CL2004 Culture and Thought in the Late Roman Republic

Academic year

2023 to 2024 Semester 1

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

20

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 8

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Planned timetable

9.00 am

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module Staff

Team taught

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

The Late Republic (first century BCE) was a time of change and conflict in the city of Rome and the wider Roman Empire. In political terms the history of that century is dominated by the series of civil wars which led to the political dominance and assassination of Julius Caesar. The literature and art of that period in many cases reflect those tensions and problems. It was also a time of rapid development of Roman art and literature as it sought to form its own new identity through the traditions it had inherited from Greek culture. From the seething passions of Catullus' poetry, through Lucretius' philosophical poetic treatise On the Nature of Things, to the stylish rhetoric of Cicero, the module aims to set the main literary texts of that period against the broader backdrop of Roman art, culture and social life. All texts will be studied in translation.

Assessment pattern

2-hour Written Examination = 50%, Coursework = 50%

Re-assessment

3-hour Written Examination = 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

26 lectures and 6 tutorials across the semester.

Scheduled learning hours

32

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

168

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • place, understand and analyse a selection of literary texts and material culture of the late Republic.
  • Interpret a range of forms of literary and material evidence
  • Engage critically with modern scholarship on the late Republic and authors / texts / material culture studied
  • Develop skills of written and oral argument