CL2AE: Ancient Epic

Module code: CL2AE

Module provider: Classics; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

Level: Level 2 (Intermediate)

When you'll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Dr Doukissa Kamini, email: doukissa.kamini@reading.ac.uk

Additional teaching staff 1: Professor Ian Rutherford, email: i.c.rutherford@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 9 July 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module offers an introduction to Greek and/or Latin epic, centring around close study of poems such as Iliad the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Iliad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid, but including discussion of other early Greek hexameter poems such as Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and the Epic Cycle. It may also cover Hellenistic epic, for example Apollonius Rhodius, late antique Greek epic, or other Roman epics like Ovid’s Metamorphoses. 

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• To offer the students a broad discussion of epic, setting the poems in their literary and socio-political contexts as well as enabling in-depth analysis of individual passages;
• To familiarise students with modern critical approaches to the analysis and interpretation of ancient epic (e.g. oral-formulaic theory, Analysis and Neo-Analysis, narratology and intertextual readings);
• To introduce students to scholarly debates over the contexts of ancient epic’s composition and reception. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Relate the interpretation of ancient epic to the contexts of its composition and transmission, the history of the genre, and the wider literary tradition
2. Identify, distinguish between, and evaluate the merits of, different scholarly and methodological approaches to ancient epic, including recent scholarship
3. Analyse in detail selected passages in written commentaries
4. Conduct independent research, articulate their arguments effectively and illustrate them with relevant evidence

Module content

Works to be studied may include the works of Homer and Virgil. Other possible topics are: the Near Eastern Epic of Gilgamesh, the Epic Cycle and Homeric Hymns; the poetry of Hesiod, later Greek and Roman epic (e.g. the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius; Latin epyllion). The lectures will discuss some fundamental issues that affect the interpretation of ancient hexameter poetry, such as authorship, the nature and context of performance, intertextuality and cultural borrowing. Topics discussed may include heroic values and society, the divine, the relationship between epic and the expression of political and/or ethnic identity, gender, grief and immortality, competition and the reception of early Greek epic in later periods. 

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The module will be taught by lectures and seminars with at least two contact hours per week. 

Study hours

At least 24 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Students will give unassessed group presentations. 

Reassessment

Additional costs