Academic Experience: Classical Studies and Ancient History

Our Academic Experience: Classical Studies and Ancient History is offered with two options.

Who was Homer?

Homer is one of the most famous poets from ancient Greece and his Iliad and Odyssey still inspire art, films and novels today. But who was Homer? Did he ever even exist? Was he the poor, blind, and wandering poet described in the ancient sources? In this session, we will consider texts and images about his life from the ancient to the modern age, and explore how and why the divine bard Homer influences our contemporary culture.

Relevant Subjects: Classical Civilisation, History, Greek, Latin, Ancient History

Did Nero really fiddle whilst Rome burned? Reading Historical Sources Critically

Everyone knows three things about Nero - that he didn't get along with his mother, tortured Christians in the Colisseum, and fiddled whilst Rome burned down around him. But, did he really do all these bad things? And if he didn't where did these stories come from? Why are people so ready to believe such stories? And if he were so bad, how come he was greatly admired by the lower classes in Rome and the Greeks of his time, and by the princes of the later Renaissance? In this session, we'll talk about the reign of the emperor Nero -- especially in terms of the sources of the time that recount his reign and that shape our current perception of Nero. While the Hollywood version of Nero is always entertaining, our job as historians is to examine the original sources carefully. How can we put together both written sources and material sources material remains (statues, coins, &c) to re-evaluate objectively Nero's reign?

Relevant Subjects: Classical Civilisation, Classics, Ancient History, General European History