UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Board of the Faculty of Classics
School of Archaeology
Classical Archaeology
and Ancient History
Mods Handbook
2010
Faculty of Classics
Ioannou Centre for Classical & Byzantine Studies
66 St Giles’
Oxford OX1 3LU
www.classics.ox.ac.uk
About this Handbook
The information in this handbook applies to those students beginning their course in October
2010. A Final Honour School Handbook will be issued at the start of Trinity Term 2011, which will
include information on second and third year options. On any question the Examination
Regulations (‘the grey book’) is the final word; the current regulations are included as an
appendix at the end of this handbook.
Dates of Full Terms
Michaelmas: Sunday 10 October – Saturday 4 December 2010
Hilary: Sunday 16 January – Saturday 12 March 2011
Trinity: Sunday 1 May – Saturday 25 June 2011
Data Protection Act 1998
You should have received from your College a statement regarding student personal data,
including a declaration for you to sign indicating your acceptance of that statement. You
should also have received a similar declaration for you to sign from the Faculty. Please contact
your College’s Data Protection Officer or the Classics Faculty IT Officer, (whichever is
relevant) if you have not. Further information on the Act can be obtained at
www.admin.ox.ac.uk/councilsec/dp/index.shtml.
1
Vitally Important Deadlines
The following is a list of the most important deadlines that you MUST meet.
YEAR 1
Michaelmas Term
Week 4, Wed:
Special subject choices to Administrative Officer (Ioannou Centre)
Week 8, Fri:
Mods exams entry forms due
Hilary Term
Week 4, Wed:
Fieldwork choices to Administrative Officer (Ioannou Centre)
Trinity Term
Week 4, Wed:
Second and third year subject choices to Administrative Officer (Ioannou Centre)
Fieldwork grant application to Marie Foster-Ali (Ioannou Centre)
Week 8, Fri:
Signed Health and Safety forms to Administrative Officer (Ioannou Centre)
2
Contents
Data Protection Act 1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1
Vitally Important Deadlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2
INTRODUCTION
1. Statement of Aims and Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6
2. Introduction to Classical Archaeology and Ancient History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7
3. Course Structure: An Outline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8
Honour Moderations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8
Fieldwork . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8
Final Honour School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8
PRACTICALITIES
4.1 Your Tutor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.2 Tutorials, Classes and Collections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9
4.3 Language Classes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10
4.4 Essays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11
4.5 Bibliographies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11
4.6 Lectures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11
4.7 Joint Consultative Committee for Undergraduate Matters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12
4.8 Students with Disabilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12
4.9 Complaints. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12
4.10 Illness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
14
4.11 Crises. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
14
4.12 Vacations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
14
4.13 The Classics Centre. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15
4.14 The Administration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15
4.15 Libraries and Electronic Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15
4.16 Bookshops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
17
4.17 Information Technology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
17
4.18 Classical Greek and word processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
18
3
4.19 Museums. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
19
4.20 Societies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
19
4.21 Scholarships, Prizes and Grants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
19
4.22 Examinations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
20
4.23 Past Papers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
21
4.24 Marking Conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
21
FIRST YEAR: COURSE DETAILS
5. First Year Teaching Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
22
6. Classical Archaeology and Ancient History: First Year. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
22
6.1 Integrated Class for Greek Core. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.2 Classical Archaeology and Ancient History Party. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.3 Special Subject Choices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
23
6.4 Mods Entry Forms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
23
6.5 Fieldwork Requirement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.6 Fieldwork Opportunities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
23
6.7 Fieldwork Grant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
24
6.8 Fieldwork Health and Safety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.9 Fieldwork: Brief Reports and Directors’ Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
25
6.10 Language Options in Second Year and Summer Schools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
25
6.11 Second and Third Year Choices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6.12 Summary for Classical Archaeology and Ancient History Year 1 . . . . . . . . . . . .
26
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
7.1. Core Subjects: Approaches to Classical Archaeology and Ancient History. . . . .
27
Aristocracy and democracy in the Greek World 550-450 BC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
27
Republic to Empire: Rome 50 BC to AD 50. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
27
7.2. Special Subjects and Languages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
28
A.1. Homeric Archaeology and Early Greece from 1550 to 700 BC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
28
A.2. Greek Vases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
28
A.3. Greek Sculpture c. 600-300 BC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
28
A.4. Roman Architecture. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
28
4
B.1. Thucydides and the West. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
29
B.2. Aristophanes’ Political Comedy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
29
B.3. Cicero and Catiline. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
29
B.4. Tacitus and Tiberius. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
30
C.1. Beginning Ancient Greek. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
30
C.2. Beginning Latin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
30
C.3. Intermediate Ancient Greek. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
30
C.4. Intermediate Latin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
31
7.3. Fieldwork. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
31
GUIDELINES AND GENERAL INFORMATION
8. Picture Questions: Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
32
9. Ancient History Text ‘Gobbets’: Guidelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
35
10. Plagiarism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
36
11. List of Officers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
12. CAAH Tutors and Lecturers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
40
13. Telephone Numbers and Email. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
45
Appendix: Examination Regulations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
47
5
1. Statement of Aims and Objectives
Aims
The principal academic aims of the degree are to study and interpret the complex cultures of
the ancient Mediterranean world through their extensive textual, material, and visual remains.
Its principal broader educational aims are as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
To stimulate and encourage intellectual confidence in students, working independently but
in a well-guided framework.
To use the study of key texts, artefacts, images, and issues systematically to examine and
compare other cultures in an interdisciplinary way.
To use such study to engender in students a thoughtful and critical attitude to major issues
in their own cultures.
To deliver to students a sustained and carefully-designed course which requires effort and
rigour from them and which yields consistent intellectual reward and satisfaction.
To train students in research and analytical skills to the highest possible standards.
To train students to think critically, to formulate good questions, and to recognise bias and
angle in written and visual representations.
To produce graduates able to deal with challenging intellectual problems systematically,
analytically and efficiently, suitable for a wide range of high-grade occupations and
professions.
Objectives
The more specific objectives of the degree are as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
To provide expert guidance over a very wide range of options in challenging fields of study
within the ancient Mediterranean world.
To give students the skills to assess, summarise, and select key aspects from
considerable amounts of material of diverse types.
To develop effective skills in students' written and oral communication.
To foster the organisational skills needed to plan work and meet a variety of demanding
deadlines.
To encourage the use and application of information technology to academic study at all
levels.
To provide a teaching environment in which close and regular criticism and evaluation of
the work of individual students and continuous monitoring of their academic progress are
key features.
To make full and effective use in our courses of the wide range of expertise in our subject
area and the excellent specialist resources and collections available in the University.
To encourage students in extra-curricular but course-related activities which set the
subject in a broader context.
To produce graduates who will maintain and expand Oxford's international pre-eminence
in the fields of Ancient History and Classical Archaeology.
6
2. Introduction to Classical Archaeology and Ancient History
This honours degree is for anyone interested in the challenge of studying the history,
archaeology, and art of the 'classical world' in an integrated way, and is designed to make
study of that world more widely accessible.
The course is concerned with the study of the societies and cultures of the ancient
Mediterranean world through material, visual, and written evidence and has at its centre the
cultures of Greece and Rome. Among the central themes are the dialogue of the Greek and
Roman cultures with other Mediterranean and European societies and the endurance and
transformation of classical cultural forms in new contexts far beyond their points of origin. The
extensive choice of further subject options encourages wide-ranging study of neighbouring
cultures, from the Bronze Age to the Early Middle Ages, from the Near East to Northwest
Europe. The course does not require the study of ancient languages, but offers opportunities
to use and learn them.
The University's resources for this combined subject are excellent, in terms both of library
facilities – much of the Sackler Library collections are built around ancient history and classical
archaeology – and in the range and number of faculty members in the two fields.
The degree is unique in offering parallel and integrated courses in both archaeological and
historical approaches to classical Mediterranean cultures. While still deploying distinctive skills
and bodies of evidence, the two disciplines have come increasingly to converge and to
complement each other. Studied together, the two registers of evidence produce a richer, more
broad-based account of ancient cultures and societies and of their distinctive characteristics. A
novel feature of the degree's teaching is the 'knitted' classes led by two Faculty members, one
archaeologist and one historian, designed to ensure a thorough interdisciplinary integration in
papers that deliberately combine archaeological and historical questions and evidence –
something of real value from the points of view both of the students and of the teachers.
The degree is administered from the Classics Office (66 St Giles’, OX1 3LU) and is overseen
by a Standing Committee composed of members from both the Committee for the School of
Archaeology and the Faculty Board of Classics.
7
3. Course Structure: An Outline
The degree is a three-year course, and is divided into a first year, whose end-of-year
examinations are called Honour Moderations or 'Mods', and two further years leading up to the
Honour School Examinations or 'Finals'.
Honour Moderations
In Mods you take four papers. Two are core papers on relatively short but revolutionary
periods, one Greek and one Roman, that integrate history and archaeology and introduce you
to different approaches to the subject and to the different kinds of evidence and the questions
that they can answer. Two further papers are Special Subjects, one archaeological and one
historical, chosen from lists of options. In place of one of the Special Subjects you may take an
option to learn either Ancient Greek or Latin. The structure of Mods then is as follows:
I-II. TWO CORE SUBJECTS
I. Aristocracy and Democracy in the Greek World, 550 - 450 BC
II. Republic to Empire: Rome, 50 BC - AD 50
III-IV. TWO PAPERS FROM THE FOLLOWING SPECIAL SUBJECTS AND LANGUAGES
A. Special subjects in Archaeology
1. Homeric Archaeology and Early Greece from 1550 to 700 BC
2. Greek Vases
3. Greek Sculpture, c.600 - 300 BC
4. Roman Architecture
B. Special subjects in History
1. Thucydides and the West
2. Aristophanes' Political Comedy
3. Cicero and Catiline
4. Tacitus and Tiberius
C. Ancient Languages
1. Beginning Ancient Greek
2. Beginning Latin
3. Intermediate Ancient Greek
4. Intermediate Latin
Fieldwork
Field work and training in excavation techniques and recording are a requirement fulfilled by
participation in an excavation during the summer vacation after Mods, either Oxford's own
excavation at Dorchester, or another approved field project.
Final Honour School
In your second and third years, leading up to Finals, you build on the work done in Mods and
expand your range in time and theme. You take six papers, including at least one integrated
history and archaeology class, and at least two core papers in Greco-Roman subjects, as well
as writing a site or museum report (equivalent to one paper). Of the six options, at least two
must be in ancient history and at least two in archaeology, unless you take further Latin or
further ancient Greek, which can count towards either total. Different combinations allow
emphasis, according to preference, more on Archaeology or on History, and on different areas
8
and periods, while ensuring that breadth is maintained.
The site or museum report (max. 15,000 words) is the result of work based upon your own
study of a site, of an excavation, or of a body of images or objects from one context or
category of artefacts. You may also offer, if you wish, an additional, optional thesis on an
agreed topic within the field of Ancient History and Classical Archaeology (again, max. 15,000
words).
The following sections offer information and advice on some aspects of undergraduate
life.
4.1 Your Tutor
Whatever course you are taking, you will be meeting your college tutor during the first few
days. He or she will have made arrangements for your tutorials and the various classes you
will be taking, and will discuss your options with you and your timetable for studying them.
When you have concerns or doubts, particularly if they are of an academic nature, your tutor
will normally be the first person to consult: you should not hesitate to do this.
It will probably be a rule of your college that you call on college tutors at the beginning of each
term to arrange tuition, and at the end of term to arrange vacation reading and next term's
subjects. In any case it would be wise to pay such calls, if necessary on your own initiative.
Colleges have different rules about when term 'begins', but academic collections are usually
set for the Friday and Saturday of 0th week (the week before full term), so you should plan to
be back by Thursday of 0th week at the absolute latest. You should try to ensure that by the
Thursday you know who your tutors for the term will be, have met or corresponded with them,
and have been set work and assigned tutorial times by them.
If you feel that you need a change of tutor, do something about it. Take the problem to
someone else in your college - your College Adviser, the Senior Tutor, the Dean, the Women's
Adviser, the Chaplain, or even the Head of College, if necessary. Most such problems arise
from a personality-clash that has proved intractable; but since in a university of Oxford's size
there are likely to be alternative tutors for nearly all your subjects, there's no point in putting up
with a relationship which is impeding your academic progress. In these circumstances you can
usually expect a change, but not necessarily to the particular tutor whom you would prefer.
In the unlikely instance of any problems arising which you do not wish to discuss with your
college tutor, you should get in touch with the Chair of the CAAH Standing Committee, who for
2010-2011 is Dr Peter Thonemann (Wadham College).
Most colleges have a system of feedback whereby you can comment on your tutorials
(including your own performance within them) and your tutors: this is normally done by a
written questionnaire, though the format varies considerably. Please do use these
questionnaires: confidentiality can always be assured if you wish, and comments (even if
made anonymously) are extremely useful both to the college and to the tutors themselves.
At the end of each term you can expect a formal report, perhaps with the Head of College and
usually in the presence of your tutors. These are intended to be two-way exchanges: if you
have concerns about your work or your tuition, do not hesitate to say so.
Both University and colleges also have networks of welfare and pastoral care: details are given
in the Essential Information for Students (Proctors’ and Assessor’s Memorandum), and in the
literature which will have been given you by your college. See also Section 4.11 Crises.
9
4.2 Tutorials, Classes and Collections
One main focus of teaching throughout your time in Oxford will be tutorials. A tutorial is a
meeting between the tutor and a single undergraduate, a pair, or a trio; a larger group is
normally defined as a class. You can expect to have one or two of these tutorial encounters
each week with one of your college tutors, or somebody else chosen by them for the particular
option you are studying. There is great variety in the ways that tutors approach tutorials, and
that is a strength of the system.
Your core subjects in Mods are team-taught in classes of 6-8 by an archaeologist and an
ancient historian. You will have one of these classes each week in the first two terms, and you
will be asked to produce written work for them, as for a tutorial.
The more you bring to a tutorial or class, the more you will gain from it. Tutorials are an
opportunity for you to raise the issues and ask the questions which are troubling you, and to try
out your own ideas in discussion with someone of greater experience; classes are an
opportunity to explore issues together. Do not be afraid to speak up when something strikes
you: those who contribute little in class get correspondingly little benefit from them.
Before starting tutorials on a particular paper you will need to do some preparatory reading. If
you have not received guidance from your tutor, you should consult the WebLearn site
(https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/access/site/classics), which contains bibliographies (with notes on
preliminary reading) for each of these papers. Once you have finished a paper, you will also
need to do some further work in the following vacation, normally in preparation for a collection.
For most tutorials and classes, you will be asked to produce written work, and a good deal of
your time will be spent writing and preparing essays on topics suggested by your tutors. They
will normally direct you towards some secondary reading. However, you should be careful not
to let reading the bibliography detract from reading the primary texts and assessing the
archaeological evidence, or to allow other scholars' writings to dictate the order of presentation
of your own essays. The examination, and the course, are about the subjects and the works
prescribed in the Examination Regulations, not about the modern books in bibliographies.
Most colleges set at least one 'collection', i.e. a practice examination paper, at the beginning of
each term; many set two, and some expect a vacation essay as well, particularly in the long
vacation. Collections will normally be on the reading which you will have covered over the
vacation: on the importance of such vacation reading, see Section 4.12. There may also be
faculty language collections: see Section 4.3.2.
It is reasonable to expect written comments on any work a tutor takes in; but it is rare for tutors
to put marks on written work, except for collections. If you are left uncertain of the general
quality of your work, do not hesitate to ask.
4.3 Language Classes
1. Beginning Ancient Greek and Beginning Latin
These are intensive elementary language classes running throughout the first two terms of
Mods for those wishing to begin Greek or Latin. The language teachers will be contacting
those who have expressed an interest in Noughth Week (the week before term) to let you
know which group you are in and where and when to attend.
For your first two terms, you will have three hours of language teaching each week, and you
will be expected to do a substantial amount of homework.
The language teaching team will be happy to discuss any problems. Do not hesitate to consult them.
10
2. Faculty Language Collections
Those taking the elementary language classes will be set collections to test their progress at
2.00 p.m. on the Thursday of the week before the start of both Hilary and Trinity terms. You will
be given details of these collections in due course.
4.4 Essays
Work on a class or tutorial essay involves library searches, reading, thinking, and writing. Read
attentively and thoughtfully, skipping bits that obviously do not bear on your topic: one hour of
concentration is worth many hours of 'summarising' paragraph by paragraph with the music
on. As your reading progresses, think up a clear structure for your essay. Use essays to
develop an argument, not as places to store information. Include background material only
when it is relevant for the question you have been asked: avoid the sort of essay which begins
‘Cicero was born in ……’ (if you were asked the time, you would not begin by saying where
your watch was made). You will learn a lot if you share ideas with fellow students, and if you
chance your arm in class and tutorial discussion.
Remember that classes and tutorials are not designed as a substitute for lectures, or for
accumulating information, but to develop an ability to articulate and the capacity to think on
one's feet, and to tackle specific difficulties and misunderstandings.
There are arguments for and against word processing. On the one hand it makes one's notes
and essays more 'inviting' to read later, and in writing an essay it becomes possible to
postpone commitment to all the stages in an argument until the very end of the essay-writing
process. On the other hand there is a danger of getting out of practice in writing time-limited
examinations, especially University examinations, in which word processing is not allowed.
Oxford trains you as a writer to deadlines; so equip yourself with a writer's tools – at least a
dictionary, such as the Concise Oxford Dictionary, and, unless you are very confident, a
thesaurus and a book such as H. W. Fowler's Modern English Usage. Spelling, punctuation,
and literate English style do matter.
4.5 Bibliographies
Detailed faculty bibliographies are prepared regularly for most of the subjects on the course.
You can download them from https://weblearn.ox.ac.uk/access/site/classics.
4.6 Lectures
Lectures for CAAH will be found on the Classics Lecture list. The most up to date version of
this is at www.classics.ox.ac.uk/lectures/index.asp. Click on the lecture title to see a short
description of the lecture series.
Your tutors will have advice on which lectures to attend, and if you are in doubt you should
consult them before the lecture course begins.
Lectures start on Monday of First Week of each term. Make sure you know where those you
should attend take place. The lectures for your core courses are essential, and you should
also attend any introductory lectures offered on Ancient History and Classical Archaeology.
You should also start attending lectures for the special subjects of your choice. Those taking a
language would be well-advised to 'shadow' the lectures for a second special subject for the
first few weeks in case they have a change of heart about studying the language (firm choices
do not need to be declared until Fourth Week).
11
Do not expect lectures on a subject to coincide with the term in which you are writing
essays on that subject. Important lectures may come a term or two before your tutorials;
even so, you should read in advance any texts which are being lectured on. Equally, do not
expect lectures to be repeated every year; In the first year, you should attend lectures in your
first and second terms for the special subject you will be taking in your third term, and you
should plan to attend lectures in your second year that are relevant to courses you will take in
your third year.
4.7 Joint Consultative Committee for Undergraduate Matters
Each faculty or department has a Joint Consultative Committee for Undergraduates (JCC).
The JCC is your forum, where Faculty officers will keep you informed of developments in the
Faculty. Typical agenda items include proposals for change to the syllabus, lecture
arrangements, library provision and IT. Senior members will be looking to you for comments
and suggestions, which may bring beneficial changes. The JCC is also the forum in which you
should raise any matters of concern to you relating to the organisation and content of the
course (though matters relating to your actual tuition are more a college matter: see Section
4.2). The JCC contains several Senior Members and although colleges are asked to appoint
representatives, any undergraduate in CAAH, Classics, and Ancient and Modern History is
welcome to attend. The committee meets once a term, and may make recommendations to
the Sub-faculties, or through them to the Faculty board. It appoints two of its undergraduate
members to attend Sub-faculty meetings as observers.
A questionnaire is circulated regularly by the JCC for you to fill in with your comments on the
course and on the lectures you have attended. It is important to fill this in because lecturers
(who are given an indication of the comments), and indeed the Faculty as a whole, like to
know whether they are providing what people need, and also because it strengthens the arm
of the JCC in seeking changes and innovations. The comments made will remain totally
anonymous, and only the Lecture List Secretary and the undergraduate compilers of the yearly
report will see the actual returns. A sample questionnaire is printed in this Handbook (Section
17).
4.8 Students with Disabilities
The Faculty is committed to ensuring that disabled students are not treated less favourably
than other students, and to provide reasonable adjustment to provision where disabled
students might otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage.
For students who have declared a disability on entry to the University, the Faculty will have
been informed if any special arrangements have to be made. Students who think that
adjustments in Faculty teaching, learning facilities or assessment may need to be made should
raise the matter first with their college tutor or contact the Administrative Officer at the Classics
Centre.
General advice about provision for students with disabilities at Oxford University and how best
to ensure that all appropriate bodies are informed can be found on the University Disability
Services website at www.admin.ox.ac.uk/eop.
4.9 Complaints
1. The University, the Humanities Division and the Classics Faculty all hope that provision
made for students at all stages of their programme of study will make the need for complaints
(about that provision) or appeals (against the outcomes of any form of assessment) infrequent.
12
2. However, all those concerned believe that it is important for students to be clear about how
to raise a concern or make a complaint, and how to appeal against the outcome of
assessment. The following guidance attempts to provide such information.
3. Nothing in this guidance precludes an informal discussion with the person immediately
responsible for the issue that you wish to complain about (and who may not be one of the
individuals identified below). This is often the simplest way to achieve a satisfactory resolution.
4. Many sources of advice are available within colleges, within faculties/departments and from
bodies like OUSU or the Counselling Service, which have extensive experience in advising
students. You may wish to take advice from one of these sources before pursuing your
complaint.
5. General areas of concern about provision affecting students as a whole should, of course,
continue to be raised through Joint Consultative Committees or via student representation on
the faculty’s committees.
Complaints
6. If your concern or complaint relates to teaching or other provision made by the faculty, then
you should raise it either with the JCC or the Chair of the CAAH Standing Committee. Within
the faculty the officer concerned will attempt to resolve your concern/complaint informally.
7. If you are dissatisfied with the outcome, then you may take your concern further by making
a formal complaint to the University Proctors. A complaint may cover aspects of teaching and
learning (e.g. teaching facilities, supervision arrangements, etc.), and non-academic issues
(e.g. support services, library services, university accommodation, university clubs and
societies, etc.). A complaint to the Proctors should be made only if attempts at informal
resolution have been unsuccessful. The procedures adopted by the Proctors for the
consideration of complaints and appeals are described in the Proctors and Assessor’s
Memorandum (www.admin.ox.ac.uk/proctors/pam) and the relevant Council regulations
(www.admin.ox.ac.uk/statutes/regulations).
8. If your concern or complaint relates to teaching or other provision made by your college,
then you should raise it either with your tutor or with one of the college officers, such as the
Senior Tutor. Your college will also be able to explain how to take your complaint further if you
are dissatisfied with the outcome of its consideration.
Academic appeals
9. An appeal is defined as a formal questioning of a decision on an academic matter made by
the responsible academic body.
10. For undergraduate courses, a concern which might lead to an appeal should be raised with
your college authorities and the individual responsible for overseeing your work. It must not
be raised directly with examiners or assessors. If it is not possible to clear up your concern
in this way, you may put your concern in writing and submit it to the Proctors via the Senior
Tutor of your college. As noted above, the procedures adopted by the Proctors in relation to
complaints and appeals are on the web (www.admin.ox.ac.uk/statutes/regulations).
11. Please remember in connection with all the cases in paragraphs 9-10 that:
(a) The Proctors are not empowered to challenge the academic judgement of examiners
or academic bodies.
(b) The Proctors can consider whether the procedures for reaching an academic
decision were properly followed; i.e. whether there was a significant procedural
administrative error; whether there is evidence of bias or inadequate assessment;
whether the examiners failed to take into account special factors affecting a candidate’s
13
performance.
(c) On no account should you contact your examiners or assessors directly.
12. The Proctors will indicate what further action you can take if you are dissatisfied with the
outcome of a complaint or appeal considered by them.
4.10 Illness
If illness interferes seriously with your academic work, make sure that your tutors know about
it. If at all possible choose a Fellow or Lecturer of your college in whom to confide; otherwise it
will be difficult for the college to help. Help may involve: excusing you from tutorials for a
period; sending you home; asking the University to grant you dispensation from that term's
residence (to qualify for the BA you must reside and study in Oxford for nine terms - or six if
you have Senior Status - and a term for that purpose means forty-two nights); or permitting you
to go out of residence for a number of terms, with consequent negotiations with your funding
body.
If illness has affected you during an examination, your college must report the fact to the ViceChancellor and Proctors, who will pass the information to your examiners 'if, in their opinion, it
is likely to assist the examiners in the performance of their duties.' Your college also reports to
the Proctors if illness or disability has prevented you from attending part of a University
examination, or makes it desirable that you should be examined in a special place or at a
special time. The college officer concerned is the Senior Tutor. You, therefore, must deal with
your Senior Tutor, never with the examiners. Give the Senior Tutor as much notice as possible;
in particular, examinations specially invigilated in a special place (usually your college) take a
lot of organising. If you anticipate difficulties (e.g. in the case of dyslexia), you should inform
your tutor at the beginning of the term of the examination, or preferably before. You will
probably need a medical certificate; college doctors have the right University forms.
4.11 Crises
You will often hear people talking jocularly about their 'essay crisis'; you may even hear your
tutor talking about his or her 'lecture crisis'. But if you find yourself in real difficulties with your
work, or any other difficulties, do not hesitate to contact your tutor (or any other tutor,
especially your college adviser or 'Moral Tutor' if your college appoints one). They may look
busy, but they will not be too busy to discuss your problems, many of which may get
miraculously better just by being discussed with someone sympathetic. 'Nightline' (16
Wellington Square, Tel: 270270) offers a confidential source of advice for the small hours, and
both University and Colleges offer many other channels of help, comfort, and care: further
details are given in the Essential Information for Students (Proctors’ and Assessor’s
Memorandum).
4.12 Vacations
British degree courses are among the shortest in the world. They hold their own in
international competition only because they are full-time courses, covering vacation as well as
term. This is perhaps particularly true of Oxford, where the official terms occupy less than half
the year. Vacations have to include holiday time too; and everyone recognises that for many
students they also have to include earning money. Nevertheless vacation study is vital, and for
Classical Archaeology and Ancient History the long vacation is particularly important. It is also
when you should fulfil your field work requirement.
In term you will mostly rush from study of one particular site, monument or section of a text to
14
another, from one article or chapter to another, pick their bones, and write out your reactions.
Vacations are the time for less hectic attention to complete books, ancient and modern.
Tutorials and classes break a subject up, vacations allow consolidation. They give depth and
time for serious thought, and they are vital for the full reading of set texts and of key secondary
works for the following term's tutorial work.
4.13 The Classics Centre
The Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies in located at 66 St Giles’, OX1 3LU.
The Classics Office and some Research Projects are based in the building, including the
Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents, The Lexicon of Greek Personal Names and the
Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama. There is also a common room, seminar
rooms and lecture theatre.
The Classics Office
The Classics Office is at the Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, and is the
administrative section of the Classics Faculty. Office hours are 9.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and from
2.00 p.m. to 5.00 p.m., Monday to Friday (Tel: 288388 or email
[email protected]). The Classics Office can provide information about
scholarships, grants, prizes, study tours, summer schools, conferences and seminars in and
outside Oxford.
Entry to the Classics Centre
There is an intercom box on the doors of the Classics Centre with connections to individual
offices. You can also operate the doors with your University card. Your card should already be
registered for entry to the Classics Centre, but if you experience any difficulties please contact
Paul Sawyer on 288372 or email him at [email protected].
4.14 The Administration
The administration of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History lies with the Board of the
Faculty of Classics and the Committee for the School of Archaeology. These bodies are
elected, like other Faculty Boards in the University, by and from members of their associated
Faculties. The Classics Faculty comprises the Sub-faculties of Ancient History and Classical
Archaeology, Philosophy, and Classical Languages and Literature. Classical Archaeology is
also part of the Sub-faculty of Archaeology. The members of the Sub-faculties are, roughly,
those employed in teaching or research within the University. The Faculty Boards meet twice
each term, and the Sub-faculties meet once or twice each term.
4.15 Libraries and Electronic Resources
In comparison with most universities library provision at Oxford is generous. OLIS, the
University’s online library information service, contains catalogues of many University and
some college libraries. It is accessible from any workstation on the University network
(http://library.ox.ac.uk).
Your college library will probably have a wide range of borrowable books and a narrower range
of periodicals. Find out how to suggest new purchases. You have no access to college libraries
other than your own. There are many different University libraries. The most useful to you will
be the Sackler Library, which contains the Classics Lending Library, and the Bodleian Library.
The Bodleian Libraries website is the most useful place to find information on using the library
system: www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
15
The Sackler Library was formally opened in September 2001. It is located at 1 St John Street,
close to the Ashmolean Museum: the entrance is through a doorway in a rotunda almost
immediately on your right as you enter St John Street from Beaumont Street. Within its walls
have been gathered a massive collection of books originally housed separately in several
different libraries. It is an open shelf lending library indispensable to anyone studying Ancient
History, Archaeology and Art; it is also extremely useful to those studying Literature or
Philology. The Sackler Library also houses the Classics Lending Library, specifically intended
to provide for the coursework needs of undergraduates in Classical Literature, Ancient History
and Archaeology. Library hours are 9.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. on Mondays to Fridays, 10.00 a.m.
to 5.00 p.m. on Saturdays.
To be admitted to the Sackler Library you must register by producing your University Card.
Self-service photocopiers are available. You may borrow up to nine items at a time from the
combined collections but no more than six from each category/collection. The loan period for
books and articles is one week and for periodicals is two days. From the Thursday of Eighth
Week, books and articles from the Classics Lending Library may be borrowed for the following
vacation.
In order to use the Bodleian Library, you must be admitted: admission is through your college
office, normally when you first arrive. Much of what you want will be on the open shelves,
primarily in the Lower Reading Room of the Old Bodleian. This is open Mondays to Fridays
9.00 a.m. - 10.00 p.m. (7.00 p.m. in vacations) and Saturdays 10.00 a.m. - 4.00 p.m., except
for closed periods of about ten days at Christmas, four days at Easter, the day of Encaenia in
late June, and the weekend at the end of August. There are numerous other reading rooms,
each with a selection of books and periodicals on open shelves. Most of Bodley’s holdings,
however, are kept in stacks. Works may be ordered from stack to any reading room, but
delivery time is likely to be two to three hours; so advance planning is recommended. You
must show your University Card to gain access to any part of the Bodleian. The Bodleian is not
a lending library.
Copyright Law
The copying of books and journals and the use of self-service photocopiers are subject to the
provisions of the Copyright Licence issued to the University of Oxford by the Copyright
Licensing Agency for the copying (from paper on to paper) of: up to 5% or one complete
chapter (whichever is the greater) from a book; up to 5% or one whole article (whichever is the
greater) from a single issue of a journal; up to 5% or one paper (whichever is the greater) from
a set of conference proceedings.
Electronic Resources
Oxford University subscribes to a substantial number of electronic datasets and periodicals
(including the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, L’Année Philologique, the Gnomon
bibliographische Datenbank and many others).
Access to electronic resources is provided by an interface known as Solo (Search Oxford
Libraries Online); the address is http://solo.ouls.ox.ac.uk. Solo is a search and discovery tool
for the Oxford Libraries collection of resources including OLIS – http://library.ox.ac.uk (Oxford's
union catalogue of printed and electronic books and journals), ORA – http://ora.ouls.ox.ac.uk
(Oxford University Research Archive), a title link to 1,000+ databases on OXLIP+ – http://oxlipplus.bodleian.ox.ac.uk and access to OU E-Journals (over 28,000 e-journals). Note that not all
databases can be cross-searched from SOLO, so you will need to consult OXLIP+ for a full
listing of databases.
Many datasets are easily accessible through a web-browser on a computer connected to the
University network and access is through single-sign on whether on or off campus. Some
16
restricted resources will require a VPN (virtual private network) connection to the University
network if attempting to access them from off campus.
For information on how to install and configure VPN see www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/network/vpn and
to set a remote access password to use with VPN visit https://register.oucs.ox.ac.uk/self/index.
University-wide library information may be found at www.lib.ox.ac.uk
Many of the Oxford Research Projects offer a wealth of digitised images and information.
Investigate the following sites – some of which offer databases you may search or browse
online:
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
The Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama – www.apgrd.ox.ac.uk
The Beazley Archive – www.beazley.ox.ac.uk
The Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents – www.csad.ox.ac.uk
The eScience and Ancients Documents Project – http://esad.classics.ox.ac.uk
The Lexicon of Greek Personal Names – www.lgpn.ox.ac.uk
The Oxford Roman Economy Project – www.oxrep.classics.ox.ac.uk
The Oxyrhynchus Papyri – www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk
The Research Archive for Greek and Roman Sculpture – www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/casts
The Sphakia Survey – http://sphakia.classics.ox.ac.uk
Links to indices of Classics websites can be found on the Classics at Oxford website
www.classics.ox.ac.uk/resources. The ‘Students’ link on the Classics at Oxford website
(www.classics.ox.ac.uk) will take you to a number of useful pages, including online
bibliographies, pdf versions of handbooks, lecture lists, the lectures prospectus, past
examination papers etc. (For a number of these things you will be directed to WebLearn, a
local site worth getting to know well; see section 17 below.) You can access these only if you
are connected to the University network or using a University remote access account.
4.16 Bookshops
The main bookshops for ancient history and classical archaeology are Blackwell's on Broad
Street and Oxbow Books (10 Hythe Bridge St): they both have second-hand departments. The
Classics Bookshop which specialises in secondhand books is now in Burford
(www.classicsbookshop.co.uk). It may be possible to buy useful items from students in the
years above you.
4.17 Information Technology
Computing Facilities and Training
Most colleges have a computer room, with software for word processing and other
applications, connections to the central University machines and the Internet, and printers.
Many also have network connections in college accommodation. Most libraries have powerpoints for laptop computers.
If you wish to connect your own computer to the University network using a network point in
your college room or office, you should consult your College IT Officer.
Please note that if you wish to connect your own computer to the University network it must be
properly maintained. You must ensure that all relevant patches and updates for your machine
have been applied and that your virus protection is up-to-date.
You may also connect via a phone-line or cable connection by registering with the University
Computing Services for a remote access account (this will give you access to the web-based
resources of OxLip).
17
If you have a computing problem, the Oxford University Computing Services (OUCS) Help
Centre, located at 13 Banbury Road, provides a single point of contact for all-front line user
support (Tel: 273200 or email [email protected]). You may also wish to brush up your
computing skills on some of the free training courses OUCS offers.
For current information, check the website at www.oucs.ox.ac.uk.
Email
Classical Archaeology and Ancient History students are required to consult their
university email account at reasonable intervals, that is, daily Mon - Sat in Full Term, as
official communications may be sent to it. If you have another account as well (e.g. Hotmail)
you should still check your university account daily.
The Data Protection Act
You should have received from your college a statement regarding personal student data,
including a declaration for you to sign indicating your acceptance of that statement: please
contact your college's Data Protection Officer if you have not. Further information about Data
Protection within the University can be found at
www.admin.ox.ac.uk/councilsec/dp/index.shtml.
4.18 Classical Greek and Word Processing
Word processing and handling electronic documents are essential skills for all classicists
today. However, classicists face a particular challenge when it comes to keying in Classical
Greek. While for years undergraduates have been content to leave blanks in their work and
write in by hand Greek characters with breathings and accents, because of the difficulty of
including them, this is no longer an acceptable excuse – Greek is now easy to incorporate into
essays and this is a skill which all students should acquire.
The precise method depends on what kind of computer you are using: Apple Macintosh
computers function very differently from PCs. Because of this the faculty recommends that
students use the international standard method of incorporating Greek into documents, namely
Unicode, which is a cross-platform standard (making your documents equally readable on both
PCs and Macs). This standard is supported by most modern word processing packages,
including recent versions of MS Word, and operating systems (for PCs from Windows 98
onwards, and for Macs from OS X onwards).
In order to use Unicode Greek on your own computer, you need two things. The first is a font,
so that you can actually view the Greek. Not many fonts include a complete set of Greek
characters including accents and breathings, but some common fonts do (e.g. Palatino
Linotype, Arial Unicode and Lucida Grande). There are also freeware fonts you can find online
that contain the necessary characters, one popular such font is Gentium (which has an
alternative version Gentium Alt with ‘proper’ circumflex accents). Any of these fonts will be able
to display Greek and you can change the format of text between these fonts and they remain
the same. [This is the great advantage of the Unicode standard, since in older encodings,
changing the font usually scrambled the text entirely and left it as unreadable nonsense.]
The second thing you need is some easy method to enter the Greek characters. You could of
course use the character map or insert symbol commands of your word processor to do it, but
this is time-consuming and inefficient even for a single word. Instead, there are various
keyboard utilities available which allow you to use your normal keyboard as if it were a Greek
keyboard (e.g. so that you type [a] and you get an alpha). These also allow you access the
accents and breathings, usually by typing a key before the vowel in question (e.g. so that
18
typing [2] then [i] gives an iota with a smooth breathing and acute accent). Some of these
utilities work only in specific word processing packages, while others will work with any. One
which works with any Windows program (provided that you are using Windows 2000 or later)
is provided free of charge on the Classics Faculty’s WebLearn site.
You can also find there a link to the site from which Gentium Alt can be downloaded. There are
full instructions for installing this driver and for how to use it. Once installed, you can set your
system up so that by simply pressing [alt] + right [shift] the keyboard is switched and you can
type Greek as quickly as English and then use the same combination to switch back.
Further information on IT in Classics including questions of fonts etc. can be found on the
Classics Faculty’s WebLearn site.
Antioch for Windows and GreekKeys for Apple Macintosh
The link above will take you to a room in WebLearn which has information on the above free
Greek keyboard. At the same location there is information on Antioch for Windows and
GreekKeys for Apple Mac. These are two well known Greek input keyboard utilities which are
supplied with a Unicode Greek font. These utilities allow you to type in Greek through MS
Word (any many other applications) using any installed Greek font. They support Greek
accents and breathings and have built in conversion utilities to allow you to replace a
document formatted with one particular Greek font with another. The ability to assign your own
key mappings for the display of accents and breathings is also supported.
A downloadable trial version of Antioch (for windows) is available from the Classics Faculty’s
WebLearn site.
If you are an undergraduate then unfortunately at present you will have to pay for the non-trial
version by contacting the suppliers directly at:
www.users.dircon.co.uk/~hancock/antioch2.htm.
A downloadable full version of GreekKeys for Apple Mac is available from WebLearn.
4.19 Museums
The Ashmolean Museum in Beaumont Street is second in the UK only to the British Museum in
its collections of vases, sculpture (including a famous Cast Gallery), coins, and other objects:
these are well worth getting to know whether or not you are doing one of the special subjects
for which they are essential.
4.20 Societies
There is a University Classical Society, and a University Archaeology Society, details of their
meetings will be sent to members each term. The Classical Drama Society also has meetings
and puts on plays in the original languages and in English.
4.21 Scholarships, Prizes and Grants
After Mods, you will be eligible for a scholarship or exhibition from your college, on academic
criteria which the college decides and applies. The University administers a number of trust
scholarships. All are listed in the University’s Statutes and Regulations and in a supplement to
the University Gazette (www.ox.ac.uk/gazette), which is published at the beginning of
Michaelmas Term. You can consult these in your college office or a library.
19
Those which particularly concern Classical Archaeology and Ancient History are as follows:
ƒ
Ireland and Craven Scholarships (Dean Ireland's Scholarship: £500; three
Craven Scholarships: £250). An examination consisting of four papers, taken in
the week before Michaelmas Full Term. Entry forms available from Mrs Anne
Smith, Classics Centre, 66 St Giles’, Oxford OX1 3LU
([email protected]). Candidates must send their names on an
entry form to the Mrs Smith by 1 September each year.
ƒ
C. E. Stevens and Charles Oldham Scholarships in Classical Studies (C.
E. Stevens Scholarship: about £400; about 14 Charles Oldham Scholarships:
about £300). These are grants for travel related to your studies. Application
forms available from Mrs Anne Smith, Classics Centre, 66 St Giles’, Oxford
OX1 3LU ([email protected]). These applications are due in
Hilary Term.
Grants for special purposes such as research travel, or for hardship, are available from many
colleges to their members. There are also two more general schemes:
ƒ
Access Funds are provided by the state to give financial help to full-time
'home' undergraduates and postgraduates where access to higher or further
education might be inhibited by financial considerations, or where students, for
whatever reasons, including disabilities, face financial difficulties. Application
should be made to your college.
ƒ
The University's Committee on Student Hardship makes grants and loans
for the relief of financial hardship in cases where this was unforeseeable at the
time of admission. The Committee meets once a term, and the application
forms, which are held in your college office, must be completed and handed in
to the designated college officer, probably the Senior Tutor, by the deadline,
usually in Fourth Week (First Week in Trinity Term).
4.22 Examinations
Each year a board of examiners is drawn from the Faculty to examine Classical Archaeology
and Ancient History Mods and Finals. The examiners are assisted by a number of assessors,
also members of the Faculty, who spread the load and deal with some of the specialised
subjects. It is chance whether any of your own tutors examines you. If that happens, the
convention is that the tutor takes no part knowingly in deciding your result; but since scripts are
anonymous, the convention is rarely operative.
It is your personal responsibility to enter for University examinations, and if you enter, or
change your options, after the due date, you must pay a late fee and gain the examiners'
consent. Entry is through colleges. In the case of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History
Mods you fill in the form towards the end of your first term. The forms are kept in college
offices, which may advertise times for applying. The University deadlines are listed each year
in Examination Regulations.
The starting dates of examinations are announced each year in Examination Regulations and
the University Diary; your tutors can confirm that these dates remain valid. The examiners
issue a timetable a few weeks before each examination; it is posted in the Examination
Schools, and probably also in your college lodge. About a month before the exam, the
examiners send a memorandum to all candidates about the conduct of the examination.
When planning your examination strategy, it is sensible to keep before your mind the nature of
the examination method which the University uses (the conventional method in British higher
20
education over the last two centuries). If the examiners allowed you to set the questions, you
could prepare good answers in a few months; by setting the questions themselves, they
ensure that a candidate cannot be adequately prepared without study over the whole course.
They will therefore not be interested in answers which in any way are off the point, and they
will severely penalise 'short weight' - too few properly written out answers. The examiners are
looking for your own ideas and convictions. When you have selected a question, work out what
it means and decide what you think is the answer to it. Then, putting pen to paper, state the
answer and defend it; or, if you think there is no answer, explain why not. Abstain from
background material. Do use examples to back up your arguments and suggestions, for
without such evidence they become mere assertions. Don't write too much: many of those who
run out of time have themselves to blame for being distracted into irrelevance. Good
examinees emerge from the examination room with most of their knowledge undisplayed.
At University examinations you must wear academic dress with 'sub-fusc' clothing. Academic
dress is a gown, and a regulation cap or mortar board (must be mortar board for men). Subfusc clothing is: for women, a dark skirt or trousers, a white blouse, black tie, black tights or
stockings and shoes, and, if desired, a dark coat; for men, a dark suit and socks, black shoes,
a white bow tie, and plain white shirt and collar.
There are special University regulations on the typing of illegible scripts (NB 'the cost of typing
and invigilation shall not be a charge on university funds'), on the use of typewriters in
examinations, on visually-impaired candidates, on candidates unable to take papers on certain
days for religious reasons and on the use (where permitted) of computers in examinations; see
the Examination Regulations. If your native language is not English, you may request to use
your own bilingual dictionary during examinations. The request must go to the Proctors
through your college, usually your Senior Tutor.
The exam results (both the overall classification and marks on individual papers) are posted on
the OSS system.
If you have any problems connected with University examinations which you want to take
further, never approach the examiners directly: always communicate through your Senior
Tutor. This applies to complaints too (although every student has a statutory right to consult
the Proctors directly on any matter at any time in their Oxford career).
The regulations for Classical Archaeology and Ancient History are set out in the Examination
Regulations, and are reproduced at the end of this Handbook.
4.23 Past Papers
Past papers are available from the Examination Schools at a small cost, and should also be in
College libraries as well as in the Classics Lending Library. There are also old papers online at
http://oxam.ox.ac.uk.
4.24 Marking Conventions
The conventions for marking and for assigning classes will be circulated to you some time
before the examination, in a 'Circular to Candidates'. Each Board of Examiners takes over the
practice of its predecessors and normally follows it closely, but some adjustment or
modification is bound to take place over the years, as a result of changes in examination
structure or in the interest of greater fairness.
21
5. First Year Teaching Structure
In your first year, the first two terms follow the same pattern. In the first term (MT), you do the
integrated Archaeology-History Greek core class (8 joint-taught classes), and half of the
teaching for your chosen Ancient History Special Subject (4 tutorials). (Please note: you need
to have chosen both your Special Subjects and reported them to the Standing Committee at
the latest by Fourth Week of MT. See below, Section 6.3.) You will also have weekly standalone classes on Approaches to History, Archaeology and Ancient Greek in the first few weeks
of term. In the second term (HT), you do the Roman core class (8 classes) and the second half
of your chosen Ancient History Special Subject (4 tutorials). There will also be an Introduction
to Latin to accompany the Roman Core class. Those doing a language instead of one of the
Special Subjects will be doing it alongside the core classes in both these terms.
It is important for you and your College tutor to understand that this is your full workload in
your first two terms and that you should not be doing further tutorials and/or essay-writing on
top of it. Those giving the integrated classes will cover your academic development but will not
be able to give individual personal guidance. You should arrange to see your College tutor at
fairly regular intervals to discuss your progress and any difficulties you are having with the
material and work from the core classes.
In the third term (TT), you do your other chosen Archaeology Special Subject and revise the
work you did in MT and HT for your Mods exams. If you are doing a language and choose a
History special subject rather than an archaeology one, you will also do that special subject in
this term, not in MT-HT.
The long summer vacation after your first year is the time you fulfil your fieldwork requirement.
SUMMARY OF TEACHING STRUCTURE FOR THE FIRST YEAR
Michaelmas Term
Greek Core (8)
Hilary Term
Roman Core (8)
Trinity Term
Long Vacation
Archaeology Special Subject (8)
Fieldwork
Ancient History
Special Subject (4) or
Language
Ancient History
Special Subject (4) or
Language
Revision
6. Classical Archaeology and Ancient History: First Year
The following sections describe in broad chronological sequence a number of varied events,
obligations, and deadlines that you will have to meet during your first year, including
information about your fieldwork requirement. They are summarised in Section 6.12. Note that
the three terms of the academic year have the following local names and abbreviations which
are widely used here. First term = Michaelmas Term (MT); Second term = Hilary Term (HT);
Third term = Trinity Term (TT).
6.1 Integrated Class for Greek Core
The first, preliminary meeting for the joint-taught core class ('Aristocracy and Democracy in the
Greek World, 550-450 BC') is essential and takes place before term proper starts, usually on
22
Thursday of Noughth Week. Look out for the circular telling you precisely where and when it
takes place. You absolutely must attend this meeting. Be punctual!
Those of you doing a language should also check in Noughth Week, through your tutor, what
your class timetable will be and what the Language teachers expect of you.
Alongside the Greek core class there will be weekly stand-alone sessions in the first half of
term on the approaches to working with historical and archaeological material, and texts in the
Greek language, which are intended to support your work in the class. The Greek session(s)
will not require you to know – or learn! – the language in any depth, but are intended to give
you some familiarity with the script and some tools to deal with the short words and phrases
you will come across on vases, grave markers, and so on. These sessions are compulsory.
6.2 Classical Archaeology and Ancient History Party
There will be a party to welcome new CAAH'ers in First Week. This is an opportunity to meet
students in other years and some of the tutors and lecturers involved in teaching the course.
All are invited, do please come!
6.3 Special Subject Choices
You need to start thinking early about which of the special subjects you would like to study in
your first year, one in Ancient History, one in Archaeology. And you need to have reached a
firm decision by Wednesday of 4th week of your first term (Michaelmas Term), by when you
must inform the secretary of the Standing Committee ([email protected]). You
should also start attending lectures for your special subjects in the first term (See Section 4.6).
6.4 Mods Entry Forms
These are the forms on which you are entered for the proper exams at the end of your first
year. They indicate your various choices of subject, should be checked and discussed with
your tutor, and submitted through your college to the University Offices. They are normally due
by the end of 8th week of Michaelmas Term.
6.5 Fieldwork Requirement
Classical Archaeology and Ancient History students are required to attend for at least two
weeks EITHER the training excavation at Dorchester, directed by Prof. Chris Gosden, OR
another field project approved by the Standing Committee. This fieldwork should be carried out
in the first summer vacation after Mods, that is, this coming summer. Requests to defer all or
part of the fieldwork requirement will only be entertained when circumstances beyond your
control (e.g. illness, family bereavement, cancellation of project) have prevented you from
carrying it out in the summer after Mods.
You need to have found your field project and been accepted for it by Wednesday of 4th week
in Hilary Term - the date by which you must submit your choice to the Standing Committee (to
[email protected]).
6.6 Fieldwork Opportunities
There are a number of Oxford-based archaeological projects that accept CAAH students as
volunteers; these opportunities vary by year, so look out for more information nearer the time
23
or ask you tutor or Core Class teachers at the beginning of Hilary Term. Worthy of particular
note in the UK is the University of Reading's Silchester excavations, directed by Prof. Mike
Fulford, who has for many years welcomed CAAH students on the project. There are also
many other fieldwork possibilities, both in the UK and abroad, which are most easily explored
first through the websites and publications listed below. The most useful and comprehensive
resources are: (1) Archaeology Abroad, published by the Council for British Archaeology, and
(2) Archaeological Fieldwork Opportunities Bulletin, published twice a year by the
Archaeological Institute of America. The second is now available online (see below).
The following are some of the most useful institutions, publications, and websites:
ƒ
Council for British Archaeology:
www.britarch.ac.uk
Produces listings in the CBA Briefing, either paper or online, with link to:
ƒ
Archaeology Abroad:
www.britarch.ac.uk/archabroad
Their bulletin, published twice a year, lists opportunities for fieldwork. A copy is available for
reference at the help desk in the Sackler Library.
ƒ
American Institute of Archaeology:
www.archaeological.org
Their Archaeological Fieldwork Opportunities Bulletin lists opportunities for fieldwork throughout
the world. A copy is available for reference as above and is now available online at
www.archaeological.org/webinfo.php?page=10015. See sidebar ‘how to find fieldwork’.
ƒ
Current Archaeology:
www.archaeology.co.uk
The website of the publication Current Archaeology with links, articles, and a searchable
database ('data centre') for excavations and fieldwork opportunities.
6.7 Fieldwork Grant
In planning your fieldwork, you should know that the University allocates a sum (currently
£410) per student for individual expenses related to your course. Up to this amount can be
spent on your fieldwork project (for example, for travel to the site) or on a combination of
fieldwork expenses and expenses associated with researching your site or museum report,
which you will do in your second and third years. You should also apply to your college for any
travel funds available to undergraduates (look out for your college's deadlines for such grants).
The Classics department awards a number of Oldham and Stevens travel scholarships, which
you can apply for in Hilary Term.
Those who are going on the Silchester dig for two weeks will have approximately £380 paid
(out of their fieldwork grant) for them directly to cover their participation in the project.
Funds from your fieldwork grant should be applied for on a form that you get from the
Administrative Officer (Finance), Classics Office, 66 St Giles’, OX1 3LU to whom it should be
returned and who will make the appropriate disbursements. Please note that the form needs to
be counter-signed by your tutor.
6.8 Fieldwork: Health and Safety
The University Safety Office advises that all students doing fieldwork as a mandatory part of
their course must fill in a Health and Safety form, including the Risk Assessment that is part of
the form. You should use the School of Archaeology form, 'Safety in Fieldwork', which is
24
available on the web at: www.arch.ox.ac.uk/undergraduate-fieldwork.html.
You should fill in as much of it as you reasonably can. For help with the kind of things that
might be listed in the Risk Assessment section (Section 7) and how they might be assessed,
please see www.admin.ox.ac.uk/safety/0507.shtml. Keep your entries simple! For the projects
most of you will be going on, the risks are likely to be at the 'Low' or 'Negligible' end of the
spectrum.
The form should be signed, in Section 8 ('Declarations'), by (1) you, the fieldworker, (2) your
college tutor, and (3) the Chair of the Standing Committee, who is the nominal 'Head of the
Unit' for this purpose. The fourth signature asked for, from the 'Head of the School', is
unnecessary. Your signed form should then be lodged with Administrative Officer, in the
Classics Office, 66 St Giles’, OX1 3LU by the end of 8th week in Trinity Term.
Please do not be affronted by this piece of bureaucracy! The main ideas of the form are (a) to
have on central file accurate details of where you are, and (b) to get all of us – students, tutors,
project directors – to think seriously about safety issues.
6.9 Fieldwork: Brief Reports and Directors’ Reports
All students are required to send the Standing Committee a report on their fieldwork of 1,000
(minimum) to 1,500 (maximum) words. You should devote most space to describing: (a) the
nature of the site you went to, (b) the nature of the research project investigating the site and
its main questions and most significant results, and (c) the role you played in the project and
the work you did on the site. You should include a short bibliography of the most important
publications of the project. You may also describe, more briefly, any particular good or bad
things about the project that the Standing Committee and future students might usefully know.
All students are also required to submit a satisfactory report on their work and progress on site
from their field director or project director. Standard forms can be obtained from the
Administrative Officer at the Ioannou Centre, 66 St Giles’; please have them completed before
you leave your site, and then return both reports to the secretary of the Standing Committee
with your fieldwork report by the end of 4th week of the Michaelmas Term following the
vacation in which the fieldwork was done. The reports will be read by the Standing Committee,
and unsatisfactory fieldwork reports will be returned for improvement. Although not an
examined part of your degree, these reports are an integral part of your fieldwork requirement.
6.10 Language Options in Second Year and Summer Schools
If you think you would like to do one of the language options in the second year of the course,
it is a good idea to prepare for it by attending a language Summer School in the long vacation.
This should be discussed with your tutor, and the decision to take a language needs to be
made in time to enrol for a Summer School by their deadline. The deadline for applications for
the Language Summer Schools is usually in March.
6.11 Second and Third Year Choices
Towards the end of your first year, the Standing Committee needs to do detailed planning for
the teaching of the core courses and special subjects in your second and third years.
Therefore, in your third term (Trinity Term) you need to have thought about your firm or
probable choices for years 2 and 3, and you need to send or email them to the Standing
Committee's secretary ([email protected]) by Wednesday of 4th week of
Trinity Term. The Finals Handbook with details of the courses and options will be available at
the beginning of Trinity Term.
25
6.12 Summary for Classical Archaeology and Ancient History Year 1
This calendar summarises the main events, obligations, and deadlines described above in
Section 5. Deadlines are marked in bold.
First Term (Michaelmas)
Week 0
Week 1
Preliminary meeting for Greek Core class
Mon: Lectures start
Wed: CAAH Freshers' Party (5-7 pm) in Classics Centre
Week 4
Wed: Special subject choices to Standing Committee
Secretary
Fri: Mods entry forms to University Offices
Week 8
Second Term (Hilary)
Week 4
Wed: Fieldwork choices to Standing Committee Secretary
March
Applications for language summer schools
Third Term (Trinity)
Week 4
Week 8
Week 9
Wed: 2nd and 3rd Year subject choices to Standing
Committee Secretary
Wed: Fieldwork grant applications to Departmental
Administrator.
Fri: Signed Health & Safety forms to Standing Committee
Secretary
Mon-Wed: Mods Exams.
26
Course Descriptions
7.1 Core Subjects: Approaches to Classical Archaeology and
Ancient History
These core subjects look at two periods of revolution and rapid re-orientation, one Greek, one
Roman. The periods are approached simultaneously from historical and archaeological
perspectives, and are designed to introduce the methods and materials available for the study of
the ancient world and to cut across and between periods studied in Finals. Opportunity is taken to
introduce the history of the two converging disciplines of ancient history and classical
archaeology, and attention is paid to methodology and the complementary nature of written,
material, and visual evidence. The broad subjects engaged are the effects of two quite different
historical upheavals on the political, social, material, and visual environments of Early Greece on
the one hand and Late Republican Rome on the other – as well as their effects on the forms and
character of the surviving historical and archaeological records of the two periods and the ways
they can be studied. Both these courses are taught in small classes led by an ancient historian
and an archaeologist together.
I. Aristocracy and democracy in the Greek world 550-450 BC
The course studies the history and archaeology of the far reaching changes that occurred in the
culture of the Greek polis states (and in particular Athens) between the heyday of the archaic
aristocracies in the later sixth century and the emergence of the new demos culture in the first half
of the fifth century, which involved far more people in the political process all across the Greek
world, in aristocracies as well as democracies. The central themes of aristocracy and democracy
are pursued throughout the period, as well as the history of the interacting archaic states and
individuals; the Achaemenids and the Greek collision with Persia; competing models of social and
political culture after the invasion; the archaeology of sanctuaries and cities; the demes, and
cemeteries of Attica; and the visual revolution in statues, reliefs, and painted images. Typically,
there would be classes on: 1. Aristocracy and Democracy; 2. Aristocratic Lifestyles; 3. Sanctuaries
and Contests; 4. Tyrants; 5. Kingdoms of the East; 6. Athenian Ideology c. 510-475; 7. The
Persian War; 8. Democratic Politics c. 475-450. (Convenor: J. Ma, Corpus)
II. Republic to Empire: Rome 50 BC to AD 50
The course studies the impact of the first emperors on the history and archaeology of Rome and
its subject states in the period of revolution and transition from Late Republic to Early Empire.
Some themes and topics are: Roman political culture in crisis, Republican war-lords to Augustan
princeps; emperor, senate, and the evolving administration; the Julio-Claudian dynasty and court
culture; the city of Rome, imperial building, and imperial representation; villas and villa culture –
wallpainting, marbles, gardens and suburban parks; municipal culture - houses, amenities, tombs,
and freedman art; land-use and the countryside – estates, vici, and centuriated settlement;
manufacture, trade, and natural resources – coins, amphorae, and quarries; the archaeology of
the frontier armies; traditional religion and emperor cult. Typically, there would be classes on 1.
Augustan Political Culture; 2. The Army and the Frontiers; 3. Municipal Culture; 4. Villas; 5.
Julio-Claudian Self-Representation; 6. Manufacture, Commerce and Trade; 7. Romanisation
and Colonisation; 8. Imperial Cult (Convenor: J. Quinn, Worcester)
27
7.2 Special Subjects and Languages
You choose two special subjects, one from each group below, or one special subject from either
group and an ancient language.
A. SPECIAL SUBJECTS IN ARCHAEOLOGY
Archaeology: The subjects are concerned with the most characteristic products of several broad
periods – the Bronze and Dark Ages to 700 BC, the Archaic and Classical periods, and the
Roman period. Any one of these courses provides a good foundation in the materials and
methods of Classical Archaeology. You learn here how to interpret monuments, images, and
artefacts, how to relocate them in their ancient contexts and their own evolving traditions, and
how they can be made to do broad historical work. These subjects provide training in the handling
of material and visual evidence.
A.1. Homeric Archaeology and Early Greece, 1550-700 BC
This subject comprises the archaeological history of the last centuries of the Minoan and
Mycenaean world, and the first of the Greek Iron Age, the setting in which the Homeric poems
were formed and which they reflect in various ways. This is where classical Greek culture and
literature begin. The course covers the full range of material evidence and artefacts surviving from
this period of which there is an excellent representative collection in the Ashmolean Museum. The
examination will consist of one picture question and three essay questions. (Convenor: L.
Bendall, Keble).
A.2. Greek Vases
Painted vases give the fullest visual account of life and mythology in ancient Greece and provide
important archaeological data for refining and adding to our knowledge of various aspects of
ancient culture. The course looks at the techniques and functions of painted ceramics as well as
their subjects and styles, from the eighth to the fourth centuries BC. The Ashmolean Museum has
a fine collection of painted pottery of the period covered by the course, and examples from the
collection are used in classes and lectures. The examination will consist of one picture question
and three essay questions (Convenor: Prof. D.C. Kurtz, Beazley Archive, Classics Centre).
A.3. Greek Sculpture, c. 600-300 BC
Greek statues and reliefs in marble and bronze retain today a strong visual impact, and our
knowledge of the subject is being constantly improved and revised by dramatic new discoveries,
from excavation and shipwrecks. The course studies the emergence and uses of large marble
statues in the archaic period, the development of bronze as a large-scale medium, and the
revolution in seeing and representing that brought in the new visual system that we know as
'classical', in the fifth and fourth centuries. The Cast Gallery, located behind the Ashmolean, has
an excellent collection of plaster casts of major sculptures from this period. Practical classes are
given in the Cast Gallery using the casts to illustrate ways of assessing and interpreting ancient
statues and reliefs. The examination will consist of one picture question and three essay
questions. (Convenor: Prof. R.R.R. Smith, Cast Gallery).
A.4. Roman Architecture
Architecture was the Roman art par excellence, and Roman buildings provide some of the most
impressive and best preserved monuments from the ancient world. The course studies the
materials, technology, and functions of the buildings as well as their appearance and effect, from
the Republic to the Tetrarchy, in Italy and the provinces as well as in Rome itself. The examination
will consist of one picture question and three essay questions. (Convenor: J. DeLaine, Institute of
28
Archaeology).
B. SPECIAL SUBJECTS IN HISTORY
B.1. Thucydides and the West
The course studies the history of the Greek cities of Sicily and South Italy and their relations with
mainland Greek states in the 5th century BC through the lens of Thucydides' penetrating account
of the Athenian expedition to Sicily in 415 BC. Topics include: the earlier diplomatic and military
involvement of Athens in the west; Syracuse and Syracusan politics; the background in Athenian
politics and religion and the affairs of the Herms and the Mysteries; and Thucydides' presentation
of individuals, especially Nicias and Alcibiades, compared with their presentation in Plutarch. The
prescribed text for study in translation is Thucydides VI and VII (from S. Lattimore (tr.), The
Peloponnesian War (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1998). Candidates will also be expected to be familiar
with Plutarch, Nicias. (Convenor: J. Prag, Merton).
Translation: Thucydides VI and VII: S Lattimore, tr., The Peloponnesian War, Indianapolis,
Hacket, 1998,
[Plutarch, Nicias (Loeb)]
B.2. Aristophanes' Political Comedy
The course studies Athenian politics and culture in the later fifth century BC as represented in the
comedies of Aristophanes. Its subject is Old Comedy as a distorting mirror of the major events
and currents of the day – the new-style politicians (Cleon and others), the new intellectuals (the
'sophists'), strains in traditional religion, the roles of women, the Peloponnesian War, and social
conflict in the city and countryside. The plays prescribed for study in translation are Knights,
Wasps and Lysistrata. Candidates will also be expected to be familiar with Acharnians, Lysistrata
and the 'Old Oligarch' writing on the 'Athenian Constitution'. (Convenor: L. Kallet, Univ).
Translation: Acharnians, Knights,, Lysistrata, Wasps: A.H Sommerstein, Aris and Phillips.
The ‘Old Oligarch’: J. L. Marr, P. J. Rhodes (trans.), The 'Old Oligarch': The Constitution of the
Athenians Attributed to Xenophon. Aris & Phillips Classical Texts. Oxford: Aris & Phillips, 2008
B.3. Cicero and Catiline
The course studies Catiline's conspiracy against the Roman state in 63 BC and Cicero's
controversial role in its suppression. Topics covered include the following: the social and
economic problems in Italy, particularly from the period of Sulla onwards, that contributed towards
support for the conspiracy; the political and ideological background, particularly the Sullan
constitutional reforms and subsequent struggles over them; the more immediate political
background, notably the careers of Pompey, Caesar, Crassus, and Catiline himself; the events of
early 63; the relation of the revolutionary leaders to each other; the problem of the senatus
consultum ultimum and the debate on the fate of the conspirators. The texts relating to the
conspiracy are abundant and detailed but also biased and sometimes contradictory. Students
learn the ways of Roman political and historical rhetoric. The texts prescribed for study in
translation are: Sallust, Catiline; Cicero, In Catilinam I-IV, Pro Sulla; Asconius, In orationem in
toga candida. (Convenor: E. Bispham, Brasenose).
Translations:
Sallust, Catiline (Loeb)
Cicero, In Catilinam I-IV (Loeb)
Cicero, Pro Sulla (Loeb)
Asconius, In orationem in toga candida, in Asconius, Commentaries on Speeches by Cicero, ed.
R.G. Lewis, Oxford 2006
29
B.4. Tacitus and Tiberius
Why did Tacitus, writing a century after the events he was describing, choose to begin his history
of early imperial Rome with a long and jaundiced account of the grim Tiberius, rather than with the
reign of the much-admired Augustus? The course studies Tacitus' representation of Tiberius
against the background of surviving contemporary evidence, and particular emphasis will be
given to recently discovered inscriptions on bronze – the Tabula Siarensis, the Senatus
Consultum de Cn. Pisone patre, and the Senatus Consultum from Larinum. Topics include the
attitudes of both the Senate and Roman people towards Tiberius and to the imperial family as a
whole. The text prescribed for study in translation is Tacitus, Annals I-VI, with gobbets to be set
from books I and III. (Course convenor: K. Clarke, St Hilda’s).
Translations: Tacitus, Annals, I, III [and II, IV-VI]. A.J. Woodman, tr., The Annals of Tacitus,
Indianapolis, Hackett, 2004
C. ANCIENT LANGUAGES
C.1. Beginning Ancient Greek
(This subject is not available to candidates with a qualification in ancient Greek above GCSElevel or equivalent.)
The course will allow takers to read simple, if probably adapted, prose texts. Candidates will
be required to show knowledge of some of the main grammatical structures of ancient Greek
and of a small basic vocabulary. The paper will consist of prepared and unprepared prose
translations, with grammatical questions on the prepared texts.
Course book: (parts of) John Taylor: Greek to GCSE (Bristol Classical Press, 2003), in addition
to extra material supplied in classes.
C.2. Beginning Latin
(This subject is not available to candidates with a qualification in Latin above GCSE-level or
equivalent.)
The course will allow takers to read simple, if probably adapted, prose texts. Candidates will
be required to show knowledge of some of the main grammatical structures of Latin and of a
small basic vocabulary. The paper will consist of prepared and unprepared prose translations,
with grammatical questions on the prepared texts.
Course book: John Taylor, Essential GCSE Latin (Bristol Classical Press, 2006), in addition to
extra material supplied in classes.
C.3. Intermediate Ancient Greek
(This subject is not available to candidates with a qualification in ancient Greek above AS-level
or equivalent.)
Candidates will be required to show an intermediate level knowledge of Greek grammar and
vocabulary (including all syntax and morphology, as laid out in Abbot and Mansfield, Primer of
Greek Accidence).
The set texts for the course are: Xenophon, Hellenica I (Oxford Classical Text) and Lysias I
(Oxford Classical Text). The paper will consist of a passage of unseen prose translation, three
further passages for translation from the two prescribed texts, and grammatical questions on
the prescribed texts.
Useful editions with commentaries:
Xenophon, Hellenika I-II.3.10, ed. P. Krentz (Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1989);
Lysias: Selected Speeches, ed. C. Carey (Cambridge: CUP, 1989).
30
C.4. Intermediate Latin
(This subject is not available to candidates with a qualification in Latin above AS-level or
equivalent.)
Candidates will be required to show an intermediate level knowledge of Latin grammar and
vocabulary (including all syntax and morphology, as laid out in Kennedy’s Revised Latin
Primer).
The set texts for the course are: Cicero, letters in D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Cicero: Select
Letters (Cambridge, 1980), nos 9, 17, 23, 27, 39, 42-3, 45; Tacitus, Agricola (Oxford Classical
Text); Pliny, letters in A. N. Sherwin-White, Fifty Letters of Pliny, 2nd edn (Oxford, 1969), nos
25, 29.
The paper will consist of a passage of unseen prose translation, three further passages for
translation from the prescribed texts, and grammatical questions on the prescribed texts.
Useful editions with commentaries:
Cicero: Select Letters, ed. D. R. Shackleton Bailey (Cambridge: CUP, 1980);
Cornelii Taciti, De Vita Agricolae, eds R. M. Ogilvie and I. RicMDond (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1967);
Fifty Letters of Pliny, ed. A. N. Sherwin-White, 2nd edn (Oxford: OUP, 1969).
These courses will be taught by Faculty classes, for three hours per week during Michaelmas
and Hilary Terms.
Convenor for Ancient Language Courses: Ms Kerkhecker.
7.3 Fieldwork
Students are required to participate for at least two weeks in a fieldwork project approved by
the Standing Committee, where they will be given training in excavation techniques and
recording. Attendance and satisfactory participation (unclassed) are to be confirmed in writing
by the relevant project director. The fieldwork should normally be carried out in the first
summer vacation after Mods. See above Sections 6.5-9.
31
8. Picture Questions: Guidelines
1. Introduction. There are compulsory picture questions set in many of your archaeology
exam papers. These guidelines offer ways of approach, aspects that might be discussed, and
a sequence in which they might be addressed. Others are possible.
2. Not primarily an identification test. A crucial sentence in the rubric governing all picture
questions says they will be of things "of which you are not expected necessarily to have prior
knowledge". In other words, the pictures may show familiar things that you may quickly
recognise, or they may equally show things that you are unlikely to have seen before. There
are so many objects that some candidates might have come across, others not, that
Examiners are not thinking in terms of what should or should not be recognised. So:
Identification is not the main point of the picture question. Examiners want to see you
bring wide knowledge of the subject to bear in assessing a single specific example, and to see
how you can use a specific example to make telling general points.
3. Aspects, headings. The following headings and aspects might be covered, some briefly,
some more fully.
A: TITLE. Give a brief summarising title to your answer. If you recognise the item, give its
familiar title and state quickly anything else you can remember of its material, subject, date,
provenance, and current location: 'Artemision Zeus, over life-size bronze statue, ca. 470 BC,
from Cape Artemision, Athens National Museum'. If you don't recognise the item, give a plain
descriptive title, perhaps mentioning a preliminary assessment of its broad date and likely
place of manufacture, if you know them, which you might come back to in your discussion:
‘Athenian black-figure cup, 6th century BC’. ‘Marble portrait bust of bearded man, 2nd century
AD’. After the title, you might need to say what kind of picture you have been set: photo,
photo detail, drawing, reconstruction. Drawings of sites and buildings are of course different:
state plan, restored plan, elevation, section, reconstruction.
B: OBJECT (material, scale, function). What is it? What kind of object or structure is shown?
What is it made of? Gold earring, silver drinking cup, bronze helmet, terracotta statuette,
marble temple. What was its function, what was it for? Often this is self-evident (helmet,
earring) or obvious enough to be quickly stated: ‘black-figure krater for mixing wine and water’,
‘marble grave stele’, ‘amphitheatre for gladiatorial games and beast hunts’. Sometimes
function requires discussion: a marble statue might be, for example, a cult, votive, or funerary
figure, or a piece of Roman villa decor. Function might lead to discussion of contexts of use
and to the effect of such an object in a sanctuary, cemetery, or villa.
C: SUBJECT (iconography). If the item is figured, what does it represent? Give a brief
description of the subject, its iconography: pose, action, clothes, hairstyle, action, attributes of
a statue; the action, participants, subject of a narrative scene. How do you recognise the
figure(s), what is the action, occasion, setting represented, how is the story told? For nonfigured artefacts and structures, briefly describe their form and main components: a pebble
mosaic floor with alternating black and white lozenge pattern, an engaged tetrastyle Ionic tomb
facade with brightly painted red and blue pediment and akroteria.
Learn and use the appropriate professional terminology – for example, for pot shapes or
parts of classical buildings. This is not exclusionary jargon but a way of being accurate and
concise. In describing a temple, 'amphiprostyle' is shorter and clearer (once you have learned
it) than 'has columned porches on both short ends but no columns on the long sides'. If you do
not recognise the subject or the building type, you will spend longer here providing a careful
description of what you see. Remark on any interesting details: show you have looked.
D: STYLE (with technique, date, place). How is the subject represented, how is the figure
styled, how was the object or structure made? This can be shorter or longer, but the key is to
32
find good descriptive words and to find one to three parallels or comparanda between or
beside which the item in question can be placed. From this process you should deduce a
precise or broad assessment of its place and date of manufacture. Style and technique are
usually among the most time- and place-specific aspects. Do not be more precise than you
can sustain from your knowledge or than the category of object in question can sustain.
Remember not all things can be dated or placed with equal precision. Sometimes we may say
confidently 'Corinthian aryballos, c. 650 BC'. Other times we must be broad: 'marble statue,
probably 4th century BC'. If unsure, give a broad specification.
Any points of interest that you know or can see in the picture that relate to technique, craft, or
manufacturing aspects can be discussed with style. They are often closely connected to
stylistic effect, and often carry indications of date. For example, whiteground lekythoi with
'second' white belong 480-450 BC. Roman portraits with drilled eyes belong after c. AD 130.
E: SIGNIFICANCE. If you have recognised the object or have been able quickly to diagnose
its function, subject, date, and place, you will spend most time on this aspect. You will score
higher the more you can make your points come out of observation or assessment of the
specific item to hand. You might think about the object's significance in relation to one or more
of the following overlapping questions.
How typical or unusual is it? How typical is it of other things like it? How does it fit in to a
larger category? If not typical now, how unusual was it in antiquity? Remember few things that
survive can have been unique. If we have one or two, there were once lots. So beware the
charge – much levelled at data-rich classical archaeology – of taking what we have of antiquity
as typical of what there once was (the 'positivist fallacy'). What was the original effect of the
object compared to the state we see it in now? What needs to be restored – limbs, attributes,
attachments, colours, pedestal, base, explanatory inscription? What were the contexts of use
– public, private, political, religious, in public square, sanctuary, house, symposium room
bedroom, grave? How do the contexts of use affect our assessment of the object? Can we
reconstruct any activities or rituals associated with it that gave the object its meaning?
What aspects of life in its place and period does it answer to – social, political, cultural,
religious? What does this particular example add, if anything, compared to others like it? For
example, some pieces, such as the Riace bronzes, were typical (high-quality lifesize bronze
statues), but for us add a level of production and startling effect we didn't have before. Other
things can be simply typical of well-attested categories. A few things were genuinely unusual,
such as the Vix krater and Trajan's Column.
What was the social level of the object, who commissioned and paid for it, with what target
audience in mind? How would the object's social level affect our assessment? For example,
classical temple projects were aimed at the whole community. Roman funerary monuments
aimed often at a particular social group – fellow freedmen, for example. What ideas, values,
aspirations did it articulate for its user group? What kinds of things would ancient
viewers/users do or say around this object, image, or structure?
What kinds of scholarly interpretation have been proposed for this object or for the category
to which it belongs? Do you agree with them, find them persuasive? What weaknesses do they
have? Are other views possible, better? What do you think is the important point?
4. SAMPLE A: ITEM RECOGNISED.
Artemision Zeus, bronze statue, over-lifesize, ca. 460 BC, from the sea off Cape
Artemision (N. Euboea), Athens National Museum.
The statue was probably a major votive in a sanctuary. It represents a naked and senior god,
in striding pose, left arm held out, aiming, right arm bent holding a missile, now missing. The
33
missile was either a trident (for Poseidon) or a thunderbolt (for Zeus). The best parallels in
small bronzes from the late archaic and early classical periods (good example in Berlin) as
well as the latest scholarship all suggest a thunderbolt and Zeus. The square head, regular
features, and above all the long hairstyle wound in a plait around the head, visible in the back,
indicate a senior god (rather than hero or mortal). The strong, simplified features, the hardmuscled body, and the organic pose and proportions all indicate a date in the 460s alongside
the Olympia sculptures. The large eyes, now missing, were inlaid and were vital to the effect of
the figure. The twisted left foot looks damaged and affects the fluency of the composition.
The statue belongs in the period after the Persian wars, when the hard, new realistic-looking
style we know as 'Severe' was created in big votive figures like this one, set up in sanctuaries
of the gods often as thank offerings paid for from Persian wars booty.
The figure is a powerful fifth-century-BC visualisation of a warring Hellenic divinity imperious,
all-seeing, potentially devastating. It belongs in the same environment as the Riace bronzes
and the statuesque figures on the large pots of the Niobid Painter and his group.
5. SAMPLE B: ITEM NOT RECOGNISED.
Reconstruction drawing of terrace sanctuary. Probably central Italian. Probably later
second or first century BC.
The drawing shows a huge raised platform (c. 130 by 70 m, according to scale), terraced
against a steep slope that falls away to the left (north). The terrace is supported here on tall,
buttressed sub-structures, which are cut away in the drawing to show they are made up of
parallel, no doubt concrete, vaults. The mouth of a tunnel emerges from the sub-structure at
front left and is shown as a road or passageway (?) running under and through the
substructures from front to back.
The terrace is enclosed on three sides by complex, triple-aisled, two-storeyed stoas or portico
buildings. The drawing seems to show these stoas have three aisles at terrace or ground level,
stepped back to two aisles in the upper storey with a flat roof/walkway (?) above the outer firststorey colonnade – an architectural configuration hard to parallel(?). The temple is shown as
prostyle hexastyle (order not specified in drawing) set on a tall podium with a tall flight of steps
at the front only, flanked by cheek walls to each side. The front (west) side, in front of the
temple, is open and looks out over the surrounding country.
The massively engineered temple platform suggests a terrace sanctuary of the late Republic,
like those at Praeneste and Terracina, built in central Italy in imitation of (and in competition
with) Hellenistic terraced sanctuaries such as those at Kos, Lindos, and Pergamon. The scale,
concrete vaulting, strict axiality of the plan, and the prostyle design of the temple are all typical
Italian-Roman features – as also is the small theatre sunk into the front of the terrace. The
money and ideas for such sanctuaries came from the new business and cultural opportunities
opened by the Roman conquest of the Hellenistic east.
6. Conclusion. Your task is to use careful description and relative comparison to make the
item shown speak or look as it did for its ancient audience and users. You need to use your
knowledge of the subject to create a useful context for it and so bring out its significance. If you
know what the item is, do not waste time pretending you do not recognise it! This will be
counterproductive. If you do not know what the item is, do not guess – look, describe,
compare, deduce!
34
9. Ancient History Text ‘Gobbets’: Guidelines
A ‘gobbet’ is a passage of text set for comment in an exam. You should aim to comment on the
context, content and significance of the passage set.
1. Context. This can have two parts. The first (always relevant) is where you locate the
passage in the work in which it appears. This shows familiarity with the work in question. The
second (relevant if an event is at issue) is where you locate the episode in historical context,
with attention to chronology, geography and the like. This shows familiarity with the historical
setting.
2. Content. This is where you explain details necessary to the understanding of the passage,
for example: identify (briefly) named individuals, anyone or anything referred to by pronouns,
any interesting places; explain constitutional details referred to and the like.
3. Significance. This is where you explain why and how this particular passage is interesting/
important. The passage might reveal something about the method or whatever of the writer; it
might offer interesting comparison with one or more other ancient accounts, inscriptions,
monuments, or artefacts; it might contain material central to the understanding of interpretation
of the actions/policy/ … of some or all of the characters involved; it might contain a
chronological crux, it might well do more than one of the above or other analogous things
besides. In any case, what difference does this passage and its interpretation make to our
understanding of something? It is not expected that you will have extensive recall of all that is
to be found in Commentaries. This is not what is being tested. What is being tested is, rather,
familiarity with prescribed texts and ability to deal, in an informed and perceptive way, with
significant passages from those texts.
DO read the whole passage carefully. DO focus your response on the passage in question.
DO NOT spend time simply paraphrasing the passage.
35
10. Plagiarism
1. Plagiarism is the use of material appropriated from another source or from other sources
with the intention of passing it off as one’s own work. Plagiarism may take the form of
unacknowledged quotation or substantial paraphrase. Sources of material include all printed
and electronically available publications in English or other languages, or unpublished
materials, including theses, written by others. You should be aware that there are now
sophisticated electronic mechanisms for identifying plagiarised passages. The Proctors regard
plagiarism as a serious form of cheating for which offenders can expect to receive severe
penalties, possibly including disqualification from the examination process. Plagiarism in
tutorial essays or other work which is not formally examined is a disciplinary matter for
Colleges, who may choose to apply a range of severe penalties, including rustication or even
sending down. You should also be aware that anyone writing a reference for you in the future,
who is aware that you have plagiarised work, may feel obliged to mention this fact in their
reference.
Unintentional plagiarism, that is improper or sloppy working practice which leads to failure to
acknowledge properly the sources of your ideas or information, may also be penalised by the
Examiners. 'Unintentional plagiarism' is recognised as a specific offence by the Proctors.
2. Your work will inevitably sometimes involve the use and discussion of critical material written
by others with due acknowledgement and with references given. This is standard critical
practice and can be clearly distinguished from appropriating without acknowledgement
material produced by others and presenting it as your own, which is what constitutes
plagiarism.
3. A thesis or report is essentially your view of the subject. While you will be expected to be
familiar with critical views and debates in relation to the subject on which you are writing, and
to discuss them as necessary, it is your particular response to the theme or question at issue
that is required.
4. When you read the primary texts that you will be discussing, it is a good idea to find your
own examples of episodes, themes, arguments, etc in them that you wish to discuss. If you
work from your own examples, you will be much less likely to appropriate other people’s
materials.
5. When you are taking notes from secondary sources,
a) Always note author, title (of book or journal, and essay or article title as appropriate), place
of publication (for books), and page numbers.
b) If you copy out material word for word from secondary sources, make sure that you identify
it as quotation (by putting inverted commas round it) in your notes. This will ensure that you
recognise it as such when you are reading it through in preparing your thesis.
c) At the same time always note down page numbers of quoted material. This will make it
easier for you to check back if you are in doubt about any aspect of a reference. It will also be
a necessary part of citation (see 6 below).
6. When you are writing make sure that you identify material quoted from critics or ideas and
arguments that are particularly influenced by them. There are various ways of doing this, in
your text and in footnotes: see the Site/Museum Report Guidelines above. If you are
substantially indebted to a particular scholar’s arguments in the formulation of your materials, it
may not be enough to cite his or her work once in a footnote at the start or the end of the
essay. Make clear, if necessary in the body of your text, the extent of your dependence on
these arguments in the generation of your own – and, ideally, how your views develop or
diverge from this influence.
You should also take care to allow readers / examiners to form a judgement as to the full
extent of your engagement with particular sources or published discussions. In other words,
36
you should flag the point at which your discussion begins to depend heavily on a published
work, and the point(s) at which you introduce ideas or hypotheses derived from different
published material. For example, you if you have a five-page discussion which is based on, or
engages with, Source A, you should indicate this at the start of, and where appropriate, during,
those five pages; it is misleading to cite Source A only at the end of the discussion based on
it.
In addition, it is not sufficient to simply to lift citations of relevant earlier literature from a recent
discussion, and is a form of plagiarism to give the impression that you have read a number of
scholarly items when you have only lifted them from a footnote in the text you are using. You
need to go and investigate them yourselves. Equally you should not cite publications unless
you have read them. It is acceptable to refer the reader to the existence of older literature, or
literature in a language other than English, which you have not read, as long as you make it
clear that you have not read it (this can be denoted by saying 'not seen', or in Latin, 'non uidi').
It is acceptable to say, for example, "the first significant discussion of the relationship between
the consuls and the Senate was by Th. Mommsen (1887)"; but not to cite Mommsen's
discussion as if you have read it, e.g. "the Senate was very much as an advisory body to the
consuls (Mommsen 1887)".
7. Example:
This is a passage from P. Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (University of
Michigan Press, Ann Arbor 1988), pp. 210-11, discussing the sculptural programme in the
Forum Augustum:
‘But the most original and suggestive aspect of the whole program was that the counterpart to this Julian
family portrait gallery, to the right of the temple, was a row of carefully selected great men of Rome
(summi viri: Historia Augusta Alexander Severus 28.6). These stood beside Romulus and the kings of
Rome in the opposite colonnade. The juxtaposition of the two portrait galleries thus justified the position
of the princeps’ family in the new Rome by proclaiming its unique historical importance. The reality of
competition between Rome’s leading families stretching back for centuries, all the ups and downs, and
the relative insignificance of the Julii from the fourth to the second centuries B.C. were all thereby utterly
obscured. In this version, the Julii had always been Rome’s most important family, for this family would
produce her savior. A similar interpretation was already to be found in the poetry of Virgil.’
A. Plagiarism:
‘Augustus’ sculptural programme in his Forum is very interesting. Along the colonnade to the left of the
temple were statues of Augustus’ ancestors, the Julian family. The most important aspect was that a row of
carefully selected great men (summi viri) were placed opposite the statues of the Julian family, in the
colonnade to the right of the temple. Next to them were Romulus and the kings of Rome. This juxtaposition
justified the position of the princeps’ family in the new order by proclaiming its unique historical importance.
The line of statues of the Julian family made it look as though Augustus came from a line of important
historical figures going right back to Aeneas, even though some of them had really been insignificant; they
were instead equated with the great heroes of Roman history. Virgil’s poetry shows a similar view of history.’
This version adds almost nothing to the original; it mixes direct appropriation with close
paraphrase. There is no acknowledgement of the source; the writer suggests that the
argument and the development of it is his or her own.
B. Legitimate use of the passage:
‘The sculptural programme in the Forum Augustum played an important part in Augustus’ self-projection
aimed at legitimating his rule. At one end of the Forum stood the Temple of Mars Ultor; the flanking
colonnades held lines of statues and the exedrae within them contained statues of Romulus and Remus to
the right of the temple, and Aeneas and Ascanius/Iulus to the left. Zanker points out that the juxtaposition of
the ancestors of the gens Iulia on the left side and the line of Rome’s past heroes or summi viri on the right
37
set up a historical equation for the viewer, suggesting that all of Augustus’ ancestors were themselves great
men and that the gens Iulia was always the leading family of Rome.1 But the programme does more than
merely proclaim the greatness of Augustus’ ancestors within the context of a history stretching back to the
mythical past; as with the Fasti triumphales and Fasti consulares, it emphasises Augustan continuity with
the history of the Republic, supporting Augustus’ claim to have restored the Republic and glossing over the
transition to monarchical rule. In Virgil’s Aeneid (Book VI, lines 756-853) Anchises shows Aeneas an
analogous parade of the great men of Roman history, from mythical figures through the great Republican
heroes up to Augustus and other members of his family. Virgil died in 19 B.C. and the Forum was not
dedicated until 2 B.C.; conceivably therefore the sculptural programme could have been directly inspired by
the Aeneid, but it is perhaps more likely that both the Aeneid’s procession of heroes and the Forum
Augustum reflect a common ideology developed in circles close to Augustus.’
_____________________________________________________________________________
1
P. Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (Ann Arbor 1988): 210-11.
This version uses an acknowledged paraphrase of part of the passage in forming a wider
argument, with some fresh ideas and developing the point about Virgilian poetry which Zanker
made only in passing. (The footnote is sound scholarly practice, but its omission would not be
a matter of plagiarism, as the source is indicated in the text.)
For further help and information, see www.admin.ox.ac.uk/epsc/plagiarism and
www.admin.ox.ac.uk/proctors/info/pam/section9.shtml#_toc95
38
11. List of Officers
This list gives the names of the various members of the Faculty who are holding major
administrative jobs, some of whom are referred to in the course of this Handbook.
Standing Committee for Classical Archaeology and Ancient History
Chair: Dr Peter Thonemann, Wadham College
Secretary: Administrative Officer (Academic), Classics Centre, 66 St Giles’, OX1 3LU
Sub-faculty of Ancient History and Classical Archaeology
Chair: Dr Ed Bispham, Brasenose College
Secretary and Lecture List Secretary: Dr Beate Dignas, Somerville College
Chair of Joint Consultative Committee for Undergraduate Matters
Dr Angus Bowie, The Queen’s College
Harassment Officers
Professor Stephen Harrison, Corpus Christi College
Ellen Rice, Wolfson College
Schools Liaison Officer
Dr Armand d’Angour, Jesus College
If you need to contact any of them, you can do so either direct by mail to their colleges or via
the Classics Office. Contact details for academic staff can be found at
www.classics.ox.ac.uk/faculty/directory.
Email addresses and telephone numbers for the whole University are available at
www.ox.ac.uk/contact.
39
12. CAAH Tutors and Lecturers
This list of staff includes those archaeologists, historians, and classicists whose interests lie in
the broad area of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History and are involved in its teaching.
Established
Professors and
Readers
Regius Professor of
Greek
Ancient History
(Camden)
Ancient History
(Wykeham)
Lincoln Professor of
Classical Art and
Archaeology
Professor of European
Archaeology
Name
College
Special Interests
Chris Pelling
Christ Church
Alan Bowman
Brasenose
Greek Literature; Greek and Latin
historiography
Roman History and Papyrology
Robert Parker
New College
Greek History and Religion
Bert Smith
Lincoln
Greek and Roman Sculpture;
Portraits; Asia Minor
Chris Gosden
Keble
Archaeology, Anthropology and
Colonialism
Professor of the
Archaeology of the
Roman Empire
Andrew Wilson
All Souls
Reader in Classical
Archaeology
Irene Lemos
Merton
Archaeology of the Roman
Empire; Ancient Technology; the
Economy; Ancient Water Supply;
Ancient North Africa
Early Iron Age in Greece
Balliol College
Dr Rosalind Thomas
Greek History
Brasenose College
Dr Ed Bispham
Dr Llewelyn Morgan
Roman History
Latin Literature
Christ Church
Dr Dirk Obbink
Dr Richard Rutherford
Dr Anna Clark
Greek Literature; Papyrology
Homer; Fifth-Century Literature; Rhetoric; Historiography
Roman History; Republican Political and Cultural History
Corpus Christi College
Dr Neil McLynn
Dr Jas Elsner
Prof. Stephen Harrison
Dr John Ma
Prof. Tobias Reinhardt
Exeter College
Prof. Gregory Hutchinson
Late Antiquity
Classical and Late Antique Art; the Reception of Ancient Art;
Ekphrasis
Augustan Poetry; Ancient Novel, esp. Apuleius; Classical
Tradition
Greek History, especially Hellenistic; Asia Minor; Epigraphy
Ancient Rhetoric; Ancient Philosophy; Latin Textual Criticism
Greek Lyric; Greek Tragedy; Hellenistic Poetry; Cicero; Latin
Elegy; Silver Latin
40
Jesus College
Dr Armand D’Angour
Keble College
Dr Lisa Bendall
Prof. Averil Cameron
Lady Margaret Hall
Dr Christina Kuhn
Lincoln College
Dr Harry Sidebottom
Dr Maria Stamatopoulou
Magdalen College
Dr Mark Pobjoy
Dr Felix Budelmann
Greek and Latin Literature; Greek Social and Cultural History
Aegean Prehistory
Literature and History of the Late Antique and Early Byzantine
Periods
The Political, Social and Cultural History of the Roman Empire;
Roman Asia Minor; the Second Sophistic; Greek and Latin
Epigraphy; Documentary Papyrology; Roman Egypt.
Greek and Roman History
Greek Archaeology
Dr Al Moreno
Greek and Roman History; Latin Epigraphy; Republican Italy
Greek drama; Greek Lyric; Elegiac and Iambic Poetry;
Reception of Greek Literature
Greek History
Merton College
Dr Jonathan Prag
Dr Rhiannon Ash
Dr Henrietta van der Blom
Ancient Sicily; Roman Republic; Epigraphy
Tacitus; Roman Historiography; Editor of Classical Quarterly
Late Roman Republic; Cicero
New College
Mr Robin Lane Fox
Dr Jane Lightfoot
Greek and Roman History; Alexander
Hellenistic and Later Greek Literature
Oriel College
Dr Teresa Morgan
Dr Bruno Currie
Greek History; Cultural History; Historiography
Greek Literature
The Queen’s College
Dr Angus Bowie
Somerville College
Dr Beate Dignas
Dr Catherine Draycott
St Anne’s College
Dr Matthew Leigh
Literary Theory; Herodotus; Greece and Persia; Comedy; Greek
Anthropology; Virgil
Greek History
Images and Identities in the Funerary Art of Archaic Anatolia,
600-450 BC
Lucan; Latin Poetry; Livy; New Comedy
41
St Hilda’s College
Dr Katherine Clarke
Dr Emily Kearns
Dr Rebecca Armstrong
Roman and Hellenistic History; Strabo
Homer; Greek Tragedy; Religion
Latin Poetry
St Hugh’s College
Dr Tim Rood
Greek Literature, esp. Historiography
St John’s College
Mr Nicholas Purcell
Roman Social, Economic and Cultural History; City of Rome; the
Mediterranean Sea and its History
Trinity College
Mr Peter Brown
Latin Poetry; Greek and Roman Comedy
University College
Dr Lisa Kallet
Dr Bill Allan
Greek History
Greek Literature especially Tragedy and Epic
Wadham College
Dr Peter Thonemann
Dr Stephen Heyworth
Wolfson College
Prof. Martin Goodman
Dr Chris Howgego
Prof. Donna Kurtz
Dr John Penney
Dr Ellen Rice
Dr Roger Tomlin
Dr Janet DeLaine
Worcester College
Dr Josephine Quinn
Dr Scott Scullion
Greek and Byzantine History; Epigraphy, History and
Archaeology of Pre-Islamic Turkey
Latin Literature
Jewish History in the Graeco-Roman Period; History of the Early
Roman Empire
Greek and Roman Coinage
Greek Vases; Anatomy and Greek Art; Classical Reception;
History of Collections; Information Technology Applications
Indo-European Philology; Languages of Pre-Roman Italy
Greek Archaeology; Epigraphy; Hellenistic History; Alexander
the Great
Late Roman History; Roman Britain; Roman Epigraphy
Roman Architecture and Archaeology
Hellenistic and Republican History; North Africa; City of Rome;
Gender
Greek Literature and Religion
The Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies
66 St Giles’, OX1 3LU. Tel: 288391
Dr Fiona Macintosh
Performance of Greek and Roman Drama
Dr Caroline White
Patristics and Medieval Latin
Dr Peter Haarer
Archaic Mediterranean History and Archaeology
Dr Georgi Parpulov
Byzantine Painting and Minor Arts; Greek and Slavonic Manuscripts; Bulgarian History and
Culture
42
The Language Teaching Team
Ms Juliane Kerkhecker (Grocyn Lecturer)
Mr Andrew Hobson (Grammatikos)
Dr Marina Bazzani (Instructor)
Dr Mary Whitby
Institute of Archaeology
36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG. Tel. 278240. Fax. 278254.
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.arch.ox.ac.uk
Dr Lisa Bendall
Prof. Chris Gosden
Dr Janet DeLaine
Dr Helena Hamerow
Dr J. Hayes
Dr M. E. Henig
Prof. Irene Lemos
Dr Damian Robinson
Dr Lukas Schachner
Prof. Andrew Wilson
Bronze Age Aegean; Feasting in Mycenaean Greece; Linear
B
European Archaeology
Roman Architecture
European Archaeology
Research Associate
Roman Pottery
Roman Art and Archaeology, especially Roman Britain;
Glyptics and the Minor Arts; Changes in Artistic Culture
Greek and Graeco-Roman Architecture; Hellenistic and
Roman Lycia
Roman Archaeology; Pompeii
The Archaeology and Art of Late Antiquity
Archaeology of the Roman Empire; Ancient Technology; the
Economy; Ancient Water Supply; Ancient North Africa
Heberden Coin Room, Ashmolean Museum
Beaumont Street, OX1 2PH. Tel: 278058. Fax: 278057
Dr Volker Heuchert
Dr Chris Howgego
Mr Henry S. Kim
Research Fellow
Assistant Keeper
Greek and Roman Coinage
Assistant Keeper
Greek Numismatics; Greek History
Department of Antiquities, Ashmolean Museum
Beaumont Street, OX1 2PH. Tel: 278020. Fax: 278032
Prof. Michael Vickers
Dr A.G. MacGregor
Dr Helen Whitehouse
Dr Susan Walker
Dr Ioannis Galanakis
Senior Assistant Keeper
Mediterranean Archaeology; Athenian Drama
Assistant Keeper
Roman and Anglo-Saxon Britain
Assistant Keeper
Roman Egypt; Legacy of Ancient Egypt in European Art
Keeper
Roman Art and Archaeology, especially Greece, Egypt and
North Africa
Sackler Fellow
Aegean Archaeology
43
The Cast Gallery, Ashmolean Museum
Beaumont Street, OX1 2PH. Tel: 278083
Dr Olympia Bobou
Dr Milena Melfi
Prof. Bert Smith
Greek Archaeology and Art
Research Assistant
Classical Archaeology; Hellenistic and Roman Greece
Curator
Classical Art and Archaeology
The Beazley Archive, The Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies
66 St Giles’, OX1 3LU
Prof. Donna Kurtz
Dr Thomas Mannack
Dr Claudia Wagner
Beazley Archivist
Greek Pottery; History of Collections; Information Technology
Applications
Reader in Classical Iconography
Greek Pottery
Research Associate
Greek Archaeology and Gems
Site/Museum report supervisors: archaeologists other than core staff
Mr Richard Catling
Mr Ioannis Galanakis
Dr Peter Haarer
Dr Chris Howgego
Ms Zena Kamash
Mr Henry Kim
Dr Arthur MacGregor
Dr Thomas Mannack
Dr Milena Melfi
Ms Lucia Nixon
Dr Ellen Rice
Dr Judith Toms
Dr Claudia Wagner
Dr Susan Walker
Lexicon of Greek Personal Names
Greek Archaeology
Worcester
Aegean Archaeology
Institute of Archaeology/Classics Centre
Archaic Epigraphy; Archaic Greek History and Archaeology;
Archaic Greek Iron
Ashmolean Museum
Greek and Roman Numismatics
Magdalen
Roman Archaeology; Near East; Water supply
Ashmolean Museum
Greek Numismatics
Ashmolean Museum
Roman and Medieval Art and Archaeology; Reception
Beazley Archive
Greek Pottery and Archaeology
The Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies
Classical Archaeology; Hellenistic and Roman Culture
St Hilda’s
Aegean Archaeology
Wolfson
Hellenistic History, Archaeology and Art
Ashmolean Museum
Etruscan Art and Archaeology
Beazley Archive
Greek Archaeology and Gems
Ashmolean Museum
Greek and Roman Archaeology
44
14. Telephone Numbers and Email
Contact details for those not listed here can be obtained through the website:
www.ox.ac.uk/contact
Dr Rhiannon Ash
Dr Lisa Bendall
Dr Ed Bispham
Dr Lisa Bligh
Dr Olympia Bobou
Dr Angus Bowie
Prof. Alan Bowman
Mr Peter McG. Brown
Prof. Averil Cameron
Dr Anna Clark
Dr Katherine Clarke
Mr Richard Catling
Dr Bruno Currie
Dr Armand D'Angour
Dr Janet DeLaine
Dr Beate Dignas
Dr Catherine Draycott
Dr Jas Elsner
Dr Ioannis Galanakis
Prof. Martin Goodman
Prof. Chris Gosden
Dr Peter Haarer
Dr Helena Hamerow
Prof. Stephen Harrison
Dr John Hayes
Dr Martin Henig
Dr Volker Heuchert
Dr Stephen Heyworth
Dr Chris Howgego
Prof. Gregory Hutchinson
Dr Lisa Kallet
Dr Zena Kamash
Dr Emily Kearns
Mr Henry Kim
Dr Cathy King
Prof. Donna Kurtz
Mr Robin Lane Fox
Mr James Legg
Dr Irene Lemos
Dr Matthew Leigh
Dr Jane Lightfoot
Dr John Ma
Dr Fiona Macintosh
Dr Arther MacGregor
Dr Thomas Mannack
286302
278244
277859
286635
279172
277874
279854
272701
276228
201367
288395
276510
279684
278248
270611
610245
276721
278208
288021
278245
276762
278265
278058
288945
278063
279618
278148
276875
278060
278061
278082
279529
277572
278286
274845
279555
276759
288298
278028
278086
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
gregory.hutchinson@[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
emily.kearns@st-hildas
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
c/o [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
45
Mr Milena Melfi
Dr Al Moreno
Dr Neil McLynn
Dr Llewelyn Morgan
Dr Teresa Morgan
Dr Rosalind Thomas
Ms Lucia Nixon
Dr Dirk Obbink
Prof. Robert Parker
Prof. Christopher Pelling
Dr John Penney
Dr Mark Pobjoy
Dr Jonathan Prag
Mr Nicholas Purcell
Dr Josephine Quinn
Dr Ellen Rice
Prof. Tobias Reinhardt
Dr Damian Robinson
Dr Tim Rood
Dr Richard Rutherford
Dr Lukas Schachner
Prof. Bert Smith
Dr Maria Stamatopoulou
Dr Matthew Symonds
Dr Rosalind Thomas
Dr Peter Thonemann
Dr Roger Tomlin
Dr Judith Toms
Prof. Michael Vickers
Dr Claudia Wagner
Dr Bryan Ward-Perkins
Dr Stephanie West
Dr Caroline White
Dr Helen Whitehouse
Prof. Andrew Wilson
278076
276014
276778
277890
276579
277739
276117
276212
279520
276150
274072
276099
276281
277353
278365
284378
276704
288013
274416
276234
278241
278066
288261
277749
277998
274133
278033
278103
279856
279452
277631
274705
278247
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
46
Appendix: Examination Regulations
(taken from www.admin.ox.ac.uk/examregs)
Special Regulations for the Honour Moderations in Classical Archaeology and
Ancient History
A
The subjects of the examination shall be under the joint supervision of the Board of the Faculty of
Classics and the Social Sciences Board.
B
Every candidate shall offer four papers [of three hours each] as follows:
I. Aristocracy and democracy in the Greek world, 550-450 BC. The paper studies the history and
archaeology of the changing culture of the Greek polis states between the aristocracies in the later
sixth century and the emergence of the new demos culture in the first half of the fifth century. Areas
of emphasis will include: aristocracy, tyranny, and the history of the interacting archaic states;
Achaemenids and the Greek collision with Persia; competing models of social and political culture
after the Persian invasion; the archaeology of sanctuaries and cities; and the visual revolution in art
and representation.
II. Republic to Empire: Rome, 50 BC to AD 50. The paper studies the impact of the first emperors
on the history and archaeology of Rome and its subject states in the period from Late Republic to
Early Empire. Areas of emphasis will include: Roman political culture from the Republican war-lords
to Augustan princeps; emperor, senate, and the evolving administration; the Julio-Claudian dynasty
and court culture: wallpainting, marbles, gardens and suburban parks; municipal culture: houses,
tombs, and freedman art; land and countryside: estates, vici, and centuriated settlement;
manufacture, trade, and natural resources; the archaeology of the frontier armies; traditional religion
and emperor cult.
III, IV. Two papers from the following groups, provided that not more than one paper may be chosen
from any one group:
A. Special subjects in archaeology:
1. Homeric archaeology and early Greece, 1550-700 BC. Evidence on the composition and history
of the poems provided by extant archaeological remains, with special emphasis on burial practices,
architecture, metals, and the world outside the Aegean. An overall knowledge will be required of the
archaeological evidence for the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age of the Aegean from 1550 BC to
700 BC.
2. Greek vases The study of the general history of Greek decorated pottery from c.800 BC to c.300
BC, including study of the Attic black-figure and red-figure styles and of South Italian Greek vase
painting. Knowledge will be required of the techniques used in making Greek pottery and in drawing
on vases, also of the ancient names for vases and the shapes to which they refer. Candidates
should in addition study the subjects of the paintings and their treatment by painters as compared
with their treatment by writers and should be familiar with actual vases, for example those in the
Ashmolean Museum. The examination will consist of one picture question and three essay
questions.
3. Greek sculpture, c.600-300 BC. The major monuments of archaic and classical Greek
sculpture—their context and purpose as well as their subjects, styles, and techniques. Candidates
will be expected to show some knowledge of the external documentary evidence, such as literary
and epigraphic texts, on which the framework of the subject depends, and to be acquainted with the
47
major sculptures of the period represented in the Ashmolean Cast Gallery. The examination will
consist of one picture question and three essay questions.
4. Roman architecture The subject comprises the study of Roman architecture from the Republic to
the Tetrarchy in Italy and in the provinces, looking at public buildings, private housing, and imperial
palaces. Particular attention is paid to developments in building materials and techniques, the
evolution of architectural styles and ideas, and the ways in which different provinces show variations
on a common theme as Roman influences interacted with local culture. The examination will consist
of one picture question and three essay questions.
B. Special subjects in Ancient History: Note: All texts are studied in translation (see Course
Handbook for details of the prescribed translation).
1. Thucydides and the west The prescribed text is Thucydides VI and VII. Compulsory passages for
comment will be set from these books (from S. Lattimore (ed), The Peloponnesian War
(Indianapolis, Hackett, 1998). Candidates will also be expected to be familiar with Plutarch, Nicias.
2. Aristophanes' political comedy The prescribed plays are Acharnians and Lysistrata. Compulsory
passages for comment will be set from these. Candidates will also be expected to be familiar with
Frogs.
3. Cicero and Catiline The prescribed texts are Sallust, Catiline: Cicero, In Catilinam I-IV, Pro Sulla;
Asconius, In orationem in toga candida (in Asconius, Commentaries on Five Speeches of Cicero,
ed. S. Squires, Bristol Classical Press, 1990). Compulsory passages for comment will be set from
these.
4. Tacitus and Tiberius The prescribed text is Tacitus, Annals I and III. Compulsory passages for
comment will be set from these books (see Course Handbook for details of the prescribed text).
Candidates will also be expected to be familiar with Annals II and IV-VI.
C. Ancient languages:
1. Beginning Ancient Greek (This subject is not available to candidates with a qualification in ancient
Greek above GCSE-level or equivalent.) Candidates will be required to show knowledge of some of
the main grammatical structures of ancient Greek and of a small basic vocabulary. The paper will
consist of prepared and unprepared translations, with grammatical questions on the prepared texts.
2. Beginning Latin (This subject is not available to candidates with a qualification in Latin above
GCSE-level or equivalent.) Candidates will be required to show knowledge of some of the main
grammatical structures of Latin and of a small basic vocabulary. The paper will consist of prepared
and unprepared translations, with grammatical questions on the prepared texts.
3. Intermediate Ancient Greek (This subject is not available to candidates with a qualification in
ancient Greek above AS-level or equivalent.) Candidates will be required to show an intermediate
level knowledge of Greek grammar and vocabulary. The set texts for the course are: Xenophon,
Hellenica I (Oxford Classical Text) and Lysias I (Oxford Classical Text). The paper will consist of a
passage of unseen translation, three further passages for translation from the two prescribed texts,
and grammatical questions on the prescribed texts.
4. Intermediate Latin (This subject is not available to candidates with a qualification in Latin above
AS-level or equivalent.) Candidates will be required to show an intermediate level knowledge of
Latin grammar and vocabulary (including all syntax and morphology). The set texts for the course
are: Cicero, letters in D.R. Shackleton Bailey, Cicero: Select Letters (Cambridge, 1980), nos. 9, 17,
23, 27, 39, 42-3, 45; Tacitus, Agricola (Oxford Classical Text); Pliny, letters in A.N. Sherwin-White,
Fifty Letters of Pliny, second edition (Oxford, 1969), nos. 25, 29. The paper will consist of a passage
of unseen prose translation, three further passages for translation from the prescribed texts, and
grammatical questions on the prescribed texts.
48