Undergraduate Course: Monsters, Murder and Mayhem: Biography in the Ancient World (CLTR10014)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course will look at biography from the Greek world through to late antiquity in order to reconstruct the lives of prominent Greeks and Romans. We will also attempt to understand the historical circumstances under which these works were written. |
| Course description |
This course will look at biography throughout antiquity and the ways in which it reconstructed the lives of prominent individuals. Authors and works to be studied include the Old Testament, Xenophon, Nepos, the Gospels, Suetonius, Plutarch, and the Historia Augusta. Discussion will centre on the question of what constitutes biography, the way in which biography was used by individual authors and what it can reveal about the period in which it was composed.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
It is RECOMMENDED that students have passed
Ancient History 2a: Past and Present in the Ancient World (ANHI08014)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | It is recommended that students have passed Ancient History 2a, or entry is at the course organiser's discretion. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should usually have at least 3 courses in Classics related subject matter(at least 2 of which should be in Classical Literature) at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this) for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate an understanding of the ancient genre of biography;
- demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between Greek and Latin biographical and historical writing;
- demonstrate an understanding of how the writing of biography reflects the time in which it was written;
- demonstrate an understanding of how these writers represented character, either fictional or real;
- demonstrate bibliographical research skills to enable students to find independently additional information relating to the study of ancient biography.
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Reading List
Burridge, Richard A. (2004) What are the Gospels? A Comparison with Graeco-Roman Biography. Grand Rapids.
Cairns, Francis and Trevor Luke (eds) (2018) Ancient Biography: Identity through Lives. Croydon.
De Temmerman, Koen (ed.) (2020) The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Biography. Oxford.
Edwards, M.J. and S. Swain (1997) Portraits: Biographical Representation in the Greek and Latin Literature of the Roman Empire. Oxford.
Duff, T.E. (1999) Plutarch's Lives: Exploring Virtue and Vice. Oxford.
Hägg, Tomas (2012) The Art of Biography in Antiquity. Cambridge.
McGing, B. and J. Mossman (eds) (2006) The Limits of Ancient Biography. Swansea.
Stadter, Philip (2007) 'Biography and history' in J. Marincola (ed.), A Companion to Greek and Roman Historiography. Oxford: 528-40.
Stem, Rex (2012) The Political Biographies of Cornelius Nepos. Ann Arbor.
Syme, R. (1971) Emperors and Biography. Studies in the Historia Augusta. Oxford.
Wallace-Hadrill, A. (1983) Suetonius: the Scholar and his Caesars. New Haven. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Special Arrangements |
In order for a student from outwith Classics to be enrolled, contact must be made with a Course Secretary on 50 3580/2 in order for approval to be obtained. |
| Keywords | Monsters Murder / Ancient Biography |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Sandra Bingham
Tel: (0131 6)50 6689
Email: S.Bingham@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Sara Dennison
Tel: (0131 6)50 2501
Email: Sara.Dennison@ed.ac.uk |
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