Unit information: Pompeii in 2021/22

Unit name	Pompeii
Unit code	CLAS32345
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Hales
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Classics & Ancient History
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

Pompeii has played a major part in the way we imagine and relate to the ancient world. The urge to resurrect the city prompted the invention of archaeology and evidence from Pompeii is used in a range of disciplines from ancient history to psychoanalysis. At the same time, the human tragedy of the eruption of Vesuvius has inspired artists of all kinds. The city is at once the backdrop for erotic paganism and Christian judgement. She appeals to the intellectual elite but also to popular culture. This unit explores popular and intellectual responses to Pompeii since its rediscovery in the eighteenth century and how contemporary preoccupations have affected the way that Pompeii has been viewed in academic scholarship, art, fiction and film. We will also ask what we want from Pompeii at the beginning of the twenty first century (a century that Pompeii may well not survive).

Aims:

• To introduce students to the range of academic and creative responses to Pompeii formed from the eighteenth to the twenty first century.
• To make students aware of the social, political and intellectual contexts that have fuelled those responses and their development and evolution over time.
• To explore the ways in which academic and creative responses to Pompeii impinge on each other and relate to each other.
• To develop students’ experience of evaluating and comparing material across a range of media, and of developing their own interpretations of this material and its relevance to the topic.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

1. demonstrate familiarity with a range of responses to Pompeii formed from the eighteenth to the twenty first century, and relate these to the contexts from which they emerged;
2. evaluate and compare material across a range of media, and to develop their own interpretations of this material and its relevance to the topic;
3. use the knowledge acquired in class and through their own reading to construct coherent, relevant and persuasive arguments on different aspects of the topic.
4. express their ideas coherently and persuasively to a standard appropriate to level H.

Teaching Information

This unit will involve a combination of independent investigative activities, long- and short-form lectures, and discussion. Students will be expected to engage with materials and participate on a weekly basis.

Assessment Information

3,000 word essay (100%) [ILOs 1-4]

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. CLAS32345).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.