Modules

Classical Reception: An Introduction (CLAM078)

15 credits

Classical Reception Studies starts from the assumption that the past has meaning only in so far as it is “framed” – represented and discussed - in terms of the concerns of the present. Our modern understanding of the classical past has been shaped by centuries of appropriation and reinterpretation, loss and rediscovery. In turn, modern Western concepts such as “culture”, “civilisation” and concerns about, for example, national identity, political ideology, race and sexuality have been constituted and reconstituted with constant reference to ideas about and images of the Classical past. This module will examine different “framings” of many different aspects of the ancient world in post-classical cultures. You will explore both how these cultures have made use of the classical past and how they themselves have changed and shaped the way that the ancient world is understood both in academia and in popular culture.