ‘memory studies’.
  • Employ these methodologies and theoretical insights in the analysis of a broad set of moments in modern western history.
  • Employ these methodologies and theoretical insights in the analysis of a very broad range of types of source material.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

  • 1. See how the Classical period has been perceived and represented during the past 300 years
  • 2. Identify how Classical material has been used and interpreted in different contexts and periods in response to different agenda and concerns.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

  • 3. Analyse a wide range of different sources in a highly critical and sophisticated manner.
  • 4. Explore the relationship between a source's subject matter and its wider cultural significance.
  • 5. Critically examine how the writing of history and perceptions of the past can influence contemporary political, social, economic and cultural debate and vice versa

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

  • 6. Work and study independently, including the presentation of material for group discussion, developed through the mode of learning.
  • 7. Digest, select and organise material to produce, to a deadline, a coherent and cogent argument, developed through the mode of assessment.

Syllabus plan

We will focus on a selection of themes and moments in modern history. These might include e.g: Philhellenism, the Greek wars of independence, the birth of archaeology, the fight for the Parthenon marbles, the birth of archaeology and the politics of museums, the invention of pornography, the grand tour and the development of the tourist industry, the rise European nationalism, the rise of fascism, the management of the British empire, colonial resistance, the formation of the USA, the politics of education and schooling; the emergence of sexuality, the nationalist body politics of racism and the invention of the Olympics, white supremacy and alt-right appeals to classical heritage.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching ActivitiesGuided independent studyPlacement / study abroad
442560

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled learning and teaching activities4422 x 2-hour seminars
Guided independent study256Reading and preparation for seminars and assessments

Summative assessment (% of credit)

CourseworkWritten examsPractical exams
10000

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment% of creditSize of the assessment (eg length / duration)ILOs assessedFeedback method
Portfolio702 assignments totalling 4000 words1-7Oral and Written
Written assignment302500 words1-7Oral and Written
0
0
0
0

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessmentForm of re-assessmentILOs re-assessedTimescale for re-assessment
Portfolio (2 assignments totalling 4000 words)Portfolio assignment1-7Referral/Deferral period
Written assignment (2500 words)Written assignment (2500 words)1-7Referral/Deferral period

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Beard, Mary. The Parthenon. Wonders of the World. London: Profile, 2002.  

 

Beard, Mary, and John Henderson. Classics : A Very Short Introduction. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.  

 

Blanshard, Alastair. Sex : Vice and Love from Antiquity to Modernity. Chichester, U.K.; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.  

 

Bradley, Mark. Classics and Imperialism in the British Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press,, 2010.  

 

Butler, Shane. Deep Classics : Rethinking Classical Reception. 2016. 

 

Coltman, Viccy. Classical Sculpture and the Culture of Collecting in Britain since 1760. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. 

 

Edwards, Catharine. Roman Presences : Receptions of Rome in European Culture, 1789-1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. 

 

Hales, Shelley, and Joanna Paul. Pompeii in the Public Imagination from Its Rediscovery to Today. Classical Presences. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. 

 

Hardwick, Lorna, and Christopher Stray. A Companion to Classical Receptions. Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell, 2008. 

Morley, Neville. Classics : Why It Matters. 2018. 

 

Stephens, Susan A., and Phiroze Vasunia. Classics and National Cultures. Oxford: Oxford University Press,, 2010.  

Vasunia, Phiroze. The Classics and Colonial India. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. 

 

Winkler, Martin M. Gladiator : Film and History. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2004. 

 

Wyke, Maria. Projecting the Past : Ancient Rome, Cinema, and History. The New Ancient World. New York: Routledge, 1997. 

 

Zuckerberg, Donna. Not All Dead White Men Classics and Misogyny in the Digital Age. Cambridge, Mass., : Harvard University Press, 2019. 

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

Key words search

Classical reception, Uses of the Past, Classical Tradition, Classical Past, Western Civilization. Heritage, National identity, History of scholarship, history of Classics, history of archaeology, history of art.

Credit value30
Module ECTS

15.00

Module pre-requisites

None

Module co-requisites

HIH3170 - From the Grand Tour to 'Gladiator' Modern Encounters with the Ancient World (Sources)

NQF level (module)

6

Available as distance learning?

No

Origin date

2003

Last revision date

16/02/2022