Instructors:	Dr. F.G. Naerebout & Dr. M.-J. Versluys
ECTS:	10 or 5 (cf below)
Level:	500
Term:	1st semester
Schedule:	Wednesdays, 6.45 p.m. to 8.15 p.m	.
Language:	English
Examination:	Entry exam, oral presentations and final research paper
Website:	This page and related pages: see sitemap

Description

From the period of Alexander the Great onwards, the ancient Mediterranean witnessed a relatively rapid transformation in economic, social, political, ideological and religious ecologies. All parties concerned were at work to create a new equilibrium.
The study of the processes at work at this junction is highly relevant to our own society: in fact, we are still very much part of developments that began in the ancient world. The outcome of globalisation may be something new: the process itself can be readily compared to what happened in the Greek and the Roman world.
Burning issues such as localism versus unification, shifting identities and their relationship to ethnicity, cultural imperialism and cultural resistance, the entire complex that is hiding behind misleadingly simple labels such as ‘hellenisation’ or ‘romanisation’, form the central concern of this course. Fasten your seatbelts!

Course objectives.

This seminar aims to bring students into contact with a very wide range of ancient sources. By the end of the course, students will have acquired increased knowledge of these sources and their possibilities (or lack thereof) (as opposed to a mere collection of facts and factoids on the theme of personal identity). The course moreover aims to provide insight into some of the major research concerns of recent years, and to demonstrate how such concerns can be translated into a concrete program of research in a particular field.
The seminar consists of weekly meetings in which students are expected to report on their work. Each student participating in the seminar has to prepare for each meeting. Reading requirements are formulated as the course progresses. Students complete this seminar by writing a paper on a subject arising from work done during the seminar itself. Thus the seminar seeks to stimulate a wide range of skills: heuristic and analytic, as well as spoken and written skills.

Number of ECTS and requirements

Every MA student in History should read (before the entrance examination): Jonathan M. Hall, Hellenicity. Between Ethnicity and Culture (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 2005). ISBN: 0226313301 (paperback-edition). Further reading requirements: see list of topics. They will earn 1 ects with being actively present at the 13 courses; 1 ects with reading the literature to prepare for the introductory lectures (see website); 2 ects with reading Hall, and 6 ects with writing a paper of about 20 pages (10000 words) on one of the topics formulated.

For the MA students in Classical Archaeology this is a 5 ects course. Reading Jonathan M. Hall, Hellenicity. Between Ethnicity and Culture for the entry exam is therefore not obligatory but only strongly recommended. They will earn 1 ects with being actively present at the 13 courses; 1 ects with reading the literature to prepare for the introductory lectures (see website); and 3 ects with writing a paper of about 10 pages (5000 words) on one of the topics formulated.

Schedule

September 13 is our first meeting; these continue for every Wednesday up to and including December 13, except for October 25. That is thirteen weeks in all. Room 1175/002 (Lipsius building). See detailed schedule.

Information

With the instructors: email:  f.g.naerebout@let.leidenuniv.nl or m.j.versluys@arch.leidenuniv.nl
Practical information: website: Secretary's Office, email: geschiedenis@let.leidenuniv.nl