Module CLAS45630: The Ancient Novel: Stories and Storytellers from Nero to Heraclius

Department: Classics and Ancient History

CLAS45630: The Ancient Novel: Stories and Storytellers from Nero to Heraclius

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• This module is designed to introduce the pervasive genre of ancient fiction through engagement with primary texts and selected secondary literature. The time period to be covered is from the first century through the sixth century CE, approximately corresponding to the reigns of Nero and Heraclius.
• Students will acquire critical insights into the formation of this genre, its primary themes, tropes, and forms, and how it developed over time and across socio-religious changes that occur in the Roman Empire over five centuries.
• The module is designed to develop an awareness in students of how fictional stories affected a broad audience in late antiquity and, in some senses, took over the role of the classical myths in inculcating civic, social, and religious values in a more widely accessible storytelling medium.
• The broad focus of the module serves to bridge the divide between literature developing out of the early Roman imperial period and the late antique Christian empire. It will enable students to recognise the continuity in the role of these stories in both the Roman imperial and the Christian imperial periods for the reinforcement of distinct cultural and religious values.

Content

• Storytelling is one of the most fundamental forms of human communication. From the late Hellenistic Period and culminating in the first century CE, Greek and Roman authors introduced a form of stories typically classified today as the ancient novel. These novels gradually came to repeat similar themes and patterns so as to be identifiable as a distinct genre. In time, Jewish and Christian writers borrowed the schematics of the Greco-Roman novel and added their own religious designs. The result was a long, complex development from the Greco-Roman novel to Jewish novels, to Christian Acta, and, finally, Christian hagiography. The themes found in the earliest Greek forms of ancient fiction are still evident in those from medieval hagiography.

Learning Outcomes

• A detailed knowledge of prominent, foundational fictional novels that came to serve as archetypes for the development of this genre
• Knowledge of the history of scholarship on ancient novels and the debates regarding classification, genre, and function
• Awareness of the continuity of novelistic storytelling between the Roman imperial and Christian imperial periods, and also how these stories were recalibrated to new audiences with different interests and needs.

• Develop ability to critically read ancient texts in translation from a variety of source languages (incl. Latin, Greek, Syriac, Coptic)
• Ability to recognise stories within and related to the genre of ancient fiction/novel
• Ability to identify the specific tropes and stylistic features that feature in fictional novels
• Ability to recognize key developments introduced to the genre by the different religious groups who coopt it, including specific recalibrations of broad themes of love, travel, and violence.

• Ability to collaborate with peers in seminar presentations and discussions
• The capacity to produce evidence-based analysis and critique of both ancient texts and modern scholarship on those texts
• Ability to generate independent and thoughtful interpretations of fictional novels from various times, locations, and groups.

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

• Meetings will take place fortnightly and will be organised around specific narratives.
• Fortnightly seminars will be two hours long and will include a mixture of lecture, student presentations, and discussion.
• Formative assessment will normally include 1 presentation based on a selected narrative, and a draft or plan of the summative essay(max 2000 words).
• Summative assessment will include an essay (max 5000 words) on a narrative either 1) not covered by the student’s formative presentation, or 2) not covered in the seminars (a list of potential options will be circulated at the first seminar).

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Normally, a seminar presentation and an essay draft or plan.

■ 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