At the centre of this course are the problems of deriving history from tradition. The key questions are those of reliability of the traditions which Herodotus and others hand down, and of the relationship between traditions and contemporary evidence, whether literary, epigraphic, or archaeological. An ability to read Greek is essential. This course is a broadly art-historical one, offering an opportunity to learn about the stylistic development of classical sculpture, architecture and painted pottery, and to study the changing uses of sculpted and painted images and developments in iconagraphical fashions and conventions. The course includes consideration of the relationship between art and drama.
Concentration is on Athens.
An ability to read ancient and modern foreign languages is not essential. This course explores the historical problems and possibilities which arise in a period rich in contemporary sources, which include the self-conscious turning of contemporary events into literary history by Thucydides. It looks at the ways in which the Athenian empire was established and run and at the effects on the Greek world of the empire and of the clash between Athens and Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. It studies the limits of Thucydides' vision and the extent to which his work constrains any history we may write, and the value of epigraphy, comedy and tragedy in widening our historical horizons. An ability to read Greek is essential.