Durham University
Programme and Module Handbook

Undergraduate Programme and Module Handbook 2024-2025

Module CLAS3441: HIGHER GREEK 3A

Department: Classics and Ancient History

CLAS3441: HIGHER GREEK 3A

Type Open Level 3 Credits 20 Availability Available in 2024/2025 Module Cap Location Durham

Prerequisites

  • Advanced Greek 2A OR Advanced Greek 2B.

Corequisites

  • None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

  • None.

Aims

  • To study in depth a selection of verse texts suitable for experienced readers of ancient Greek with a broad and in-depth knowledge of Greek culture.
  • This is a third-year module.

Content

  • This module introduces students to a selection of ancient Greek texts appropriate to experienced readers and interpreters of Greek texts in the original language.
  • Authors may include Sappho, Pindar, Callimachus, Apollonius, Theocritus.
  • The emphasis will be on poetry.
  • All texts will be linked by a theme which will provide the focus for the module as a whole.
  • Examples of themes: love and the lyric voice, Medea from Pindar to Apollonius, Hellenistic appropriations of epic, etc.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:
  • A knowledge of different aspects of a selected ancient Greek text (or texts) of some length and/or complexity: aspects which include the varieties of reading and interpretation of that text (or texts), ancient and modern; its origins and antecedents; its genre and cultural location; issues of transmission; textual problems; reception.
Subject-specific Skills:
  • An ability to investigate a given text in depth, using and further developing linguistic, interpretative and other skills acquired in the previous two years of study, especially but not exclusively in Intermediate and Advanced Greek modules.
Key Skills:
  • A critical understanding of what goes to make a 'text', as an artefact and as a potential source of meaning, and of both the cultural processes and the interpretative issues involved.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • Interactive classes will be offered as the most appropriate and effective way of teaching the module.
  • Students will learn through regular preparation for the classes and interacting with the teacher and each other in the process of learning.
  • The course will be assessed through an exam paper and a summative essay, each of which will be designed to test knowledge and interpretation of the set texts at Higher level.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity Number Frequency Duration Total/Hours
Seminars (language classes) 44 2 per week 1 hour 44
Preparation and Reading 156
Total 200

Summative Assessment

Component: Essay Component Weighting: 30%
Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
Summative essay 2,500 words 100%
Component: Examination Component Weighting: 70%
Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
Written examination 2 hours 100%

Formative Assessment:

Homework in the form of translations and/or commentaries to be prepared in advance of every class. Formative tests in class. No collections.


Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University