Ancient History and Archaeology - U6UACHIA

This year-long module is devoted to the history of the ancient world. You will investigate some of its key themes and approaches through a series of historical case studies, covering major periods of Greek and Roman history.

You will explore:

• What do we know (and not know) about the ancient world?
• How do ancient politics, society, culture and morality differ from our own?
• What evidence informs us about the ancient world? What are its limits and pitfalls?
• How do modern concerns influence academic debates about the ancient world, and the views of individual scholars?
• How far can we hope to know ‘how things really were’ in the ancient world?

This module is worth 20 credits.

This module will introduce you to the interpretation of ancient literary texts (in translation) as sources for ancient culture, by focusing on a representative range of texts and themes.

We will address issues such as:

• ancient performance-contexts and audiences
• the workings of genres
• analysis of rhetoric and literary style
• representations of gender and sexuality
• study of classical reception
• how to compare translations

The autumn semester will focus on Greek texts, and the spring semester will focus on Latin texts.

Gain an introduction to the practicalities of studying the human past through its material remains. You will be introduced to the practical approaches to studying sites, landscapes and buildings, as well as laboratory-based approaches to studying ancient materials. As well as classroom-based activities, this module will give you practical training in the lab and in the field, including the park landscape around Wollaton Hall.

Archaeology in the 21st century isn't just about digging up the past - it's about how we share, interpret, and debate it today.

We explore key issues around the preservation, interpretation and display of heritage in the 21st century. We also consider the different roles of government, national organisations, universities, professional commercial archaeologists and museums in caring for archaeological remains and presenting them to the public.

By the end of the module, you will:

• Be able to critically assess the role of heritage in contemporary political and ethical concerns

• Have developed your own cross-cultural perspective on the management of heritage and its significance to modern challenges and debates.  

Gain an overview of prehistoric archaeology through global case studies.

We’ll be covering the latest debate and scholarship, on topics such as:

• Human dispersal
• Technology
• Environmental change
• Food procurement and production
• Monumentality
• Sedentism and urbanisation

By the end of the module, you’ll understand the broad chronological development and key themes in Prehistory, up to the development of writing.

You will also have an appreciation of archaeological approaches in prehistoric periods, and the complexities of integrating varied sources of archaeological evidence including landscapes, monuments, excavated evidence and material culture.

This module is worth 10 credits.

Gain an overview of key topics in the archaeology of the last 2000 years, drawing on case studies from around the world. You’ll cover key themes including:

• changing environments

• economies

• technology and trade 

• the growth of towns and cities

• the origins and spread of major world religions

• social and ethnic identities

• the impact of colonialism and diaspora in different contexts in world history 

Gain a wide-ranging interdisciplinary introduction to the history, literature and culture of the ancient Greek World. Covering from c.1600-31 BC, you will explore Greek history from the Mycenaean period to the coming of Rome.

You will:

• Examine the major topics in Greek history – from the Mycenaean Period and the Dark Ages, through the rise of the polis in the Archaic period, to the height of Greek civilisation in the Classical and Hellenistic periods, and finally its conquest by the Roman Empire
• Explore primary evidence from Greek literary and material culture
• Consider the relationship between ancient Greece and the modern world

This module is followed by the Studying the Roman World module, in the spring semester. No prior knowledge of Greek history or Greek language is needed.

This module gives a wide-ranging interdisciplinary introduction to the history, literature and art of the Roman world. We will explore from the beginnings of the city of Rome, to the fall of the Roman Empire in the West.

You will:

• examine the major chapters of Rome's history – such as the Roman Republic, the rise of the empire, the establishment of the Principate, and the fall of Rome
• discover coinciding developments in Roman literary and artistic culture
• consider the reception of ancient Rome in modern western culture

We will also examine the relationship of the Roman world to the Greek world. This will complement the autumn semester module, Studying the Greek World, by continuing training in a number of basic study skills. No prior knowledge of the Roman world is needed.

You can choose to study either Latin or Classical Greek if you’d like to. The level you start at will depend on your existing knowledge and experience.

Beginners level

For complete beginners and anyone who has done some study of Latin or Classical Greek before (anything up to GCSE).

You’ll be introduced to the grammar and vocabulary of your chosen language - and you’ll be supported to analyse and understand basic sentences and to translate short passages.

You may find it reassuring that, unlike modern language study, there is no speaking and listening element. The main focus is on developing your reading skills so you can read almost unadapted passages from Latin or Classical Greek texts.

Intermediate level

For students who already have an A level in either Latin or Classical Greek.

You will consolidate your knowledge of the vocabulary and grammar of your chosen language. You’ll also begin the detailed linguistic and literary study of unadapted Latin or Greek texts, developing your ability and confidence to read, appreciate and analyse texts in an ancient language.

• In Latin, you will typically read a text such as Cicero’s Pro Archia or a book of Virgil or Ovid.
• In Greek, the text might be a speech by Lysias or selections from a longer work such as Homer's Odyssey or a Greek tragedy. 

How can the arts help us think about health and cope with illness?  What can the arts contribute to healthcare practice and policy?

You will explore big questions like these, looking at how the arts can engage with the crucial issues in health today and build a better vision of health for the future.

We will cover major themes including:

• Representing health - look critically at representations of good and poor health, found in politics, religion, art, film, literature, and philosophy.
• Mental health - explore what mental health is, and how it differs from physical health. You’ll look critically at themes such as the marketisation of mental health, the history of mental health institutions, and the ethics of psychiatry.
• Communicating health - how health is communicated in personal, public, and professional settings. We’ll explore questions such as why it is so important that patient voices are heard in communicating about health.
• Health inequalities - look critically at striking inequalities in health, including patterns of gender, race, class, sexuality and economic differences in health and access to healthcare.

From treatment, information, care, and outreach, understanding the health humanities provides career opportunities for the next century.

This module is worth 10 credits.

We live in a data-driven society. Information is used for everything from predicting our shopping habits, to understanding global weather patterns, and has radically changed our world.

From the development of Artificial Intelligence to robotics and the use of ‘big data’, the capture and use of information is essential in modern society. To make sure these developments help solve problems, and are not used for harm, we need the arts and humanities to set boundaries and ask questions.

You will:

• Explore topics such as privacy, surveillance, power and representation
• Learn how modern technology can replicate historical biases and ignore contemporary struggles
• Gain the background and context to contemporary issues on data and society
• Question the limits we place on technology in our world
• Explore how the arts and humanities shape, direct and protect against the way data is used

This module is worth 10 credits.

The digitisation of records and texts has revolutionised academic study. The ability to efficiently and confidently use data is a valuable skill for both your course and future career.

On this module, you will:

• Learn the basics of data and ‘text mining’ (using search terms to explore large amounts of information)
• Develop your skills and apply them to case studies
• See how your work can highlight issues and solve problems
• Understand how data analysis allows us to create narratives that inspire and drive change

We will use examples and case studies from across the faculty, where data and text analysis have been used by arts and humanities researchers within their work.

This module is worth 10 credits.

Learn the basics of creating and editing audio and visual material.

From podcasting, photo editing, photography, video editing and sound editing, you can work on how your digital skills can be used to communicate and inspire.

You will be guided through a series of tutorials and examples where you can develop your skills and produce your own content.

This work will be developed through examples and case studies from across the faculty, where audio and visual materials have been used by researchers within their work.

Examples include:

• Virtual reality renditions of historical photographs
•  Immersive museum experiences
• Audio installations to share stories about migration and sustainability
• Interactive events to inspire young people about languages and cultures past and present

This module is worth 10 credits.

Epidemics and infectious illnesses have shaped our world. Most recently, the Coronavirus pandemic dramatically changed the way we work and socialise, with lasting effect.

We will explore the past and present of infectious disease, including how cultures, religions, literature and art have been shaped by the interaction between humans and disease.

You will learn about:

• The variety of human responses to sickness
• How ideas about illness are expressed across the world
• Drug resistant bacteria and mutations of viruses
• How the arts help societies to process the impact of disease - it is often through music, literature, philosophy and media that suffering is expressed and issues raised

This module is worth 10 credits.

Our digital revolution has been led by the arts and humanities.

From mobile apps to learn languages, to video tutorials on how to play an instrument, the use of digital platforms has transformed our disciplines.

In an age defined by ecological issues, technological change and political upheaval across the world, it is the arts and humanities which provide vital links between the past, present and future. It is now more important than ever that we connect communities, challenge structures of power and address inequality.

You will examine how the digital arts changed the world, using examples from a range of mediums from across the globe. This could be a community walking app, that has brought hidden histories to light, a crowd-sourced projects that have given a platform to new voices, or social media forums that link music, philosophy and literature to contemporary debates.

This module is worth 10 credits.

We are in a state of climate emergency. Sustainability and climate change is on both political and personal agendas like never before.

On this module, you will:

• Examine the idea of ‘sustainability’ - looking at the social, cultural, political, economic and environmental challenges that sustainability aims to address
• Link issues of climate change, and our responses to them, to shifting ideas about nature and its distinctness from culture, the scientific and industrial revolutions, and the emergence of the Western world
• Examine Western culture’s way of defining the ‘environment’ and our relationship with nature
• Look at the diverse ways in which different cultures imagine nature

The arts and humanities do not offer quick fixes to our problems, but ways of thinking that can change the world. We do this through understanding context, process and change.

We show how the arts and humanities sheds light on the history of the present and directs us towards the future.

This module is worth 10 credits.

Explore how the arts and humanities contribute to sustainability.

From stories, to images and representation, the ways we understand the world also shape how we understand sustainability.

With a focus on globalisation, and the accelerating pace of climate change in the 20^th and 21^st centuries, we will think about the problems raised by the climate crisis. 

You will:

• Learn about debates around the Anthropocene, the era of humanity’s marked impact on the environment
• Examine the controversies and disputes that have emerged about our relationship with nature
• Explore how we can tell stories about climate change – for example through the literature and music of marginalised groups across the world, who feel the impact of climate change first

By considering how everyday life choices are linked to the environment, the module offers an imaginative way to explore the challenges of sustainable living.  You will gain the tools to challenge opinion and identify how local ideas can offer a solution to global problems.

This module is worth 10 credits.

From filters to fake news, we are exposed to a huge amount of information in our day-to-day lives.

Whether through advertising, promotion, policies or the media, the (mis)information we are exposed to is intended to influence us, change our minds, or maybe even censor and withhold information about important issues.

To challenge this, we need to think critically about data. This module will give you the skills to do just that.

You’ll gain the critical skills to observe, question, and act when the facts do not support what’s being represented. We will also introduce approaches you can use to question visual, textual, quantitative and qualitative information. This could include:

• Causality
• Statistics
• Bias
• Content analysis
• Language

Critical analysis is an important skill, not only so we can preserve our freedoms and protect from harm caused by misinformation, but in the workplace too. The ability to make judgements that are based on logic is a key transferable skill.

This module is worth 10 credits.

Writing inspires change. From the academic textbook that demonstrates a new concept, to a blog post that influences habits, writing can change the world.

On this module, you will learn to think critically about yourself and society, through reflecting on how you write.

Writing lets us occupy different spaces and identities. You can write to develop your sense of self, to enlighten others, or to build connections. Writing skills are more than just how to write an academic essay. Writing can give you an insight into who you are, your values and future direction.

During your studies, you will use writing to develop analytical approaches which can enhance your work and prepare you for your future career. Focusing on the diversity of experiences and backgrounds, interests and motivations, we show how meaningful writing can lead, inspire and transform. 

This module is worth 10 credits.

This module focuses on the history and development of the scholarship on ancient Greece and Rome and on specific theories, approaches and methods used by modern scholarship. The aim is to sharpen your engagement with and understanding of scholarship, and to give a deeper appreciation of the ways the ancient world has been appropriated. Studying the history of scholarship in its socio-political context will show you how the questions we ask depend on the situations we live in; it will also allow you to judge the merits and limitations of scholarly approaches and will develop your skills of research and analysis, as preparation for your third-year dissertation. As with the Extended Source Study, you will choose a work-sheet relating to an area of the ancient world which particularly interests you; the module is assessed by an oral presentation and a 4,500-5,000 word essay.

Content to be confirmed.

In 600, the Middle East was divided between two historic empires, Rome and Persia. By 700, however, this longstanding political order had been overthrown by the armies of the new Islamic caliphate. The Islamic conquests had profound and transformative consequences for Middle Eastern society (and beyond).

In this module, you will examine the remarkable speed and success of the conquests, and consider the conquerors’ approaches to managing their vast new territories. Following recent trends in historical research, it will also examine how the non-Muslim majority of the Middle East, including Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians, viewed their new rulers and adjusted to their new situation.

The module will reflect the diversity of the caliphate, drawing upon sources (in English translation) written in languages including Arabic, Greek, Syriac, Pahlavi, and Armenian, in genres ranging from scholarly Islamic histories to Christian and Jewish apocalyptic accounts.

You’ll also focus on the impressive material culture of the period, including monumental architecture such as the Dome of the Rock and the Umayyad Desert Palaces, as well as coinage and inscriptions. It will tackle big questions about cultural interaction, religious belief and belonging, conversion and community formation, and ask what had really changed between 600 and 800?

This module will examine what we can learn from human and non-human skeletons, and therefore the lives of people and animals who lived in the past. The module will involve handling real archaeological human and non-human skeletons, learning how to identify their age, sex, stature, pathologies and taphonomy. We will also examine the demography of 19th century Nottingham on a fieldtrip to one of the city’s largest cemeteries. 

From the Bronze age to the emergence of the Classical world, this module will provide you with an overview of the archaeology of the Mediterranean basin. You’ll examine the differing trajectories of different parts of the prehistoric Mediterranean and will be introduced to key subject areas including Mycenaean Greece, Minoan Crete and prehistoric Italy including the Etruscans and other contemporary Iron Age peoples. Throughout the module, you will gain an understanding of the highly specific regional histories of different parts of the Mediterranean and develop the knowledge of the societies that underpinned the emergence of the Greco-Roman world.

Explore archaeological evidence from a time of significant social, political, economic and climate change, which laid the foundations of the modern world. 

We'll focus on the development of European societies around the Mediterranean, Africa and across Eurasia in the medieval period. You will study the:

• Transformation of European and Mediterranean landscapes and settlement patterns, from the Fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance
• Towns of western Europe, Byzantium and the Islamic world
• Impact of climate change, epidemic disease and population growth
• Rise of kingdoms, states and empires
• Development of nearly global trade networks in Europe, Africa and Asia, resulting in permanent European settlement in the Americas

Your lectures and seminars consider interdisciplinary approaches to these topics. They will also consider what they can tell us about social and economic change, ideologies and social identities over 1000 years of human history.

The teaching on climate, societal and economic change, is driven from the module tutor's European ice-core research, which gained national media coverage. You can also benefit from hands-on learning, using the Medieval European collections at our on-site Archaeology Museum.

Take a case-study based approach to archaeology and apply professional techniques to a subject of your choice.

In the first half of the module, you will attend lectures looking at typological, statistical and other approaches to subject areas such as cemetery analysis, approaches to buildings, study of Roman coins, or faunal remains.  

You will then choose an area and topic to explore for the remainder of the module. In small groups, you will complete a detailed study of a site or assemblage of material. 

You will:

• Complete detailed analysis of a site or body of material

• Locate and critically analyse a diverse array of primary and secondary sources

• Evaluate and bring together theories, techniques and methodologies 

• Develop research questions, assess their originality, and design a course of investigation.

Your chosen topic could also be an ideal stepping-stone to develop ideas for the final year research project.

What did daily domestic life look like in the ancient world? In this module, you’ll examine domestic life in classical antiquity in an interdisciplinary way embracing archaeological, historical and literary perspectives. Topics may include: 

·         gender roles within the home 

·         developments in domestic architecture and furnishings 

·         the wider household including master-slave and patron-client relationships 

·         ancient parties and dining practices 

·         literary representations of ideal or dysfunctional families 

·         the incorporation of religious cults within the domestic space 

Objects act as windows into what life was like in the ancient world. Each object has its own story of design and making, use, repair and repurposing, display or destruction. They are entwined with the lives of people as they become entangled in individual and social identities and relationships.

In this module you will critically assess interdisciplinary perspectives on ancient material culture from ancient history, art history and archaeology. You’ll explore modern historiography such as the concepts of object biography and materiality, as well as the later reception and reinterpretation of ancient objects in more recent centuries. By examining individual objects as in-depth case studies, you’ll consider how they inform us about life in the ancient Mediterranean world, covering themes including:

• mythology and religion

• monumentality

• memory and topography

• conflict and diplomacy

• the body and the senses

• economy and technology

• trade and colonisation 

From Archaic Greece through to late Antiquity, explore how law is understood and formulated, the impact of law on society, and how society in turn influences the creation of law. Through different period-based case-studies in the Greco-Roman world, you’ll examine these questions and relate them to diverse topics such as: 

• constitutional change 

• the institution of slavery 

• the status and role of women and the family  

• economic life 

• religion 

You’ll consider how to adopt a perspective sensitive to the state of the evidence, developments over time, and the variety of methodological approach available (for example differences between how historians and modern lawyers might read ancient legal texts). 

Public performance of various kinds was an important aspect of the life of communities in the ancient Mediterranean world. In this module, you’ll explore a range of sources that illustrate how ancient people created public representations of themselves and others, and what this tells is about ancient cultures. Topics may include: 

• symposia 

• drama and mime 

• rhetoric  

• public displays of wealth and status 

• or athletic and gladiatorial spectacles 

You’ll learn to combine approaches drawn from various sub-disciplines, including the study of literature, history and visual culture from different time-periods. 

What was the role of personal faith in ancient religious belief? How do we characterise the nuanced differences between religious and magical practices in ancient civilisations? In this module, you’ll bring together archaeology, history, and literature to examine religious beliefs and practices in classical antiquity, alongside other beliefs in the supernatural. Topics may include: 

·         religious rituals and festivals 

·         hymns and prayers 

·         votives, temples and other material offerings 

·         religious motivations for major historical events 

·         encounters with neighbouring religious systems including the rise of Christianity 

·         dreams 

·         amulets 

·         ghosts, witches and vampires 

You can choose to study either Latin or Classical Greek if you’d like to. The level you study at will depend on your existing knowledge and experience.

Beginners level

For complete beginners and anyone who has done some study of Latin or Classical Greek before (anything up to GCSE).

You’ll be introduced to the grammar and vocabulary of your chosen language - and you’ll be supported to analyse and understand basic sentences and to translate short passages.

You may find it reassuring that, unlike modern language study, there is no speaking and listening element. The main focus is on developing your reading skills so you can read almost unadapted passages from Latin or Classical Greek texts.

Intermediate level

For students who already have an A level in their chosen language - or who have successfully completed their introduction to the language in our Beginners’ level modules.

You will consolidate your knowledge of the vocabulary and grammar of your chosen language. You’ll also begin the detailed linguistic and literary study of unadapted Latin or Greek texts, developing your ability and confidence to read, appreciate and analyse texts in an ancient language.

• In Latin, you will typically read a text such as Cicero’s Pro Archia or a book of Virgil or Ovid.
• In Greek, the text might be a speech by Lysias or selections from a longer work such as Homer's Odyssey or a Greek tragedy. 

Advanced level

For students who have successfully completed our Intermediate level modules for the relevant language.

You will study prose and verse texts in your chosen language, building on the skills you have already learned. You’ll undertake in-depth study of either a single text or a group of texts representative of an author, genre, period or theme, combining literary and linguistic discussion with consideration of the historical and social background.  

The texts covered change each year. In Latin, recent modules have focused on the following topics: 

• Flavian personal poetry (Martial and Statius) 
• The emperor Claudius (Suetonius and Tacitus) 
• The Cupid and Psyche story from Apuleius’ novel Metamorphoses 
• Ethnicity and Empire in Latin Epic (Virgil and Silius Italicus) 
• The Power of Love (Ovid and Propertius) 

In Greek, recent topics have included: 

• Tragedy (Euripides’ Antigone) 
• Selections from Homer’s Iliad 
• Longus’ novel Daphnis and Chloe 
• Plutarch’s Life of Antony 
• Paradoxography (a range of texts exploring the weird and marvellous)

This module is based around a challenge: how do we use the digital humanities?

You are presented with a series of problems about how we can use the arts and humanities to address some of the major issues we face in technology and society.

For example, the acceleration of technology in both private and public life is immense, but this rapid pace of change should not prevent reflection.

In this module, you consider the major contemporary issues of how technology shapes our present and our future. We respond to these concerns using the specific skillset of the arts and humanities, where we ask: what does it mean to be human?

This module is worth 10 credits.

Stand out in your job search with employability skills and hands-on experience.

Learn key skills, from constructing an outstanding CV to practicing interview technique, before completing a part-time placement in the spring. This will be for one day a week, or equivalent, for up to eight weeks.

You can apply for placements in relevant local organisations. The dedicated faculty placement team have an established list of providers, or you can arrange your own placement, subject to approval.

Our placements include a range of sectors, including:

• creative and cultural industries
• media
• marketing
• heritage and museums
• the music industry
• education
• charitable and third-sector organisations

These are subject to change each year.

You will develop a wide range of transferable skills, including:

• communication
• presentation
• organisation
• professionalism
• time management skills

Assessment is through an online portfolio of materials, including application materials, reflective writing and a research report.

This module is worth 20 credits.

Community engagement is important in many careers, from politics and social work to marketing and business.

We do not work in a vacuum - our research and activities are linked to individuals and groups across society. By learning to engage with communities, researchers can reach wide audiences, learn from them and collaboratively make a real contribution to overcoming social problems. 

We need to understand how engagement works in order to work collaboratively, respectfully and sustainability with communities.

In this module, we will:

• Explore how our staff and students work with communities – from supporting immigrant communities settling into Nottingham, to engaging with schools to promote literacy and career opportunities
• Discuss how activism and advocacy can become part of academic work
• Explore how community engagement is structured and organised and how we can ensure our work within the arts and humanities has relevance and impact for diverse audiences

This module will prepare you for your future career, by focusing on the key skill of the arts and humanities: our ability to support and engage with those around us.

This module is worth 10 credits.

Explore the histories and legacies of colonisation, alongside the routes to justice through decolonisation.

Using examples from across the globe, we explore the impact of colonisation on society, politics, economics, and culture.

You will consider contemporary examples and a wide range of evidence, sources and perspectives, including from:

• art
• film
• literature
• archive materials and documents
• music and performance

You will also explore the debates around reconciliation, restitution and justice.

Together we will build an interdisciplinary analysis, drawing upon the research of the whole faculty to uncover, assess and deconstruct the practices of colonialism and their implications for our contemporary world.  

This module is worth 10 credits.

Doing an arts and humanities degree means you’ll gain the skills which are essential for changing the world we live in. Not only that, you are uniquely positioned to understand people, processes and culture.

This module lets you apply that knowledge to solve a real-life problem. The aim is for you to develop your understanding of your degree, and the range of careers open to you.

You will work in an interdisciplinary team on a real project connected to impact, which we define as our ability to ‘make change happen’. These projects have been designed by individuals, groups and organisations that are looking to make a difference to our world. This might be about sustainability, business, equality, culture, politics or society.

Teams will be given a project brief. You will then be guided through how to shape a project, and how to work as a team and deliver results. This will give you the employment skills and experience to show how you can make an impact as an arts and humanities graduate.

This module is worth 20 credits.

Wellbeing, the crisis in mental health care, and clapping for NHS staff during the Covid pandemic are all examples of health humanities. On this module, you will be exploring contemporary challenges in this area.

To build a healthier society, enabling access to healthcare for all, we must consider how people act, behave and build connections.

You will look at:

• how the arts and humanities respond to major issues in health, medicine and wellbeing – i.e. exploring how individuals use art, literature and culture to understand pain and loss, or analysing human behaviour with regard to new medicines and our relationship to health sciences
• topics such as cultural representations of health, places of medical treatment, or the relationship between medicine and emotions

The major challenges in health provision and healthcare can be influenced and directed by the arts and humanities. This module shows you how this field can be a powerful tool for change.

This module is worth 10 credits.

Discover how our world is experienced through language.

We live in a global society, where different languages build our perceptions, ideas and values. In this module, we respect that difference and participate in it.

You will:

• Use multilingualism as a tool to challenge our own thinking and to comprehend the lives of others in society
• Work through etymologies and translations from a wide range of languages, including Russian, Spanish, French and German
• Learn how understanding languages - not just speaking and reading them - can be vital in contributing to our community, enriching your experience, and participating in a global society

No knowledge of any language is needed, as we focus on understanding what it means to live in our multi-lingual world.

This module is worth 10 credits.

Explore how Nottingham creates ideas, identities, culture and products, alongside how you as a student are also ‘Made in Nottingham’.

This module will help you begin shaping your skills for the career you want, drawing upon the way arts and humanities work has transformed the city.

From the entrepreneurs who have set up businesses or those who have created and enriched charities and social projects, to the writers, artists, musicians and teachers who have all been created in Nottingham. We use their experience, their understanding and their skills to help you define your own path for after university.

You will be able to build your profile through this module, develop your own career narrative to use in your future work as well as engage in the variety of opportunities that are open to you as an arts graduate.

Through this module, we’ll address what it means to be ‘Made in Nottingham’.

This module is worth 10 credits.

This module examines a fascinating and tumultuous period of Roman history: from Diocletian’s seizure of power (A.D. 284) to the sack of Rome by a Visigothic army (A.D. 410). In the 126 years which separated these two events, the Roman world was fundamentally transformed, by (amongst other things) the rise of Christianity and the decline of imperial power. This transformation is documented for us by a range of captivating sources: from St. Augustine’s disarmingly frank autobiography, his Confessions, to Zosimus’ savage indictment of the damage he alleged Christianity had done to the empire.

Over the semester, we will work our way through the period, looking at key political, social, religious, and cultural developments and analysing the source material for this absorbing chapter in Rome’s imperial story.

The aim of this module is to teach practical skills in media engagement and management through lectures and workshops, running in parallel with examining how archaeological data are used in media narratives through seminars.  

The seminars will use a case study approach and staff will draw on their own experience with different forms of media, such as TV, radio, podcasts, print and social media.  

In the media engagement sessions we will teach skills such as: identifying a story, writing press releases, the importance of meaningful images, running a press conference, interviewing/ being interviewed, and writing article copy. We will also consider the differences between print and social media, and the importance of being succinct – a key skill!

Students will be able to choose the topic that they work on for their assessment, but all will engage in the in-class exercises. These will include scenarios such as being journalists at a press conference, and needing to write up the story that comes out of it. They will then submit these as part of their portfolio.

The Roman Empire was a mad, mad place! How else would you call an empire where any individual city can decide it wants to start issuing its own money – and the authorities let them do it? A place where hundreds of cities produced hundreds of currencies of local bronze coinage, each city with its own weight standards, and each using its coinage for self-promotion, celebrating local gods, temples, festivals and any other attractions that made their hometown special.

According to one calculation, some 500 cities across the Roman Empire minted coins in the 350 years from Caesar to Diocletian, churning out approximately 100,000 different coin types. This module is all about this city or ‘civic’ coinage. We won’t have quite enough time in this life to discuss 100,000 coin types, so we focus especially on what we call the Near East, i.e. Roman Syria, Phoenicia, Judaea and Arabia (30 BC to AD 270). Dozens of Near Eastern cities produced coins during this time, contributing to an immensely rich and varied tapestry of local cultures.

We will first grapple with the historical circumstances which put cities in a position to issue their own money despite being subject to Rome. The local autonomy the cities enjoyed was not a consequence of Roman folly, negligence, or administrative malpractice, but a deliberate and well-advised hands-off approach whose wisdom is proven by hundreds of years of stable and successful rule over the provinces.

In Coins, Cults and Cities, you will learn how the coins can shed light on the life of the issuing city in all its facets:

1. World of art: reception of Classical models; Greek-inspired art forms vs. local traditions; stylistic developments over time
   
2. Religious life, cults and gods: significance of religious imagery, local cult images, ‘icons of difference’
   
3. Civic pride, local identity: coins as vehicles for expressions of patriotism and public self-congratulation
   
4. Ideology and propaganda: coins as the only mass medium of the ancient world, as tools for collective self-promotion.
   
5. Complex dynamics between audience and authority: Who was responsible for text and image on coins? Who was the target audience?
   

You will get your hands on actual ancient coins of Damascus, Palmyra, Tyre, Sidon and many other cities (you get to choose which ones). Holding actual 2,000-year-old pieces of history in your own hands and examining them will teach you how to apply the knowledge and understanding you’ve gained in class to get the most out of the evidence. You will learn how to observe, analyse and interpret the evidence, and how to turn your thoughts and observations into building blocks for arguments when addressing questions or engaging in scholarly debate.

The civic coins of the Roman Near East have been the focus of my research for close to 20 years. Like me, you will find that these coins are inexhaustible fonts of insight and inspiration. There is no other kind of evidence from the Roman Near East even remotely as rich and deep as this coinage, and yet this precious source is unknown to the general public and under-appreciated even by historians and archaeologists.

Have you ever wondered of the truth behind the myths of ancient Greece? In this module, we’ll examine visual and material culture, as well as epigraphic and literary sources to explore the real-life civilisations that inspired legends. You'll step into the shoes of pioneering archaeologists like Heinrich Schliemann, whose stunning discoveries at Mycenae, Tiryns, and Troy proved that these cities had a historical reality outside of Homer's epics. We'll also follow Sir Arthur Evans's uncovering of Knossos on Crete, and how it became the landmark of a new culture terms as ‘Minoan’.

We will examine visual and material culture, as well as epigraphic and literary sources and archival data, to gain familiarity with the achievements and the material culture of Minoans and Mycenaeans, two of the most fascinating European Bronze Age civilizations of the 2nd millennium BCE.  

Through a combination of lectures and workshops, you'll study major social, cultural, political and economic processes as you learn about the Minoans and Mycenaeans, two of the most fascinating European Bronze Age civilizations of the 2nd millennium BCE. Topics may include:

• the formation, nature and fall of palace states

• cultural interactions of the Minoans and Mycenaeans overseas

• the production, trade and consumption of various material goods

• the introduction and development of administration and early writing

• archaeologies of cult and death

• the eruption of Thera/Santorini and its effect

• the rise of the Mycenaean culture

• social and economic structures as documented in Linear B tablets

As with years one and two, you can choose to study either Latin or Classical Greek through optional modules in year three. The level you study at will depend on your existing knowledge and experience.

Beginners level

For complete beginners and anyone who has done some study of Latin or Classical Greek before (anything up to GCSE).

You’ll be introduced to the grammar and vocabulary of your chosen language - and you’ll be supported to analyse and understand basic sentences and to translate short passages.

You may find it reassuring that, unlike modern language study, there is no speaking and listening element. The main focus is on developing your reading skills so you can read almost unadapted passages from Latin or Classical Greek texts.

Intermediate level

For students who have successfully completed their introduction to the language in our Beginners’ level modules.

You will consolidate your knowledge of the vocabulary and grammar of your chosen language. You’ll also begin the detailed linguistic and literary study of unadapted Latin or Greek texts, developing your ability and confidence to read, appreciate and analyse texts in an ancient language.

• In Latin, you will typically read a text such as Cicero’s Pro Archia or a book of Virgil or Ovid.
• In Greek, the text might be a speech by Lysias or selections from a longer work such as Homer's Odyssey or a Greek tragedy. 

Advanced level

For students who have successfully completed our Intermediate level modules for the relevant language.

You will study prose and verse texts in your chosen language, building on the skills you have already learned. You’ll undertake in-depth study of either a single text or a group of texts representative of an author, genre, period or theme, combining literary and linguistic discussion with consideration of the historical and social background.  

The texts covered change each year. In Latin, recent modules have focused on the following topics: 

• Flavian personal poetry (Martial and Statius) 
• The emperor Claudius (Suetonius and Tacitus) 
• The Cupid and Psyche story from Apuleius’ novel Metamorphoses 
• Ethnicity and Empire in Latin Epic (Virgil and Silius Italicus) 
• The Power of Love (Ovid and Propertius) 

In Greek, recent topics have included: 

• Tragedy (Euripides’ Antigone) 
• Selections from Homer’s Iliad 
• Longus’ novel Daphnis and Chloe 
• Plutarch’s Life of Antony 
• Paradoxography (a range of texts exploring the weird and marvellous)

Higher level

This is our most advanced level of language study for those who have already developed a good level of language learning through our Intermediate and Advanced level language modules.

You will: 

• improve reading fluency in your chosen language 
• gain deeper insights and appreciation of the language and its literature
• discuss texts at greater length and use more sophisticated skills of literacy and linguistic analysis that are valued by employers

As at the Advanced level, modules will involve in-depth study of either a single text or a group of texts representative of an author, genre, period or theme of Latin or Classical Greek literature. These modules will allow you to make further connections between the texts you are reading and their literary, social and historical contexts. 

Deepen your understanding of the modern reception of the classical world in film, tv, comic books, or children’s literature. You’ll explore how modern representations can help us better understand both the ancient world, and our relationship to it. 

Particular case studies will introduce you to a range of methodological and theoretical approaches from cultural studies, reception studies, media theory, and elsewhere, as well as discussion of the modern technology and processes involved in producing these representations. You’ll also be assessed in a non-traditional format, such as creating a comic storyboard, a film voiceover commentary, or a portfolio reflecting on how the module’s content can help you meet your career goals. 

This module introduces students to aspects of ancient Greek medicine, with sources ranging from the earliest surviving medical texts of the ‘Hippocratic corpus’ (late 5th century BCE) to Galen and Soranus, who worked under the Roman Empire in the 2nd century CE.

We will consider topics including:

• ancient physiological theories including the theory of ‘four humours’ and methodism
• development of knowledge about anatomy and diet
• theories about psychology
• theories about sexual differentiation
• problem-based medical education
• ancient pharmaceuticals and surgery
• diagnostic techniques
• professionalisation
• patient experiences
• religious sanctuaries as healing centres.

This module provides students with a broad knowledge of the archaeological evidence for the development of cities and urban life in the later medieval period (AD 1000-1500), with a focus on English towns and cities in their wider European context. You’ll explore the integration of varied sources of archaeological evidence, including urban landscapes, buildings and material culture, covering key themes such as urban growth, trade, industry, households, guilds and the Church. For your assessment, you’ll prepare an independent research paper and work in teams to create a poster on a specific theme. 

Module description to be confirmed.