Classical Studies 2700 A/B

Further information about the course.

Evaluation:

1. The mid-term test. This will be of 50 minutes duration and will comprise 4 questions:

Question 1: True/ False. There will be 8 short statements. Worth 8 marks.

Question 2: Multiple choice. There will be 12 items. Worth 12 marks.

Question 3: Describe/define/identify. Do 5 out of 8 items. Worth 15 marks.

Question 4: Short essay (about one page) Do 1 out of 3 topics. Worth 15 marks.

The test is worth 30% of the final grade for the course.

2. The in-class essay/ project. This is a completely free choice between writing (under exam conditions) for 50 minutes in class time a short essay on one of 3 topics which will have been announced well in advance and prepared by students (the topic to be written on will be chosen by the Instructor on the writing day) and doing a project (virtually anything to do with the ancient world e.g., building a catapult or some other machine, an architectural model, a design or improvement on something the ancients had [and could/should have done better!]). This item is worth 30% of the final grade for the course.

3. The final exam. The final exam is basically the same as the mid-term and most of it (all except the last question) is based on material covered in class after the cut-off date for the mid-term test. However, since it lasts for 2 hours and is worth 40% of the final grade for the course, Question 3 (see above) will involve slightly more detailed answers to more items and Question 4 will likewise be worth more marks. The main addition will be a Question 5, which will involve material from the whole course and which can not be prepared for, since it will be a “think piece” rather than a regurgitation of previously memorised material.

More detailed information, including sample questions, on each of the foregoing items, will be posted on this site well before the date on which they occur.

Class Lectures and Readings. Technology and Engineering in the Ancient World (mainly, but not exclusively, the ancient Mediterranean world) is an enormous subject which can be dealt with only on a very selective basis in a half course. Inevitably, therefore, only certain topics can be addressed. This course operates on a “materials” basis, as can be seen from an examination of the lecture schedule. There is no textbook that is reasonably brief (and reasonably priced) which covers exactly what will be addressed in the course. Accordingly, attendance at lectures is extremely important, since some topics will not be covered in the textbook but only in lectures, while other topics, covered in detail in the textbook, will be dealt with only briefly in the lectures. However, summaries of the content of each lecture will be posted on this website 24 hours before the lecture is delivered: this will underline the key points of the forthcoming lecture and will provide correct spellings of names and technical terms. Students should print out a copy of the summary and bring it with them to class in order to simplify note-taking. For students who are diffident about such matters, a supplementary text is available, which covers more of the class material in more detail; however, it is completely possible to do well in this course without any reference to this text! And it is strongly emphasized that this supplementary text is optional and not necessary.

CLM