Classical Studies 2700B

 

Information about in-class essay/submission of projects

 

 

 

Please refer to the notes at the top of the material for last Thursday’s lecture (Textiles: fibres and spinning) on procedures for both the in-class essay and the submission of projects. (This is updated from what has previously appeared on this website.) Note also that I have now moved my office from TC 431 to TC 429.

CLM

 

 

More specific information follows:

 

In-class Essay: the idea here is that students will research a number of topics for an exam-type session and that the Instructor (N.B. not the individual student!) will, on the day in question, chose one of these topics to be written on by everyone present. This process will avoid the need to research and write a 2500 to 3000 word essay with elaborate bibliography and footnotes; it will also circumvent any possibility of suspicions or accusations of plagiarism, which can arise particularly from over-lavish cut-and-paste work from websites. The number of topics has hitherto been set at three, and this has worked well.

 

Here are the topics:

  1. Roman methods of harnessing horses to wagons, carriages and chariots. How efficient were they?
  2. The construction and decoration of Trajan’s Column in Rome: how and when?
  3. The construction of the Roman aqueduct of Nemausus (modern Nîmes), with special reference to the Pont du Gard.

 

Students should not expect to write more than three to four sides of “normal” sized handwriting during the in-class session: quality is much better than mere quantity! Responses to the various questions should have been carefully researched and thought through beforehand. Notes will not be allowed in the room in any format or medium during the writing process. However, students may bring in two (2) pages of 8.5 x 11 inch photocopies with Xeroxed pictures or diagrams to illustrate aspects of each of the topics (that is, six pages in all): these must be photocopied on one side only and should be appropriately captioned (there may, of course, be several separate items on each page). The appropriate photocopies for the topic that will be announced may be looked at during the writing of the essay. All of the photocopies in each student’s bundle must be turned in when the in-class essay is finished. No photocopies of hand-drawn pictures of any sort will be allowed. Of course, no one is obliged to bring photocopies to the exam room: this is entirely voluntary.

 

Researching the topics: what is listed below is a sort of minimum number of sources for each of the topics. You are urged to explore further, probably most efficiently on-line on the Internet; though you should be aware that the quality or reliability of material on the Internet is not guaranteed! However, there are reference works (such as The Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd edition, 1996, available in the reference section of the Weldon Library; and if anyone reads German, there is the very valuable work called Der Neue Pauly; it is being translated into English and is available as Brill’s New Pauly at DBW Reference DE5.N4813) and other printed materials, which can be found through careful use of the Library Catalogue. Finally, a few shortish items will be available on 2-hour loan from the main desk at the Weldon Library (details below).

 

For specific topics:

 

 

  1. Roman horse harnessing: first see the information in Landels. Many people now believe that this is incorrect. Go online: www.humanist.de/rome/rts/ for a work entitled Roman Traction Systems by Dr Judith A. Weller; this discusses the work of Lefebvre des Noëttes, which is the basis of what we have in Landels, and also the more recent work of J. Spruytte, which has markedly changed thinking on this subject (his book is, unfortunately, not in Weldon, but Weller has good info. about him). Note: the book by Ann Hyland, Equus: the Horse in the Roman World, mentioned with a slightly incorrect title by Landels in his revised Bibliography on p. 229, has only one paragraph on our topic, and it says nothing different from what is in Landels.

 

  1. Trajan’s Column: two important journal articles and one website here. a) Lynne Lancaster, “Building Trajan’s Column”, in American Journal of Archaeology 103 (1999) 419-439. [In Weldon Library online.] 

b) Amanda Claridge,“Hadrian’s Column of Trajan”, in Journal of Roman Archaeology 6 (1993) 5-22. [At present, I have this “serial” (so-called) out of the Library and students may have it briefly from me just before or just after class time for photocopying; a copy of the article is on file on 2-hour reserve: ask for “photocopy 4357” at Main Circulation.]  c) See also the famous McMaster University website on Trajan’s Column: http://cheiron.mcmaster.ca/~trajan/

 

 

3.  The aqueduct for the Roman colony at Nemausus in S. France is now believed to have been built in 19BC by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, childhood friend and lifelong colleague and “fixer” for Augustus, the first Roman emperor. This topic involves consideration of how, from a technical point of view, the massive project was surveyed and built and how the most impressive part of it surviving to the present day, the Pont du Gard (on the front cover of our course textbook), was actually constructed. The best brief discussion known to me of its construction is George F.W. Hauck’s article in Scientific American for March, 1989; a photocopy of this is available in the Weldon Library on 2-hour reserve: ask for “photocopy 4982” at Main Circulation. In addition, there is a most useful book, Roman Aqueducts and Water Supply, by Professor Trevor Hodge of Carleton University. I have arranged for this book to be put on Reserve in the Weldon Library and a photocopy of Chapter 7, “Planning and Surveying”, which I highly recommend, has been put on 2-hour reserve in the same Library; again, ask for “photocopy 4098” at Main Circulation. Beyond these items, there are hundreds of websites available on the Internet; Google either “Aqueduct of Nîmes” or “Pont du Gard”.

 

Projects: make a working model of something from the ancient world—a catapult, an aqueduct, a bridge, a pump, Hero of Alexandria’s “steam turbine” or automated “slot machine”, a loom, a crane—or whatever; or replicate some process, by doing some metal or stone work (making tools, or carving, or lost wax casting, for example); or make your own dyes and demonstrate how they work on bits of fabric; or draw a design for something which the ancients ought to have been able to make, given the limits of their technical knowledge. The possibilities here are almost endless! However, please float project titles past me (your name and the project title on a piece of paper) before getting deeply involved. On the hand-in date, I shall want the “object”, plus a one-page account of your source(s) and mention of any major problems you have had (or even great satisfactions you have derived from the project).

 

Please try to digest this material—and raise in class any questions you may have.     CLM

1st February, 2010