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Classical Culture I

Code: 100015
Credits: 6
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Humanities OB 2

Contact lecturer

Name :
Gerard Gonzalez Germain
Email :
gerard.gonzalez@uab.cat

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

This course has no prerequisites.

Objectives

At the end of the course the student should be able to:

  • Interpret the classical culture.
  • Apply the historical, institutional, cultural and literary knowledge of the Graeco-Roman civilisation to the analysis of texts.
  • Analyse the process of textual transmission and the formation of the Romance languages.
  • Comment passages of the main genres of classical literature, and explain their main features.
  • Identify the presence of the classical tradition in European culture.

Learning outcomes

  1. Summarising characteristics of a written text according to its communicative purposes.
  2. Communicating in a properly, organised, and suitable manner in an oral conversation or presentation.
  3. Analysing the recycling of classical motifs in new contexts.
  4. Applying the historical, institutional, cultural and literary knowledge to the commentary of texts.
  5. Criticising the film adaptations of the classical mythological legends.
  6. Enumerating concepts of classic culture that have survived to the present society.
  7. Identifying the Greco-Roman sources that have inspired artists and literary people through history.
  8. Identifying the results of the projection of the classical world to the Western culture on various levels and in several eras and territories.
  9. Interpreting the material and cultural context of transmission of ancient texts.
  10. Relating the contemporary myths with the classical antiquity.
  11. Assessing the reception in the West of the thought and history of the classical world.

Contents

PART ONE

UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Geography and chronology of Classical Antiquity

1.2. What are the classics? What is the classical tradition?

· COMPULSORY READING: Italo Calvino, Why Read the Classics?, 1986.


UNIT 2: THE BOOK, THE PUBLISHING MARKET AND LIBRARIES IN ANTIQUITY

2.1. Writing materials and types of writing in Antiquity.

2.2. The spread of writing, books and reading in ancient Greece.

2.3. The spread of writing, books and reading in ancient Rome.

· RECOMMENDED READING: Irene Vallejo (2020), Papyrus: The Invention of Books in the Ancient World, 2022.


UNIT 3: THE TRANSMISSION OF CLASSICAL CULTURE FROM THE MIDDLE AGES TO CURRENT EDITIONS

3.1. Medieval monasteries and the Carolingian Empire.

3.2. Twelfth-century classicism and scholasticism (13th century).

3.3. The medieval manuscript.

3.4. Humanism.

3.5. The development of the printing press. Textual criticism.


PART TWO

UNIT 4: THE EPIC GENRE IN ANTIQUITY AND ITS TRADITION

4.1. Origins and characteristics of the epic genre in Antiquity. The Homeric question.

4.2. Between mythology and archaeology.

4.3. The Iliad and The Odyssey.

4.4. The epic genre in Rome. The Aeneid.

4.5. The tradition of classical epic.

· COMPULSORY READING: Virgil, The Aeneid (Books I, II, IV, VI, VIII, and XII).

Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Study and personal work 35 1.4 4, 6, 7, 9, 10
Watching of movies 4 0.16 5, 11
Compulsory readings 25 1 4, 9, 11
Lectures 30 1.2 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Analysis and debate of readings and films 6 0.24 1, 2, 4, 5, 9
Supplementary readings 11 0.44 4, 9, 11
Group work and oral presentation 31.5 1.26 1, 2, 4, 7, 9, 11

This is an on-site course. Students are expected to work throughout its duration. Attendance to the lectures will allow the students to properly contextualise the course readings. Although there will be no attendance monitoring, attending to the lectures is key to successfully complete this subject.

Students must carry out a course work on some aspect of the subject's program, in group, that is demonstrative of the contents taught and studied. This work will be defended orally.

Please refrain from checking your mobile phone during the class.

This subject allows the use of AI technologies exclusively for support tasks such as bibliographic searches, text correction or translations. The student must clearly (i) identify which parts have been generated using AI technology; (ii) specify the tools used; and (iii) include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and final outcome of the activity. Lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in the assessed activity will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade may be lowered, or the work may even be awarded a zero. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Written test consisting of short answer and essay questions 40% 1.5 0.06 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Oral presentation in group on a subject determined by the professor 20% 4.5 0.18 2, 7, 9, 10
Written test consisting of short answer and essay questions 40% 1.5 0.06 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT

On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

Weight of assessable activities:

40%: Written test consisting of short answer and essay questions (PART I). Week 7.

40%: Written test consisting of short answer and essay questions (PART II). Week 13.

20%: Oral presentation in group on a subject determined by the professor. Weeks 14 & 15.


SINGLE ASSESSMENT.

Single assessment will consist of two activities:

75%: Written test consisting of short answer and essay questions (PARTS I & II). Week 13.

25%: Oral presentation in group on a subject determined by the professor.

IMPORTANT REMARKS

  • Taking part in any assessable activity precludes the possibility of being classified as \"not assessable\".
  • An average can only be calculated if the overall grade of the tests is equal to or higher than 3.5.
  • In the re-evaluation process, students may retake ONE of the two written tests, but they cannot retake both.
  • Untaken tests (due to medical emergencies justifiable with a doctor's note) willbe taken during the re-evaluation period.
  • In special circumstances, the possibility of improving the final mark during the re-evaluation process may be considered. It will be necessary to talk previously with the professor, since the re-evaluation tests are intended for students who need to retake one of the assessable activities (for a maximum weight of 40%).
  • Recovery of the single assessment: the model of the recovery exam will have the same format as the previous examination with two theoretical tests and one practice.

PLAGIARISM

  • In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

VIRTUAL OR HYBRID TEACHING

  • In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

AGHION, Irène et al. (1997). Guía iconográfica de los héroes y dioses de la antigüedad, Madrid: Alianza.

BEARD, Mary (2013). La herencia viva de los clásicos, Barcelona: Crítica.

BEARD, Mary (2016). SPQR: Una historia de la Antigua Roma, Barcelona: Crítica.

CALVINO, Italo (2016), Per què llegir els clàssics, Barcelona: Edicions 62.

CANCIK, Hubert et al. (2002-2016). Brill's New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World, Leiden: Brill. [with specific volumes for Classical tradition. Online access through UAB's catalog].

GRAFTON, Anthony et al. (2010), The Classical Tradition, Cambridge/London: Belknap.

GRIMAL, Pierre (2008). Diccionari de mitologia grega i romana, Barcelona: Edicions de 1984.

JENKINS, Richard (ed.) (1995). El legado de Roma. Una nueva valoración, Barcelona: Crítica.

JENKINS, Richard (2015). Un paseo por la literatura de Grecia y Roma, Barcelona: Crítica.

JERPHAGNON, Lucien (2007). Historia de la Roma antigua, Barcelona: Edhasa. Ensayo histórico.

JONES, Peter (2013). Veni, vidi, vici. Hechos, personajes y curiosidades de la antigua Roma, Barcelona: Crítica.

LANE FOX, Robin (2007). El mundo clásico. La epopeya de Grecia y Roma, Barcelona: Crítica.

ORDINE, Nuccio (2017). Clàssics per a la vida, Barcelona: Quaderns Crema.

RUZÉ, Françoise - AMOURETTI, Marie-Claire (2000). El mundo griego antiguo: de los palacios cretenses a la conquista romana, Madrid: Akal.

UNITS 2 & 3: BOOKS IN ANTIQUITY. THE TRANSMISSION OF CLASSICAL CULTURE

REYNOLDS, Leighton D. – WILSON, Nigel G. (20144). Scribes and Scholars. A Guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

VALLEJO, Irene (2019). El infinito en un junco, Madrid: Ciruela.

SECOND PART

CODOÑER, Carmen (ed.) (1997). Historia de la literatura latina, Madrid: Cátedra.

CONTE, Gian Biagio (2019, 3a ed.). Letteratura latina, 2 vols, Firenze: Le Monnier università. (Available in English: Latin Literature: A History, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.)

FOLEY, John M. (ed.) (2005). A Companion to Ancient Epic. Oxford: Blackwell.

LÓPEZ FÉREZ, José Antonio (ed.) (1988). Historia de la literatura griega. Madrid: Cátedra.

WEB RESOURCES

http://www.xtec.cat/~sgiralt/

http://www.culturaclasica.com

Software

None.

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed