Instructor:	Dr. F.G. Naerebout
ECTS:	10
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

The idea that the individual is a Renaissance invention, the sense of selfhood slowly progressing since then and coming to full bloom around 1800, is a teleological approach that has gone largely out of favour amongst the students of personal identity, life stories, ego documents and so forth. However, relatively few of the fresh breezes now blowing have made it as far as the study of the ancient world.
The purpose of this seminar is to focus attention on individualism, self-identity and self-representation in the Greco-Roman world, by studying as wide a range of phenomena as possible, from ego documents (in a fairly broad sense of the word) to painted portraits, by way of ancient ideas about the body, the mind, sexual identity, parentage, personal fate and so forth. The supposition is that only a kaleidoscopic approach can help us really come to grips with the way(s) in which an individual in the ancient world constructed his or her identity. So we ask: what made a difference in Greece or Rome for a person seeking to establish what contributed to his or her unicity vis-a-vis one’s environment? That is, if there was such a thing as a perceived unicity...

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.

Required reading

The required reading for the entry exam will be made available on the website. Go to the texts. Please note that access is restricted to those taking part in the seminar. They can get a username and password by contacting the instructor. Please note: a list of participants with their email addresses is on the introductory page of the text section and thus also password protected.

Schedule

September 14 is our first meeting; these continue for every Wednesday up to and including December 14, except for October 26. That is thirteen weeks in all.

Information

with the instructor, F.G. Naerebout. Cf his Leiden homepage and his private homepage. Practical information: Secretary's Office, geschiedenis@let.leidenuniv.nl