Ancient and Medieval History (V116) module summaries
Second Year
Compulsory modules
Understanding Ancient Societies
This module examines the four core regions of our Ancient History programme: Egypt; the Near East; Greece; Rome. It uses literary and non-‘literary’ texts to understand ancient societies beyond the carefully constructed outputs of canonical elite writers. It will consider approaches to a range of writing types potentially including: epigraphy of all types; numismatics; seals; clay tablets; ostraca and papyri. It will look at the relatively un-mediated presentations of emperors, pharaohs, kings on monumental inscriptions, coins and political documents. It will look at state organisation through inscribed laws and organisational texts. It will consider non-elites through such texts as funerary stele, altars and devotional objects. It will look at everyday writing on material culture and in the street – vases, paintings and graffiti and in doing so will consider literacy and who could read these texts.
Example optional modules may include:
Topics in History
This module is taken by all single- and joint-honours History students. It develops students’ ability to design and deliver a historical research project, both individually and as part of a group. It achieves this through a combination of general skills lectures, specialist seminar workshops, and independent study meetings. Alongside a programme of weekly lectures in historical research design and delivery skills, students choose one from a number of specialist options related closely to the research interests of the academic staff teaching on the module in a given year. Through fortnightly staff-led seminar workshops, students work in small groups to devise and investigate a tailored research project relating to the broader specialist topic area, through detailed engagement with secondary literature and primary sources. In addition students meet weekly without academic supervision, to develop their projects.
Professional Skills Module
This is a work placement module involving a minimum of 10 days in a work environment in the type of organisation or business sector to which students might apply following successful completion of their undergraduate programme. The module will provide students with an opportunity to develop transferable skills, including team working, problem solving and communication skills, as well as allowing the development of the ability to self-reflect on activity undertaken.
Further information on the Professional skills module
Future Skills Modules
Please note these are examples of Futures Skills Modules that might be on offer:
Humanities in the Classroom
For this placement module you will be placed in schools to observe or shadow teachers in their own disciplines or in adjacent disciplines, and where possible and appropriate to deliver enrichment activities yourself or to act as mentor in those schools. You will also attend a series of lectures and workshops from visiting speakers focussing on pedagogy and curricula in their subjects, on careers and training for teachers, and on outreach and engagement activities at Universities. You will be supported within your department in small group seminars during which you will reflect on your own learning and plan for the assessment. Students can also explore education more widely, outside school settings, for example by researching educational facilities and resources in local museums, heritage sites or other cultural institutions and by participating in or observing outreach activities within their departments.
Media in Practice
This module gives you the chance to produce your own original content, learn skills and techniques that will improve what you create, and think rigorously about how media shapes our world. With lectures from a range of academic disciplines, the module asks big questions, like “How does news consumption affect voting behaviour?” and shares practical know-how, like how to conduct an interview or put in a Freedom of Information request. Through peer workshops, guided by academic leads, it also helps you to develop your own ideas and projects, from the first spark to the finished article. This module is designed to open media to all, so no prior experience is necessary.
Sustainable development Climate, Culture, Society and Policy
This is an interdisciplinary module that allows you to examine sustainability through the lens of several disciplines that fall broadly within arts, humanities and law. Examples of the topics you will examine are: sustainability and interdisciplinary research; the concept of sustainable development; climate change; sustainability and environmental justice. In examining these topics, students will also look into particular polices/initiatives to understand how sustainability is implemented in practice. The module will be delivered by academics from different disciplines which will allow you to engage in an interdisciplinary discussion with some of the mentioned topics. You will also have an opportunity to learn about sustainability initiatives at the UoB campus.
Society in the Viking World c.800-c.1100 (20 credits)
Tudor Terrors: Inner Worlds, Hidden Worlds, New Worlds (20 credits)
Athenian Drama (20 credits)
Classical Epic (20 credits)
Example Languages
- Greek 1,2 and 3 (20+20+20 credits)
- Introduction to Ancient Egyptian A and B (20+20 credits)
- Latin 1,2 and 3 (20+20+20 credits)
- Greek Texts (20 credits)
- Latin Texts (20 credits)