Classical Civilisation is concerned with the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds. As a result, this subject covers an enormous range of diverse disciplines: the history, literature, politics, philosophy, art, and architecture of the ancient Greeks and Romans. In the first year, you will study Homer’s Odyssey, the epic poem which chronicles the adventures of the Greek hero Odysseus, ‘the man of many twists and turns’, as he struggles to return to his island home after a decade away fighting in the Trojan War. Through focused literary analysis, you will investigate the cultural values of Greek society reflected through Homer’s worlds of gods, magic, and monsters. You will also broaden your understanding of ancient Greece by examining its physical remains – the statues, temples, and ceramics produced during 650 – 300 BC. These artifacts provide invaluable insights into the lives and beliefs of the ancient world. You will analyze the formal qualities of these artifacts as well as the political, philosophical, and religious ideas that they convey. In the second year, you will read the great national epic of ancient Rome – Virgil’s Aeneid. The poem’s narrative focuses on the Trojan hero Aeneas, his escape from the destruction of Troy, and his struggles to establish a new city for the Trojan refugees. However, the poem’s mythological narrative is inextricably linked to the historical context that produced it. Virgil was commissioned to compose his masterpiece by Augustus, Rome’s first Emperor. Does this make the Aeneid no more than propaganda? Is Virgil an apologist for a dictatorial regime? Or does his poem raise unsettling questions about the nature of power and the price of civilization? The course’s final component focuses on the personal lives of the ancient Greeks and Romans – their beliefs about love and relationships. The ancient world’s ideas about gender and sexuality were very different from those of the modern world. The syllabus explores these cultural assumptions through analysis of Greek and Latin love poetry. The erotic poetry of Sappho celebrates the joy and pain of intense romantic desire, whereas Ovid provides a poem bursting with tips for the would-be pick-up artist. Philosophical perspectives of love are also investigated. Is being in love something we should celebrate and revel in? Or is the romantic desire something we should be cautious about, and aim to moderate or control?