2024/25 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

CLAS2700 Homer's Iliad

20 creditsClass Size: 90

Module manager: Elizabeth Pender
Email: e.e.pender@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

Module replaces

CLAS3133CLAS3143

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This module is suitable for Level 2 students with some basic knowledge of Classical literature. It provides a thorough introduction to the themes and structure of Homer's Iliad, issues surrounding its composition and transmission, and its enormous cultural significance. The poem is studied in English translation (tr. M. Hammond, Homer: Iliad, Penguin 1987). The module is worth 20 credits and runs over both semesters, with one lecture per week and a total of five seminars.

Objectives

Objectives: to introduce students to Homer's Iliad and its cultural significance. On completion of the module students will have a thorough knowledge of the poem, its theme and structure, and of issues surrounding its composition and transmission. They will understand the key cultural position of this work and will appreciate its unique literary qualities.

Syllabus

Topics to be covered include: the Trojan/epic cycle; composition and its historical context; Homer and the artists (showing transmission of stories in early period); the structure of the poem; development of particular themes; presentation of the gods; the moral code of the poem and the general view of life and death; religious ritual; rhetoric and diplomacy; family and social underpinnings; female characters; influence on later Greek morality; influence on literary tradition.

Teaching methods

Delivery type	Number	Length hours	Student hours
Lecture	18	1.00	18.00
Seminar	5	1.00	5.00
Private study hours			177.00
Total Contact hours			23.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)			200.00

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Seminar participation and essays

Methods of assessment

Coursework

Assessment type	Notes	% of formal assessment
Essay	2000 words maximum	50.00
Written Work	Commentary - maximum 2000 words	50.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)		100.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 10/09/2024

Disclaimer

Browse Other Catalogues

• Undergraduate module catalogue
• Taught Postgraduate module catalogue
• Undergraduate programme catalogue
• Taught Postgraduate programme catalogue

Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team.PROD