Classics & Ancient History

In this course, Professor Esther Eidinow (University of Bristol) talks about Greek religion, focusing in particular on the institution of the oracle. In the first module, we provide an introduction to what oracles actually were, where they were...

In this course, Professor Anthony Price (Birkbeck College, London) explores Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. In the first module, we explore the central concept of eudaimonia, or happiness, in Aristotle's ethics, before turning in the second module...

In this course, Dr Ed Bispham (University of Oxford) explores the politics of the late Republic, from the death of Tiberius Gracchus (133 BC) to the death of Cicero (43 BC). We begin by thinking about how the Roman constitution...

In this course, we explore fifth-century Greek theatre, focusing in particular on the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. In this course, we look at key dramatic conventions of fifth-century theatre, the relationship...

Before the Emperor Augustus died in 14 AD, he boasted that he had found Rome a city of brick, but left it a city of marble. In this course, Professor Matthew Nicholls (University of Reading) explores Augustus’ rebuilding of the...

In this course, Henriette van der Blom (University of Glasgow) explores Cicero's speech 'De Imperio Cn Pompeii', delivered in 66 BC. The course begins with an introduction to oratory in Rome, including the different kinds of speeches that an...

In this course, Professor Kevin Butcher (University of Warwick) looks at the reign of Augustus through the evidence of coins. The first part of course provides a general introduction to numismatics—what do coins tell us about the past?—as well as...

In this course, Professor Armand D’Angour (University of Oxford) introduces some of the more popular metrical forms of Greek and Latin poetry. In the first module, we look at dactylic hexameter, the metre used in Greek and Roman epic poetry....

In this course, Professor Catharine Edwards (Birkbeck, University of London) provides an introduction to Seneca the Younger and his Epistulae Morales. We begin by providing a broad introduction to Seneca's life, career, and literary output, before...

In this course, Dr Liz Gloyn (Royal Holloway, University of London) explores Seneca’s Epistulae Morales. We begin by providing a brief overview of Seneca’s life and literary output, before focusing in more detail on the letter as a literary form....

In this course, Professor Richard Seaford (University of Exeter) explores the Greek institution of mystery cults, focusing in particular on the Eleusinian and Dionysian Mysteries. In the first module, we think about what a mystery cult actually...

In this course, Dr Rosie Wyles (University of Kent) provides a close reading and analysis of Aristophanes' Acharnians, focusing in particular on the prescribed material for the OCR A-Level in Classical Greek. All passages are presented in the...