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CLA2006 - Greek and Roman Drama

2015/6 Module description

Staff	- Lecturer
Credit Value	30
ECTS Value	15.00
NQF Level	6
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites	None
Duration of Module	Term 1: 11 weeks; Term 2: 11 weeks;

Module description

This module is aimed at anyone who wants to know more about the fascinating theatrical traditions of ancient Athens and Rome. It examines a wide range of plays, both tragic and comic, including works by authors as varied as Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Menander, Aristophanes, Terence and Plautus.  All these texts are studied in the medium of English translation, making the module widely accessible.  Students will be given an advanced critical introduction to some of the greatest and most influential works in the Western dramatic tradition, and they will be encouraged to think about such matters as the connection between drama and society, the role of ritual and religion, the nature of the tragic and comic genres, and the psychological and emotional impact of drama on its audience.

Module aims

On the basis of a selection of texts in English translationâ??Greek and Roman tragedies and comedies from Aeschylus to Senecaâ??we attempt to come to a general understanding of the origin and development of ancient drama, the importance of types of plot and character, the relationship of drama with society and the emotional effect of tragedy.
We study Athenian tragedy of the fifth century BC over a period of some sixty years, paying attention both to the texts of the plays and the way they develop with time and in line with changes in the city. Complementary study of the very different tragedy of Seneca (first century AD) raises issues of text, performance and the cultural setting of drama.
We study comedy, considering the place of Greek Old Comedy (for example Aristophanes) in the Athenian democratic city, and ways in which it differed from the New Comedy of the late fourth century (for example Menander). Roman approaches to comedy (plays by Plautus and Terence) are investigated.
The module builds on the Greek and Roman Narrative module, CLA1005.

ILO: Module-specific skills

• 1. On the completion of this module, students should be able to describe and analyse (a) the development of Greek tragedy and comedy in the fifth and fourth centuries BC and (b) Roman comedy and Senecan tragedy.
• 2. They should also be able to read critically individual works within a specific genre.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

• 3. Students should demonstrate an ability to distinguish and assess critically literature in a foreign culture and to place that literature in its cultural context, an ability to place drama in the context of the theatre, and to be able to comment on aspects of its theatricality.
• 4. An ability to place drama in the context of the theatre.
• 5. To be able to comment on some aspects of its theatricality.

ILO: Personal and key skills

• 4. Students should demonstrate a capacity for independent judgement, an ability to work in a seminar team, and an ability to present work in written form with a strong and coherent argument.
• 7. An ability to work in a seminar team
• 8. An ability to present work in written form with a coherent argument.

Syllabus plan

First Term: 1. Introduction and orientation; 2. The origin of tragedy and Euripides' Bacchae 3. Festival and theatre 4. Tragedy and ritual 5. Tragedy and politics 6. Tragedy and gender 7. Aeschlus' Persians and the anonymous Prometheus Bound 8. Sophocles' Antigone 9. Sophocles Electra and Euripides Electra 10. Euripides Hippolytus 11. Seneca's Phaedra.

Second term: 1. Comic authors, plots and themes; 2. Genre II: what is comedy?; 3. The ancient sense(s) of humour; 4. Sex and obscenity; 5. The politics of comedy; 6. Comedies of ideas: Clouds and Frogs; 7. Metatheatre and gender: The Poet and the Women; 8. The sociology of comedy; 9. New Comedy: ancient (and modern) soap opera; 10. New Comedy: character, ethics and human relationships; 11. Comic myth: Amphitryo; 12. Revision.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
52	248	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled learning and teaching activities	44	Lectures (22 x 2 hours)
Scheduled learning and teaching activities	8	Seminars (8 x 1 hour)
Guided independent study	248	Independent study

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Oral contribution to seminar	Weekly	1-7	Verbal feedback
1 written assignment	1000 words	1-6, 8	Mark and written feedback

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
40	60

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay	40	1800 words	1-6, 8	Mark and written comments
Exam	60	2 hours	1-6, 8	Mark and written comments

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Essay	Essay	1-6, 8	August ref/def period
Exam	Exam	1-6, 8	August ref/def period

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

1. Prescribed texts:

Aeschylus, Persians and Prometheus Bound; Sophocles, Antigone and Electra; Euripides, Hippolytus, Electra,and Bacchae; Seneca, Phaedra; Aristophanes, Lysistrata, Acharnians, Clouds, The Poet and the Women and Frogs; Menander, The Bad-Tempered Man and The Girl from Samos; Terence, The Brothers; Plautus, The Rope and Amphitryo; N.B. Teaching, seminars and examinations will be based on the following prescribed translations: Aeschylus: (Collard Oxford World's Classics); Sophocles: (Kitto, Oxford World's Classics); Euripides: (Morwood, Oxford World's Classics); Seneca: Four Tragedies and Octavia (Watling, Penguin Classics); Aristophanes: Lysistrata and Other Plays (Sommerstein, Penguin), The Wasps and Other Plays (Barrett, Penguin); Menander: The Plays and Fragments (Balme, Oxford World's Classics); Terence: The Comedies (Radice, Penguin); Plautus: The Rope and Other Plays (Watling, Penguin).

2. Selected introductory reading:

P.E.Easterling (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy (Cambridge 1997) M. Wright, Euripides' Escape Tragedies (Oxford, 2005) O. Taplin, Greek Tragedy in Action (London, 1978) R. Rehm, The Greek Tragic Theatre (London, 1992) A. Pickard-Cambridge, The Dramatic Festivals of Athens (ed. 2, Oxford 1968) Aristotle, Poetics, translated by Malcolm Heath (Penguin Classics: Harmondsworth,1996) K. Dover, Aristophanic Comedy (Berkeley 1974) M. Silk, Aristophanes and the Invention of Comedy (Oxford 2000) W.G. Arnott, Menander, Plautus, Terence (Greece and Rome New Surveys in the Classics no 9) N. Zagagi, The Comedy of Menander (London 1994).

Module has an active ELE page?

Yes

Available as distance learning?

No

Origin date

2011

Last revision date

02/03/2015

Key words search

Classics, Greek, Roman, Drama