Unit information: The Age of Augustus: History and Myth in 2016/17

Unit name	The Age of Augustus: History and Myth
Unit code	CLAS37017
Credit points	20
Level of study	H/6
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Lampe
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None,
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Classics & Ancient History
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit will examine the ways in which characters and events of Rome's remote and recent past - from Aeneas to the Battle of Actium - were represented in the literature, art and architecture of the Age of Augustus and will analyse the role of such representations in the creation of the Augustan myth of the birth of a new Golden Age. In so doing, we will explore not simply the relationship between myth and history in the Augustan Age through the texts and monuments of the period, but the ways in which the reception of the resulting images of Augustus - both positive and negative - have impacted on the history of subsequent periods, from Charlemagne to Mussolini in the twentieth century.

The aims of the unit are to:

• acquire detailed knowledge of the literature, art and architecture of the Augustan period and of selected episodes in the reception of that period

• enable students to use the knowledge acquired in seminars and through independent research to construct coherent, relevant and critical arguments concerning the interpretative issues raised by the literary and visual sources studied.

• develop skills in oral and written communication.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students should:

• have acquired detailed knowledge of the literature, art and architecture of the Augustan period and of selected episodes in the reception of that period

• be able to use the knowledge acquired in seminars and through independent research to construct coherent, relevant and critical arguments concerning the interpretative issues raised by the texts, images and monuments studied.

• have had the opportunity to develop their skills in oral and written communication, by making short seminar presentations, taking part in seminar discussions, and producing an essay and a written examination.

Teaching Information

3 hours per week (seminars)

Assessment Information

One essay of 3,000 words (50%) and one examination of 2 hours (50%).

Reading and References

Karl Galinsky, Augustan Culture: An Interpetive Introduction (Princeton, 1996)

Karl Galinsky (ed) The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus (Cambridge, 2005)

R.Syme, The Roman Revolution (Oxford, 1939)

Richard Thomas, Virgil and the Augustan Reception (Cambridge, 2001)

A.Wallace-Hadrill, Augustan Rome (London, 1993)

P.Zanker, The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus (Ann Arbor, 1988)