Course Details in 2024/25 Session

Module Title	LI Research Seminar A: Homer and the world of Odysseus
School	History and Cultures
Department	Classics, AH and Archaeology
Module Code	09 36925
Module Lead	Dr Ken Wardle
Level	Intermediate Level
Credits	10
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites	LI Research Seminar B: Homer and the world of Odysseus - (09 36926)
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Seminar-20 hours Guided independent study-80 hours Total: 100 hours
Exclusions
Description	This module and its co-requisite (Research Seminar B: Homer and the world of Odysseus) will allow students to engage in research into a topic relating to a member of academic staff’s research expertise. Working under the guidance of the module co-ordinator, students will survey a well-defined body of primary literary, visual, historical or archaeological data. Students will work towards compiling a portfolio of work based on this material. It has long been fashionable to explore Bronze Age Greece with Homer in hand, as Schliemann did 130 years ago. Archaeological research, however, especially in the last 30 years has given us a much clearer picture of life and achievement in Homer's own time – the 8th and 7th centuries BC – a picture which helps us to understand much better the background Homer used for his epics, particularly the Odyssey. Taking Homer and his near contemporary Hesiod in hand, you too will be able to explore the evidence for architecture and burials, for ironworking and craftsmanship for adventure and colonisation, and for trade and warfare. These aspects of everyday life shaped the experience of Homer's audiences and enabled his resounding epic poetry to be accepted as real history by his hearers – even if his cast of characters belonged to a much more distant epoch.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Formulate a research question; Identify relevant data/sources on the subject; Identify relevant secondary scholarship on the subject; Interpret topic specific primary texts, material culture etc for the subject.
Assessment	36925-01 : 2500 Word Essay : Coursework (100%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: 2,500 word essay (including scholarship survey and formulation of research aims/questions and formulation of research methodology, including explanation of source material) (100%). Reassessment: Resubmission of failed element(s)
Other
Reading List