Course Details in 2025/26 Session

Module Title	LH Special Subject A: Performance Culture in the Ancient World
School	History and Cultures
Department	Classics, AH and Archaeology
Module Code	09 37889
Module Lead	Dr Theodora Hadjimichael
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites	LH Special Subject B: Performance Culture in the Ancient World - (09 37808)
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Seminar-30 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	This module and its co-requisite (Special Subject B: Performance Culture in the Ancient World) will allow students to engage in in-depth research and study on a topic in Classics, Byzantine Studies, Egyptology, Ancient History, or Archaeology. Working in a small group format under the guidance of the module co-ordinator, students will engage with key primary material and with research findings, interpretative approaches, and methodologies associated with the module topic. The module will help students to develop and exercise advanced research skills and to learn through critique and discussion, as well as to acquire knowledge and expertise in their chosen topic. This module is devoted to performance culture in the ancient world, and will analyse from a performative viewpoint representative authors and genres, as well as iconographic evidence and testimonia on various kinds of performances. The module will place particular emphasis on contexts and occasions of performance, the notion of performers and spectators, and the specifics of performance. Possible genres that the module might focus on are Greek and/or Roman lyric, drama, rhetoric, satire, their social or historical contexts, and/or their modern reception and adaptation. Students will discuss questions related to modes of performance, contexts and occasions of performance, will evaluate performance as an integral part of culture and society in the ancient world, and will investigate the specifics of performance culture. The module will introduce the students to various performative genres and to a wide range of sources, and will encourage students to interpret the sources and authors studied in their social, historical, and intellectual context.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: analyse and appraise key findings, interpretative approaches, and methodologies relevant to the material under discussion; analyse and evaluate a wide range of relevant primary source material; critically evaluate the scholarly context and trends of the subject under exploration; summarise and evaluate the subject material with clarity and confidence, in writing and in oral presentation
Assessment	37889-01 : 2000 Word Essay : Coursework (50%) 37889-02 : 10 Minute Presentation : Presentation (50%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: 1 x 2,000-word essay (50%) and 1 x 10-minute individual presentations (50%) Reassessment: Resubmission of failed component(s)
Other
Reading List