BA Art History & Visual Culture and Classical Studies

AHV1011: Questions and Methods in Art History and Visual Culture

This module introduces you to the key methods used to analyse works of art and visual culture and, in doing so, raises critical questions about the disciplines of Art History and Visual Culture and their relationship to one another. While Art History is a long-established field of study, Visual Culture can be viewed as an interdisciplinary mode of enquiry that has emerged in more recent times, which is both attuned to a history of visual culture as much as a definition of contemporary culture. Together, both fields of study continue to evolve in line with a series of common intellectual debates. You will be introduced to the appropriate terminology used in academic literature and to the foundational texts upon which both fields rely. You will also learn about a range of historical and contemporary theoretical approaches that inform the study of Art History & Visual Culture.

Art History & Visual Culture will be a new subject for almost all students at University level, and this module aims to:

View an example full module specification

CLA1005: Greek and Roman Narrative

This module explores Greek and Roman epic poems within their literary, cultural, and social contexts: the Homeric epics Iliad and Odyssey, and selections from Apollonius' Hellenistic work The Argonautica and Roman 'epic', including Catullus 64, Virgil's Aeneid and Ovid's experimental Metamorphoses .

This module aims to explore:

• the development of the narrative genre from the earliest heroic epics through to Imperial Rome
• the assumptions the texts make about humans and the world
• how changes in society are reflected in literature and in the role of literature in society
• how attitudes and preconceptions influence the authors' treatment of their subject

View an example full module specification

CLA1006: Greek and Roman Drama

This module is aimed at anyone who wants to know more about the fascinating theatrical traditions of ancient Athens and Rome. You will examine a wide range of plays, both tragic and comic, including works by authors as varied as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Menander, Aristophanes, Terence and Plautus. All these texts are studied in the medium of English translation, making the module widely accessible. You will be given an advanced critical introduction to some of the greatest and most influential works in the Western dramatic tradition, and will be encouraged to think about such matters as the connection between drama and society, the role of ritual and religion, the nature of the tragic and comic genres, and the psychological and emotional impact of drama on its audience.

• To come to a general understanding of the origin and development of ancient drama, the importance of types of plot and character, the relationship of drama with society and the emotional effect of tragedy.
• To explore Athenian tragedy of the fifth century BC over a period of some sixty years, paying attention both to the texts of the plays and the way they develop with time and in line with changes in the city.
• To complement the study of Athenian tragedy with the very different tragedy of Seneca (first century AD), which raises issues of text, performance and the cultural setting of drama.
• To explore comedy, considering the place of Greek Old Comedy (for example Aristophanes) in the Athenian democratic city, and ways in which it differed from the New Comedy of the late fourth century (for example Menander).
• To investigate Roman approaches to comedy through the plays of Plautus and Terence.

View an example full module specification

AHV1005: Inside the Museum

This module is a conceptual introduction to the artistic, social, aesthetic, and political implications of the museum from roughly the 17th century to the present. It will involve specific case studies and theoretical writings that will challenge you to think about the museum as not merely a repository and exhibition space for objects, but rather as a complex technology for ordering and classifying material objects to create forms of knowledge; for constructing narratives of material and cultural history, aesthetics, and civic ideals; and for providing us with experiments in seeing patterns of meaning emerge in physical and virtual spaces.

View an example full module specification

AHV1006: Visual Media

This module offers an introduction to the history of specific media and the materials, techniques and processes used by artists to produce works of various types. The module is organised in a broadly chronological way, beginning with 'traditional' media, such as drawing and painting (egg tempera and oil), with a focus on late Medieval and Early Modern artists and their techniques, before then moving through innovations in modern art up to and including the nineteenth century (e.g. French Impressionism), and culminating with contemporary art and practice. Each week addresses a specific media or 'type' of artwork, and you will be introduced to the different properties and capabilities of each media and learn to examine and understand the visual effects achieved.

View an example full module specification

AHV1008: Topics in Art History and Visual Culture I

This module introduces you to one of the most influential and enduring traditions in Western culture. Classicism has its roots in the material cultures of the ancient Greeks and Romans (c. 500 BCE to c. 476 CE) but its uses and meanings have evolved over centuries. As a phenomenon, it is remarkably wide-spread and persistent in European history and as a canon of qualities and ideals—for example proportional systems, formal language, restraint, balance, clarity and harmony—it appears repeatedly in a series of deliberate revivals. Classicism is inherently retrospective in nature but its traditions have also served as dynamic sites of cultural negotiation that continue to inform thought and practice in many spheres from art to political theory. This module considers the reception of ancient Greece and Rome from the 16th C to the present day in painting, prints, architecture, art theoretical texts, gardens and photography. We will consider the uses and functions of classical forms and concepts as well as the problematic nature of its relationship to canon-formation and canonicity.

View an example full module specification

AHV1009: Topics in Art History and Visual Culture II

This module offers a critical introduction to the history of Modernism in Europe and North America. Taking its lead from the work of Manet and his contemporaries, it will explore the key developments in art, design and photography during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Beginning with an investigation into the various ways in which the term Modernism has been used, the course will address both the origins of the term and its relationship to notions of modernity. Building upon this foundation, it will then explore the various '-isms' which constituted the European avant-garde and the rise of their American counterparts. Possible topics for discussion include Cubism, Pictorialism and the New York School. The course will conclude by considering the various ways in which the modernist paradigm has been called into question, from the changing status of the art institution to the rise of Postmodernism.

View an example full module specification

AHV1012: Approaches to Art History and Visual Culture

Building on AHV1011, this module offers a critical introduction to the key terms and concepts that have shaped the study of Art History and Visual Culture (e.g. beauty, skill, heritage, power). Through a combination of lectures, seminars and practical workshops, it traces the emergence and development of these keywords, locating them within their broader socio-political histories and accompanying theoretical frameworks. Each week will focus on a single term, exploring its connection to artworks, cultural artefacts and institutions to help you expand your critical and visual vocabulary. The module will also introduce you to a range of University resources, such as the Creative Quadrant and the collections of the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, equipping you with the skills to undertake creative assessments both in this module and throughout your degree.

View an example full module specification

CLA1030: Ancient World: Racecraft

How did 'race' come to be an important part of the contemporary world? Has race always been a criterion for categorising people and organising social difference, as it is now? Questions of this kind will be at the core of this module which will look at how social difference was organised in ancient worlds. If we take our jumping off point that Greeks and Romans did not have a concept of race that maps neatly onto our notions of race, how did they organise social difference? And - where did ideas about race come from if the Greeks and Romans thought so differently about it? To answer these questions, we will look at ancient and modern ideas together in order to appreciate that race is neither a fixed or nor timeless way of categorising and making hierarchies between people. Instead, race is 'crafted' (as argued by sociologists Karen and Barbara Fields). We will be thinking about race in the ancient world as crafted in particular ways to support modern ideas about whiteness, empire, and civilisation.

No prior skills, knowledge or experience are required to take this module, only willingness to examine its origins and effects with curiosity and a sensitivity to others' lived and ongoing experiences of racism. This module is suitable for non-specialist students, and is recommended for interdisciplinary pathways: joint honours students are warmly welcome.

View an example full module specification

CLA1035: Roman Death and Commemoration

This module explores how people in the Roman world considered the fundamental and ever-present questions surrounding death and commemoration. By interpreting a wide range of sources including inscribed monuments, grave goods and literary texts, you will examine how Roman society treated and remembered its dead. You will focus not only on topics including burial and cremation practices, funerary portraiture, the composition and display of epitaphs, and regional patterns of commemoration, but also on how social inequalities affect the ways in which people are represented and under-represented in our source materials. You will also look at how aspects of Roman commemorative practices resonate in the modern day. All texts will be studied in translation and no prior knowledge is required.

View an example full module specification

CLA1301: Ancient Sources (Written Evidence): Tyranny

The word 'tyranny' means something quite different today than it did in the ancient world, where it was the name given to the form of monarchy established in many Greek states in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE. Tyranny was not a special form of constitution, or necessarily a reign of terror; the tyrant might either rule directly or retain existing political institutions but exercise a greater influence over their working, and his rule might be benevolent or malevolent. This module will explore the ways in which autocratic power was understood and discussed by different Greek authors and their successors, and the challenges involved in trying to reconstruct the historical reality and significance of tyranny.

The aims of the module are:

• To engage in in-depth thinking about the literary sources for archaic tyranny
• To illustrate the advantages and limitations of textual evidence for understanding the ancient world and the archaic period in particular

View an example full module specification

CLA1354: Ancient Sources (Material Evidence): Brave New Rome of Augustus

The Augustan Age is seen as one of the turning points in the history of Rome, Italy and the Ancient Mediterranean, embodying tradition and innovation, continuity and novelty. Yet the great building programs that transformed Rome into an imperial capital, were not always celebrated, but criticised and feared for what they represented - tyranny. In this module you will consider how the visual and architectural language was developed as a tool of power. We will read the tremendous wealth of evidence against the grain - along with the silences - to uncover multiple histories of the age, whether in monuments, engravings, poetry, or political writings.

• You will consider: What models are drawn on to create the new capital city worthy of empire? How is the art and architecture used to rewrite history and bring in new ideals where gods mingle with mortals and myth becomes reality? Can we begin to understand the effect of the new structures on the Roman population? How did the building programme refocus the centres of activity and redirect the movement and gaze of the city? In what sense is the building programme innovative and to what extent is it simply mirroring trends of other great cities with similar types of rule? Is it a monument to immortality?
• This module also provides an introduction into how to use and analyse visual and material evidence as a historical source, drawing on key texts, including poetry and the Res Gestae.
• You will engage in in-depth thinking into the underlying aims of and influences on the building programme, the monuments and art of Augustan Rome.

View an example full module specification

CLA1405: Text and Context: Roman Laughter

What made the Romans laugh? What were the limits of Roman humour? What does this reveal about Roman culture and society? This module addresses some of the key issues of the politics and poetics of Roman humour. It is concerned with the way the Romans employed wit, satire and irony for comment, criticism and deconstruction, as well as a powerful weapon in their rhetorical battles. We will consider a range of materials, from the poems of Catullus, to the fables of Phaedrus, to non-elite art. Ultimately, we will address whether the humour that seems to turn everything on its head seeks to subvert or reinforce prevailing power structures.

You will learn how to analyse, evaluate and use texts from a range of genres and how to relate their style and content to the wider context of Roman literary culture and society. In considering what we can learn about the Romans from their use of humour, you will also be encouraged to think about uses of humour in the modern world and the socio-cultural insights that can be gleaned from thinking about what makes us laugh.

View an example full module specification

CLA1410: Text and Context: Writing Women in Ancient Literature

This module explores women's roles as writers, characters and readers of ancient literature, i.e. writing, written as well as reading women. What do we know about ancient women writers and their works – or female readers in antiquity? Is there a space for a female voice in the domain of ancient literature? Is it possible to unearth female subjectivities in ancient texts? 

• To explore the ways in which women were given voice and expression in the literature of the ancient Greek and Roman world, the subversive quality of the female voice and female sexuality, and the insights which feminist criticism can offer the modern reader of these ancient texts.
• To analyse texts both within their ancient literary-cultural context, and from the perspective of modern feminist criticism, and to evaluate these approaches critically.

View an example full module specification

CLA1508: Ancient World: Roman Philosophy

This module aims to offer a chance for students from various backgrounds to explore a period of philosophy that is less often studied than Greek philosophy but which is rich in its intellectual and cultural interest. It shows how Roman Philosophy emerged against the background of later Greek (Hellenistic) Philosophy and how Roman thinkers gave a distinctive character to philosophical thought. It also offers you the chance to explore fundamental philosophical questions about human values and happiness, ethics and nature, mind and body, death and the gods, as these are treated by important Roman thinkers such as Lucretius, Cicero, and Marcus Aurelius.

• To examine a range of central philosophical questions debated in Roman philosophy and to set these debates against the background of later Greek (Hellenistic) thought, which strongly influenced Roman thought.
• To explore contrasting approaches of two leading philosophical movements in this period - Epicureanism and Stoicism - whose ideas are still relevant and significant today.
• To cover a range of topics that includes ethics (virtues and values), mind-body relationships, the nature of death, and the nature of the gods, through a set of readings by major Roman authors, especially Cicero, Lucretius and Marcus Aurelius.
• To engage with the philosophical questions conveyed in these readings and to become thoughtful and critical readers of a range of stimulating texts in Roman culture.

View an example full module specification

AHV2015: Art History and Visual Culture Field Study for Blended Learning

The Art History and Visual Culture field study module is an essential part of your degree programme at Exeter. It culminates in an intensive one-week field trip in a location in continental Europe. During the visit you will participate in a range of staff-guided and self-managed visit options, including architectural/urban studies, visits to permanent galleries/museums and temporary exhibitions.

The module provides an opportunity to develop and apply research skills in virtual and real-world environments and to view and interrogate a variety of museums, objects and spaces in a single urban environment. The module also develops digital literacy and skills development using app software. The module consists of three main parts:

1) Firstly, it addresses a range of thematic and methodological approaches to Field Study, introducing you to a range of ways of approaching and thinking about culture, broadly conceived, and the urban environment, exploring relationships between places, people and objects;

2) Secondly, through applied group work and project development (involving digital project), you will develop key skills and knowledge identified in term 1 work;

2) Finally, the trip itself, which lasts 5-6 days and consists of a series of staff-led visits and individual/group project exercises.

View an example full module specification

CLA2005: Greek and Roman Narrative

This module explores Greek and Roman epic poems within their literary, cultural and social contexts: the Homeric epics Iliad and Odyssey , and selections from Apollonius' Hellenistic work The Argonautica and Roman 'epic', including Catullus 64, Virgil's Aeneid and Ovid's experimental Metamorphoses.

This module aims to explore:

• the development of the narrative genre from the earliest heroic epics through to Imperial Rome
• the assumptions the texts make about humans and the world
• how changes in society are reflected in literature and in the role of literature in society
• how attitudes and preconceptions influence the authors' treatment of their subject

View an example full module specification

CLA2006: Greek and Roman Drama

This module is aimed at anyone who wants to know more about the fascinating theatrical traditions of ancient Athens and Rome. It examines a wide range of plays, both tragic and comic, including works by authors as varied as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Menander, Aristophanes, Terence and Plautus. All these texts are studied in the medium of English translation, making the module widely accessible. Students will be given an advanced critical introduction to some of the greatest and most influential works in the Western dramatic tradition, and they will be encouraged to think about such matters as the connection between drama and society, the role of ritual and religion, the nature of the tragic and comic genres, and the psychological and emotional impact of drama on its audience.

• To come to a general understanding of the origin and development of ancient drama, the importance of types of plot and character, the relationship of drama with society and the emotional effect of tragedy.
• To explore Athenian tragedy of the fifth century BC over a period of some sixty years, paying attention both to the texts of the plays and the way they develop with time and in line with changes in the city.
• To complement the study of Athenian tragedy with the very different tragedy of Seneca (first century AD), which raises issues of text, performance and the cultural setting of drama.
• To explore comedy, considering the place of Greek Old Comedy (for example Aristophanes) in the Athenian democratic city, and ways in which it differed from the New Comedy of the late fourth century (for example Menander).
• To investigate Roman approaches to comedy through the plays of Plautus and Terence.

View an example full module specification

AHV2002: Debates and Contestations in Art History

This module explores the possibility of adopting an object-centred approach to Art History & Visual Culture. Spanning across a range of historical and geopolitical contexts, each week offers a close reading of an artwork, cultural artefact or everyday object. Rather than attempting to provide an overview of key moments in the discipline or create an alternative canon, the module will introduce you to a range of critical frameworks for engaging with object and the broader issues - or debates - they provoke, from the role of cultural heritage to questions of censorship. It will also invite you to consider how these ways of reading can be used in your written assignments.

This module will introduce you to the benefits of adopting an object-centred approach to Art History & Visual Culture. Through a series of lectures, workshops and practical sessions, you will examine a series of cultural artefacts and their accompanying literature. As part of this process, both object and scholarship will be subject to critical analysis, resulting in a well-informed, independent position on the object in question. You will also consider the extent to which the meaning of works of art and visual culture is open to revision.

View an example full module specification

AHV2007: Contemporary Visual Practices

In this module you will be introduced to a diverse spectrum of critical issues in contemporary visual culture. You will explore the links between the historical and the contemporary, and learn how to apply critical theory in visual and discursive analysis. You will engage with a wide range of visual practices in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, drawing on examples of high art, popular culture and new media, as well as experiences of urbanism and the environment. Topics may include curation, heritage, migration, performance, gender, and race.

This module aims to allow you to:

View an example full module specification

AHV2013: Photography and Evidence

This module introduces you to photographic theories and histories, with a particular focus on the evidential claims made in the name of photography. You will be offered the opportunity to explore a range of photographic practices, ranging from early photographic techniques to the digital and dorsality. You will learn about the changing meanings and functions of photography across time and between cultures, from colonial photography and anthropometry to forensic photography and photojournalism. You will analyse recent artistic responses to the forensic in which photographic practices play a key role and evaluate what photography tells us about contemporary understandings of evidence. The module requires no prior knowledge and is open to anyone with an interest in photography.

View an example full module specification

AHV2016: Contemporary Art and Curation

This module will explore the role of the curator and the critical issues which define contemporary art practice today. You will examine the complex structures of the art world, and the impact of digital communications, the climate emergency, decolonisation and shifting notions of identity. In a time of global uncertainty, you will consider how art is able to investigate the present and make meaning from it, leading to an understanding of wider developments within culture and society. You will also speculate on the future of contemporary art , and how cultural institutions and traditional hierarchies of knowledge will need to change in response to the new conditions of contemporaneity.

The module requires no prior knowledge and is open to anyone with an interest in contemporary art and curation .

This module aims to:

• introduce you to the role of the contemporary art curator, and the complex structures of the art world
• discuss the critical concerns, and wider social, cultural and economic conditions, which shape contemporary art practice today
• develop an understanding of the constantly evolving field of curation, and the institutional structures which support contemporary art, through a combination of in-class discussion, readings, presentations, and lectures
• foster your ability to engage in sophisticated analysis of contemporary art, and the practice of curation
• develop an in-depth understanding of art institutions and agencies today, and thus equip you with the knowledge to speculate on future transformations of the cultural landscape

View an example full module specification

AHV2019: Common Threads: Art, Craft and Activism

Through feminist, queer, and decolonial frameworks, this module explores the 'common threads' between art, craft and activism. You will begin by unpicking and unravelling the power dynamics traditionally associated with textile materials and practices from the Renaissance to the present day, but you will primarily explore their relevance in a range of contemporary art and 'craftivist' initiatives that exist today. To fully examine artistic production and the politics of making, while also engaging with critical theories and debates in art history and visual culture, teaching will consist of a combination of lectures, seminars and practical workshops.

View an example full module specification

AHV2024: Renaissances North and South: Italy and the Netherlands

Traditionally the art of Early Modern Italy and the Netherlands (mostly modern-day Belgium) are considered separately but, as this module shows, much is to be gained by considering them together. It examines art in these regions in the fifteenth century, a period usually described as the 'Early Renaissance'. On this module you will look at developments, especially in Florence, initiated by the 'founders', according to Giorgio Vasari (Lives, 1550; 1568), of the Renaissance, such as Donatello, Ghiberti and Masaccio, alongside comparable innovations that occurred at around the same time in the Netherlands in the works of Robert Campin, Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden and others, whose accomplishments were virtually overlooked by Vasari. The module considers the art of these regions in parallel, exploring differences as well as commonalities and, crucially, how these came about.

View an example full module specification

AHV2026: Revolutions! Art and Society in France, 1770-1830

From the arms of David’s Horatii Brothers, raised up to swear upon their swords eternal allegiance to the fatherland, to the raised arm of Delacroix’s Liberty as she leads the people of Paris forwards into battle, revolutionary action dominated both the art and the politics of France between 1770 and 1830. Spanning the Bourbon monarchy, the Revolution of 1789, the Directory, the Consulate, the Napoleonic Empire, the Hundred Days, the Bourbon Restoration, and the Revolution of 1830, this violent period of political and cultural upheaval witnessed extraordinary transformations in art’s purpose and audience. These transformations included everything from the ‘death’ (and subsequent rebirth) of the French Academy and of history painting, to the growing influence of popular art and contemporary politics on academic work, to the increasing intermediality of Revolutionary expression, to a radical rethinking of portraiture. This course, whose major primary sources will be images and which will engage heavily in visual analysis, seeks not to trace stylistic changes in the abstract (eg. Rococo to Neoclassicism), but rather to look closely at the relationship between artistic and social change. We will consider not only political and institutional pressures upon artists but also the ways art offered shifting constructions of gender, sexuality, race, slavery, nation, and empire during this time.

View an example full module specification

AHV2027: The Dutch Golden Age

The view of the age of Rembrandt and Vermeer as a singular time of unrivalled peace, prosperity and creativity has framed discussions of Dutch art since the seventeenth century. This module examines the Dutch ‘Golden Age’ (c. 1580-1700) through the narratives used to construct its history from the seventeenth century to the present day. We will consider Dutch visual culture within a conceptual framework defined by three broad themes—nationalism, exceptionalism, and cultural change in the early modern period—through which we will examine a range of subjects including print culture, painting and architecture. The first five lectures provide a solid grounding in Dutch art of this period and explore the theme of the 'golden age'. The second five lectures examine the narrative of Dutch exceptionalism in four key areas: the economy, gender, race, and the reception of two of the most famous artists of this period, Rembrandt and Vermeer. We will examine the visual culture of this period from a broad viewpoint, considering theoretical and historiographical frameworks throughout.

View an example full module specification

EAS2037: Comics Studies: Histories, Methodologies, Genres

View an example full module specification

EAS2089: Creative Industries: Their Past, Our Future

Creative Industries: Their Past, Our Future tracks the profound changes that the creative industries have gone through during the 20th and early 21st centuries. The module, which focuses on the publishing industry, museums, film and theatre, looks at how each of these industries has become increasingly focused on 'users', tracking how the industries have worked with emergent technologies, including social media and AI, to shape new forms of engagement; how they have widened participation and redefined access; reinvented values (aesthetic, economic, social); and dealt with generational and social divides.

You will learn about how the creative industries operate as organisations; how they design their relationships to readerships, visitors and audiences; how they use a range of technologies to reach out to different communities; how they produce novel forms of aesthetic, social, and economic value; and how they usually operate through shrinking budgets.

The module requires no prior knowledge or skills and is open to anyone with an interest in the current and future developments of the creative industries.

View an example full module specification

MLF2066: Intimate Spaces of the French Enlightenment

This module focuses on eighteenth-century France, when privacy and private life came to have particular cultural significance. Literature, painting, interior spaces, and artefacts contain clues and give access to private worlds of the past. They enable us to understand the lives lived by individuals, households and families, as well as wider social structures, behaviours and beliefs.

We will begin with an examination of the Rococo domestic interior as a site of intimacy and eroticism. We will then consider the promotion of family values as part of civic identity in the Enlightenment period, and the ways in which these domestic ideals were problematised by artists and writers. We will conclude with an examination of Enlightenment notions of the self and the cultivation of interiority through leisure activities such as walking and reading.

View an example full module specification

MLM2003: Chinoiserie and Européenerie: Artistic and Vultural Exchanges between China and Europe

Living in the global world of the 21st century, we do not always recognise how exchanges between China and Europe have long been shaping the art and culture we enjoy today. This module on Chinoiserie and Européenerie will introduce you to the diverse hybrid forms of material culture and artefacts such as porcelain, interior décor, gardens, fashion and mapping in both Europe and China since the 1600s. You will learn about the fascinating stories of how hybrid forms of material culture and artefacts evolved through the processes of Chinese-European exchange. You will understand the significance of these hybridities in both personal and social contexts. No pre-requisite modules are needed.

View an example full module specification

CLA2030: Ancient World: Racecraft

How did 'race' come to be an important part of the contemporary world? Has race always been a criterion for categorising people and organising social difference, as it is now? Questions of this kind will be at the core of this module which will look at how social difference was organised in ancient worlds. If we take our jumping off point that Greeks and Romans did not have a concept of race that maps neatly onto our notions of race, how did they organise social difference? And - where did ideas about race come from if the Greeks and Romans thought so differently about it? To answer these questions, youwill look at ancient and modern ideas together in order to appreciate that race is neither a fixed or nor timeless way of categorising and making hierarchies between people. Instead, race is 'crafted' (as argued by sociologists Karen and Barbara Fields). You will be thinking about race in the ancient world as crafted in particular ways to support modern ideas about whiteness, empire, and civilisation.

No prior skills, knowledge or experience are required to take this module, only willingness to examine its origins and effects with curiosity and a sensitivity to others' lived and ongoing experiences of racism. This module is suitable for non-specialist students, and is recommended for interdisciplinary pathways: joint honours students are warmly welcome.

View an example full module specification

CLA2035: Roman Death and Commemoration

This module explores how people in the Roman world considered the fundamental and ever-present questions surrounding death and commemoration. By interpreting a wide range of sources including inscribed monuments, grave goods and literary texts, you will examine how Roman society treated and remembered its dead. You will focus not only on topics including burial and cremation practices, funerary portraiture, the composition and display of epitaphs, and regional patterns of commemoration, but also on how social inequalities affected the ways in which people are represented and under-represented in our source materials. You will also look at how aspects of Roman commemorative practices resonate in the modern day. All texts will be studied in translation and no prior knowledge is required.

View an example full module specification

CLA2301: Ancient Sources (Written Evidence): Tyranny

The word 'tyranny' means something quite different today than it did in the ancient world, where it was the name given to the form of monarchy established in many Greek states in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE. Tyranny was not a special form of constitution, or necessarily a reign of terror; the tyrant might either rule directly or retain existing political institutions but exercise a greater influence over their working, and his rule might be benevolent or malevolent. This module will explore the ways in which autocratic power was understood and discussed by different Greek authors and their successors, and the challenges involved in trying to reconstruct the historical reality and significance of tyranny.

The aims of the module are:

• To engage in in-depth thinking about the literary sources for archaic tyranny
• To illustrate the advantages and limitations of textual evidence for understanding the ancient world and the archaic period in particular

View an example full module specification

CLA2354: Ancient Sources (Material Evidence): Brave New Rome of Augustus

The Augustan Age is seen as one of the turning points in the history of Rome, Italy and the Ancient Mediterranean, embodying tradition and innovation, continuity and novelty. Yet the great building programs that transformed Rome into an imperial capital, were not always celebrated but criticised and feared for what they represented - tyranny. In this module you will consider the visual and architectural language that was developed as a tool of power. We will read the tremendous wealth of evidence against the grain - along with the silences - to uncover multiple histories of the age, whether in monuments, engravings, poetry, or political writings.

• You will consider: What models are drawn on to create the new capital city worthy of empire? How is the art and architecture used to rewrite history and bring in new ideals where gods mingle with mortals and myth becomes reality? Can we begin to understand the effect of the new structures on the Roman population? How did the building programme refocus the centres of activity and redirect the movement and gaze of the city? In what sense is the building programme innovative and to what extent is it simply mirroring trends of other great cities with similar types of rule? Is it a monument to immortality?
• This module also provides an introduction into how to use and analyse visual and material evidence as a historical source, drawing on key texts, including poetry and the Res Gestae.
• You will engage in in-depth thinking into the underlying aims of and influences on the building programme, the monuments and art of Augustan Rome.

View an example full module specification

CLA2405: Text and Context: Roman Laughter

What made the Romans laugh? What were the limits of Roman humour? What does this reveal about Roman culture and society? This module addresses some of the key issues of the politics and poetics of Roman humour. It is concerned with the way the Romans employed wit, satire and irony for comment, criticism and deconstruction, as well as a powerful weapon in their rhetorical battles. We will consider a range of materials, from the poems of Catullus, to the fables of Phaedrus, to non-elite art. Ultimately, we will address whether the humour that seems to turn everything on its head seeks to subvert or reinforce prevailing power structures.

You will learn how to analyse and critically evaluate texts from a range of genres and how to relate their style and content to the wider context of Roman literary culture and society In considering what we can learn about the Romans from their use of humour, you will also be encouraged to think about uses of humour in the modern world and the socio-cultural insights that can be gleaned from thinking about what makes us laugh.

View an example full module specification

CLA2410: Text and Context: Writing Women in Ancient Literature

This module explores women's roles as writers, characters and readers of ancient literature, i.e. writing, written as well as reading women. What do we know about ancient women writers and their works – or female readers in antiquity? Is there a space for a female voice in the domain of ancient literature? Is it possible to unearth female subjectivities in ancient texts?

• To explore the ways in which women were given voice and expression in the literature of the ancient Greek and Roman world, the subversive quality of the female voice and female sexuality, and the insights which feminist criticism can offer the modern reader of these ancient texts.
• To analyse texts both within their ancient literary-cultural context, and from the perspective of modern feminist criticism, and to evaluate these approaches critically.

View an example full module specification

CLA2508: Ancient World: Roman Philosophy

This module aims to offer a chance for students from various backgrounds to explore a period of philosophy that is less often studied than Greek philosophy but which is rich in its intellectual and cultural interest. It shows how Roman Philosophy emerged against the background of later Greek (Hellenistic) Philosophy and how Roman thinkers gave a distinctive character to philosophical thought. It also offers you the chance to explore fundamental philosophical questions about human values and happiness, ethics and nature, mind and body, death and the gods, as these are treated by important Roman thinkers such as Lucretius, Cicero, and Marcus Aurelius.

The aim of this module is to:

• Examine a range of central philosophical questions debated in Roman philosophy and to set these debates against the background of later Greek (Hellenistic) thought, which strongly influenced Roman thought.
• Explore contrasting approaches of two leading philosophical movements in this period - Epicureanism and Stoicism - whose ideas are still relevant and significant today.
• Cover a range of topics that includes ethics (virtues and values), mind-body relationships, the nature of death, and the nature of the gods, through a set of readings by major Roman authors, especially Cicero, Lucretius and Marcus Aurelius.
• Engage with the philosophical questions conveyed in these readings and to become thoughtful and critical readers of a range of stimulating texts in Roman culture.

View an example full module specification

HAS3999: Study Abroad

The Study Abroad programme enables you to undertake a year-long study placement at a partner university outside of the UK, as part of your degree programme.

This module serves as the administrative mechanism for recording the Study Abroad assessment results of students within the Faculty of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS). Students participating in the Study Abroad programme and based in a HASS department (except for the Law School, the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, Modern Languages, and the School of Education) will be registered on this module during their Study Abroad placement year.

The Study Abroad programme widens the range of modules available to you during Stage 3 of your degree programme; enables you to broaden your academic horizons by studying in a different learning culture and (where relevant and appropriate) in languages other than English; and aims to promote resilience, independence, cultural awareness, and communication skills.

View an example full module specification

HAS3998: Employment Experience

This module allows you to undertake and to learn from an extended work placement during the third year of a four year “with Employment Experience” programme. You will use one or more work placements to gain skills that equip you to work in the employment market and to improve your knowledge of the work environment. You are encouraged to think about the intercultural competence and the employability skills that you acquire during your year.

To progress to this module, you will have secured a suitable placement for a minimum of 26 weeks.

Having developed the skills necessary to find relevant roles and apply for roles in the graduate labour market, this is an invaluable opportunity to develop work-related skills and experience that will further enhance your success in the graduate labour market and support your future career choices.

During your placement year you will be supported by the Module Convenor and Placement Team.

The module assessment structure provides opportunity and support for you to evaluate your skills and achievements using personal development techniques.  You will also write an Employer Report to showpiece the culmination of your academic and business skills.

This module aims to:

View an example full module specification

AHV3000: Art History and Visual Culture Dissertation

The dissertation is an independent research project which enables you to produce a piece of work that is self-selected, rather than prescribed. It highlights your ability to work autonomously, identifying a topic, articulating the relevant issue(s) that in your view require analysis and devising a plan of work that is largely self-managed. The skills you have learnt over the course of your degree programme are a very good preparation for this, not only because you will have a broad understanding of the field of Art History and Visual Culture, but also because you have worked with a variety of research methodologies and, by now, should be in a position to produce a dissertation that is not only responsive to the best current thinking in the field but also demonstrates your commitment to a specific approach. You will receive guidance from a supervisor and receive support through a series of workshops and seminars. The dissertation module teaches you time management skills and gives you the flexibility to devise and follow your own research questions, extending your knowledge in a specialism which you have particularly enjoyed.

View an example full module specification

CLA3009: Dissertation

This module gives you the opportunity to pursue an independent research project on a topic of your choice in the field of Classics and Ancient History, and to write up your research in an extended dissertation. Enrolment on this module in your final year of study is subject to submission of preliminary materials in the previous academic year, and approval of them by the module convenor (dissertation coordinator). The decision to write a dissertation should not be taken lightly: before enrolling on this module, please consider whether you possess an adequate degree of independent learning skills as well as writing skills and time management skills.

Although you will work for the most part independently, each dissertation will be supervised by a member of staff, to be assigned by the module convenor. Your supervisor will read and comment on some drafts, giving advice on the style, the argument and directions for further investigation. It will be your responsibility to liaise with your supervisor and keep them posted about the progress of your work. You will be allowed to arrange up to four meetings with your supervisor, with a maximum of two meetings per term. In addition to this 1-to-1 supervision, you will receive general advice and guidance on how to conduct research suitable to an UG dissertation, and how to write up and present a suitable UG dissertation, in two plenary sessions led by the module convenor.

View an example full module specification

CLA3127: Classical Language and Texts: Greek V

This module - the highest level on our Classical Language and Texts ladder - is designed for experienced readers of Greek, building on Greek IV or equivalent. The module seeks to enhance your skills as a Hellenist through the detailed study of a themed selection of challenging set texts within their historical, intellectual and literary-cultural contexts. You will develop further your linguistic mastery of the language and your interpretative abilities through a combination of close reading and discussion of modern scholarship. You will also have the opportunity to develop more advanced skills in literary criticism, from relevant theoretical approaches to understanding the apparatus criticus.

This module seeks to:

• Further your mastery of the Greek language, including more advanced grammar and syntax.
• Broaden and deepen your knowledge and understanding of Greek literature and the contexts in which it was produced.
• Develop your skills in close reading and literary interpretation to prepare you to read texts independently.
• Equip you with the advanced skills required for the interpretation of challenging texts.

View an example full module specification

CLA3128: Classical Language and Texts: Latin V

This module - the highest level on our Classical Language and Texts ladder - is designed for experienced readers of Latin, building on Latin IV or equivalent. The module seeks to enhance your skills as a Latinist through the detailed study of a themed selection of challenging set texts within their historical, intellectual and literary-cultural contexts. You will develop further your linguistic mastery of the language and your interpretative abilities through a combination of close reading and discussion of modern scholarship. You will also have the opportunity to develop more advanced skills in literary criticism, from relevant theoretical approaches to understanding the apparatus criticus.

This module seeks to:

• Further your mastery of the Latin language, including more advanced grammar and syntax.
• Broaden and deepen your knowledge and understanding of Latin literature and the contexts in which it was produced.
• Develop your skills in close reading and literary interpretation to prepare you to read texts independently.
• Equip you with the advanced skills required for the interpretation of challenging texts.

View an example full module specification

CLA3202: Classical Language and Texts: Greek II

This module will build on your knowledge of Greek from Greek level I or equivalent. You will learn to read and understand unadapted passages from Greek texts, without assistance. You will also complete some English to Greek work. You will be taught to use grammatical aids which will enable you to follow linguistic structures to help you to solve problems of syntax and grammatical structure. You will have regular practice at translating text and will be assessed through the year. This module will prepare you for higher level Greek classes.

The aims of the module are:

• To develop your linguistic confidence
• To develop your ability to read extracts without adaptation from the most important and influential Greek authors
• To encourage you to appreciate the style of different authors and the relationship between language and literary content

View an example full module specification

CLA3204: Classical Language and Texts: Greek III

This module will build on your existing knowledge of Greek. It will increase your fluency in reading whole Greek texts and strengthen your linguistic abilities. You will focus on studying a main set text and supplementary and supporting texts which will be complemented with classes dedicated to language and syntax work.

The module aims are:

• To study set texts, Greek language work and the practice of literary criticism together in a single integrated module.
• To prepare you for the study of Greek language and literature at a more advanced level.

View an example full module specification

CLA3205: Classical Language and Texts: Greek IV

This module offers you the opportunity to really get to grips with Greek literature in the original language. By reading a themed selection of texts within their historical, intellectual and literary-cultural contexts, as well as engaging with modern interpretations of these works, you will broaden your knowledge of Greek literature, develop sophisticated skills of literary analysis and enhance your understanding of the Greek language. At the end of the year, you will have gained an appreciation for the subtleties of literary texts and will be able to regard yourself as 'reading', rather than 'translating' classical literature. The module will therefore be an excellent way to round off your study of Greek literature if you are finishing at this point, as well as providing vital preparation for those who will be going on to take Greek V.

View an example full module specification

CLA3206: Classical Language and Texts: Latin IV

This module offers you the opportunity to really get to grips with Latin literature in the original language. By reading a themed selection of texts within their historical, intellectual and literary-cultural contexts, as well as engaging with modern interpretations of these works, you will broaden your knowledge of Latin literature, develop sophisticated skills of literary analysis and enhance your understanding of the Latin language. At the end of the year, you will have gained an appreciation for the subtleties of literary texts and will be able to regard yourself as 'reading', rather than 'translating' classical literature. The module will therefore be an excellent way to round off your study of Latin literature if you are finishing at this point, as well as providing vital preparation for those who will be going on to take Latin V.

View an example full module specification

CLA3252: Classical Language and Texts: Latin II

This module will build on your knowledge of Latin from Latin level I or equivalent (e.g. GCSE). You will learn independently to read and understand passages without adaption from Latin texts. You will be introduced to grammar and syntax not covered at previous levels of study. Texts will be chosen from various authors of prose and poetry to encourage you to appreciate the style of different authors and the relationship between language and literary content. Building on developing your knowledge of Latin grammar and syntax, study of language and literature will progressively be introduced as your confidence increases.

The aims of the module are:

• To develop your linguistic confidence.
• To develop your ability to read extracts without adaptation from the most important and influential Latin authors.
• To encourage you to appreciate the style of different authors and the relationship between language and literary content.

View an example full module specification

CLA3254: Classical Language and Texts: Latin III

This module will build on your existing knowledge of Latin. It will increase your fluency in reading whole Latin texts and strengthen your linguistic abilities. You will focus on studying a main set text in each term and supplementary and supporting texts which will be complemented with classes dedicated to language and syntax work.

• To study set texts, Latin language work and the practice of literary criticism together in a single integrated module.
• To prepare you for the study of Latin language and literature at a more advanced level.

View an example full module specification