Unit information: Homeric Society in 2012/13

Unit name	Homeric Society
Unit code	CLAS12343
Credit points	20
Level of study	C/4
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Professor. Momigliano
Open unit status	Open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Classics & Ancient History
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

Among the fundamental texts of Western culture are the Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, of which much can be dated to the 8th and 7th centuries BC, at least in the form in which these texts have come down to us. In these centuries, Greece came out of its so-called Dark Ages, and the aim of this unit is to provide students with insights into the historical background, in which the Homeric epics also emerged. This is a pivotal period, during which the Greeks re-entered the political and cultural stage of the ancient Mediterranean. Focal points in the study of this unit are the society and culture of the developing Greek poleis (city- or citizen-states)as well as their interactions with one another and with other Mediterranean regions.

Assessment Information

1 x essay of c. 2,000 words (50%) and 1 x 90 minute exam (50%).

Reading and References

• R. Fowler, The Cambridge Companion to Homer (2004).

• J. Hall, A History of the Archaic Greek World (2007)

• Homer, The Iliad and the Odyssey (English translation)

• I. Morris and B. Powell (eds.), A New Companion to Homer, Mnemosyne Supplement 163 (1997) 535-559

• R. Osborne, Greece in the Making, 1200-479 BC (1996), pp. 70-202.