A Short History of the Ancient City

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• undertaking individual research with guidance
• writing an analytical piece of work drawing on primary and secondary sources
• reflecting on your learning across the module

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• exploring urban histories in an ancient history context
• engaging with a range of primary sources e.g. archaeological sites, written material, visual sources
• assessing scholarship on the ancient city

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• The form of the ancient city
• of life in the ancient city e.g. immigration, daily life
• of how power operated in the ancient city e.g. religious, or financial power

List of indicative topics:

The module will be focus on three themes. The form of the city (so buildings, roads, water supply), experiencing the city (immigration, daily life) and power and the city (this might be religious or financial power, of the city as an expression of power in terms of creating an empire or the destruction of cities) and three periods. The latter could include classical Greece, Roman empire/Italy, post Roman, ancient near eastern and include a number of cities in those geographical areas such as Athens, Jerusalem, Constantinople and Rome with a view to studying different periods and spaces within the ancient world.

Teaching and learning methods

One weekly lecture and one weekly seminar

Individual tutorials on essays

Optional field trip to a post-Roman city

Resources & Reading list

Journal Articles

M. I. Finley (1977). The Ancient City: from Fustel de Coulanges to Max Weber and beyond.. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 19(3), pp. 305-327.

Textbooks

P. Erdcamp (2013). The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Rome. Cambridge University Press.

Mary Beard (2010). Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town. Profile Books.

J. Rich (2002). The City in Late Antiquity. Routledge.

C. Gates (2003). Ancient Cities: the Archaeology pf Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece and Rome. Routledge.

A. Zuiderhoek (2016). The Ancient City. Cambridge University Press.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Learning journal

• Assessment Type: Formative
• Feedback: By email or individual consultations
• Final Assessment: No
• Group Work: No

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External