Page 2 - Classics Week 2022

Taster Session

Reading and writing women in the ancient world: focus on writing

Historical fiction about the Greek and Roman worlds is perennially popular with readers, and with the releases of books like Circe, The Children of Jocasta, and Electra, the new sub-genre of fiction exploring myths and legends has never been stronger. How are the female figures of these stories presented as relevant and accessible? 

Taster Session

Origins of the Goddess in Ancient India

The Goddess is a figure of great mystery in premodern India. Mostly absent in the ancient period, she arises seemingly from nowhere to become Sakti, a dangerous and powerful divinity of central importance in medieval Saivism. How might we begin to explain her origins? This lecture will seek to address some of these questions.

-Taster Session

Great works: Handel's Semele

Explore Handel’s ever-popular oratorio from Ovid’s original tale to William Congreve’s English libretto, and discover key features of Handel’s musical language.

Taster Session

Latin taster

Get a taste of one of the most important languages of the ancient world, Latin. This is a taster course to one of the most important ancient languages: the language of Virgil, of Cicero and Ovid.

Taster Session

Classics Greek taster

Get a taste of one of the most important languages of the ancient world. This is a taster course to one of the most important ancient languages: the language of Homer, of historians and philosophers. 

Taster Session

The fight against Enslavement: Nanny of the Maroons

Join us as we explore the significance of Jamaica’s enigmatic national heroine, Nanny of the Maroons, who led a successful ten-year guerilla war against enslavement by the British. What can the life, legends and myths surrounding Nanny’s life teach us about race, gender, leadership and power in Jamaica in the 1700s?

Taster Session

Mighty Madonnas and wild women: picturing feminine power in Renaissance Italy

Join us for an exploration of the multi-faceted depictions of feminine power in Renaissance Italy. Discover how artworks tell us about the women depicted and about the men who desired them.

Taster Session

The representation of women in Islamic art

Islam prohibits the depiction of living beings in religious contexts. However, human and animal representations are permitted on works of art and architectural decorations in a secular setting. But how are women portrayed over the centuries? In this course we will try to answer these questions. 

Taster Session

The women who changed history

This course will look at a series of mainstream feature films, including Made in Dagenham and Erin Brockovich, which are based on historical incidents in which women took a stand for better working and/or living conditions. We'll explore the real women who changed history via their political/social activism.

Taster Session

From fortune tellers to phantoms: depicting dangerous women in modern Europe

Discover the types of women who don't conform to social rules, who wield a supernatural power that destablises the status quo. From the threatening type to the empowered woman, join us for an exploration of dangerous women in the art of modern and contemporary Europe.

Taster Session

Demeter, Persephone, and the myth of rebirth

Goddesses Demeter and Persephone are associated with the crop cycle and the Eleusinian mysteries. In this course we discuss the Homeric hymn to Demeter and explore the soul’s descent into the underworld and its rebirth, guided by the ‘Orphic’ gold tablets found in ancient graves.

Taster Session

Great works: Strauss's Elektra

Explore the title figure of Strauss’s trail blazing opera from ancient Greek mythology to Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s German libretto, and discover key innovations in Strauss’s musical language.