MA Handbook
for degrees administered by the
MA Board of Studies
in the
Department of Classics
2008-09
Please keep this handbook in a safe place
as you will need to refer to it throughout your programme.
Disclaimer
This is a guide for the convenience of students and staff. Formal Ordinances and Regulations are given in the University Calendar ( in the Programme Specification (available at and in relevant module descriptions ( should there be, or appear to be, any conflict between statements in this handbook and the full Ordinances, Regulations, Programme Specifications or module descriptions, the latter shall prevail.
Although the information in this Handbook is accurate at the time of publication, aspects of the programme and of School practice may be subject to modification and revision. The University reserves the right to modify the programme in unforeseen circumstances, or where the process of academic development and feedback from students, quality assurance processes or external sources, such as professional bodies, requires a change to be made. In such circumstances, revised information will be issued. Information provided by the School in the course of the year should therefore be regarded, where appropriate, as superseding the information contained in the handbook.
Please keep this handbook in a safe place as you will need to refer to it throughout your programme.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
5. Welcome to the Department.
6. Key Dates
Department of Classics
7. Who we are
8. The Department rooms, incl. Postgraduate Room
9. Keeping in Touch
Learning resources
10.University Library
10. Department Library
10. Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology
11. Computer Facilities
11. Bookshop
11/12. Libraries elsewhere
12. Conferences and travel grants
13. Language learning opportunities
14. Opportunities for you to express your views
References and citations
15. Citing ancient texts
16. Citing modern books or articles
17-19.Bibliography
MA Programme Information
20. What is an MA degree?
20. General Structure of the MA Courses
21. Dissertation timetable
22. Part-time students
23. MA Programme Specifications
24-29. MA in Classics
30-35. MA in the Classical Tradition
36-41. MA in Ancient Art
42-47. MA in the City of Rome
48. Module Descriptions
49-50. CLMRM Classics Research Methods
51-52. CLMAC Approaches to Classics
53-54. CLMACT Approaches to the Classical Tradition
55-56. CLMAAA Approaches to Ancient Art
57-58. CLMAR Approaches to Rome
59-60. CLMSO Classics Special Options
61-62.CLMBSRCity of Rome
Assessment
63.Marks and grades
63. Feedback
64-66.Marking criteria
66-67. Language Modules
66. Dissertation
68. Standard examination and assessmentprocedures
69. Examination arrangements for students with disabilities
70. Re-examination
70. Medical and other extenuating circumstances
72.Appeals
73-74 Academic misconduct
75-76 Good practice in relation to taking notes
77-78 Understanding plagiarism
General Information
79-80. Study skills
80-81. Careers advisory service
82. Safety
82. Complaints procedure
82. Forms
Annex 1: Extenuating circumstances form
Annex 2: Request form for extension of submission of coursework
Welcome
Welcome, or welcome back, to the Department of Classics in the University of Reading. We are a department well known for our enthusiastic teaching and innovative research. Our interests cover a large span of time through Antiquity, from the Aegean in pre-history (c.1,000 BC) to the fall of the Roman Empire (c.AD 400). We have also taken a lead in pioneering studies of the reception of classical culture in modern times.
This handbook contains important information for your studies with us. Please do read it and keep it safe. It, and a good deal of other information, is also available on the Department's website (
We hope that you will enjoy your time as a Postgraduate student here and will find the staff friendly and the environment stimulating. Please do not hesitate to ask any member of staff about any questions that you may have.
Dr. Dunstan Lowe, Director of Taught Postgraduate Programmes/MA coordinator
Professor Barbara Goff, Head of Department
Key Dates
Academic year 2008/09
Welcome weekMonday 29September – Friday 3 October
Autumn Term 2008Monday 6 October- Friday 12 December
Spring Term 2009Monday 12 January - Friday 20March
Summer Term 2009Monday 20 April - Friday 26 June
Deadline for receipt of dissertation: Monday21stSeptember 2009 (4pm)
Academic year 2009/10
Welcome weekMonday 28 September – Friday 2 October
Autumn Term 2009Monday 5 October- Friday 11 December
Spring Term 2010Monday 11 January - Friday 19 March
Summer Term 2010Monday 19 April - Friday 25 June
Deadline for receipt of dissertation:20thSeptember 2010 (4pm)
THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS
Who we are
The member of staff concerned primarily with the running of the MA courses is the acting Director of Taught Postgraduate Programmes/MA coordinator, who also plays the role of Personal Tutor to MA students. The Directors of the individual MA programmes are: Ancient Art, Dr. Amy Smith; Classics, Dr Dunstan Lowe, Classical Tradition, Dr. Barbara Goff; and City of Rome, Dr. Matthew Nicholls.
Responsibility for the MA courses taught in the Department of Classics lies with the Board of Studies for MA Degrees in Classics. This is chaired by the Head of the Department; its secretary is the Director of Taught Postgraduate Programmes.
Members of staff whom you may encounter during your studies with us include:
Dr Emma Aston Room 41
Dr. Aston’s interests include Greek cult, especially extra-urban sanctuaries; monsters and fabulous creatures in Greek myth and religion; ancient attitudes towards the natural world.
Dr David CarterRoom
Dr. Carter's interests include the politics of Greek tragedy, especially Sophocles.
DrTimothy Duff Room
Dr. Duff specialises in ancient biography and historiography, especially Plutarch. He is Director of the Centre for Hellenic Studies and also of Taught Postgraduate Programmes, and director of the MA in Classics. For the academic year 2007-8 he is a Humboldt Fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin.
Professor Barbara Goff Room
Dr. Goff''s interests focus on Greek tragedy and its reception, women in antiquity, and literary theory. At present she is working on the relations between classics and colonialism. She is director of the MA in the Classical Tradition.
Dr Katherine Harloe Room 30
Dr. Harloe’s main research specialism is the reception of antiquity in European political thought and intellectual history from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries
Professor Helen King Room
Professor King specialises in the history of classical medicine. Her interests include ancient women, mythology, and the reception of ancient medicine from the Renaissance onwards. She is also Head of Department.
Dr Gill KnightRoom 30a
Dr. Knight is a Latinist interested in Classical and Medieval Latin Literature. Her research interests include letter writing and letter collections. She is School Director of Teaching and Learning.
Dr Peter Kruschwitz Room 33a p.kruschwitz@reading,.ac.uk
Dr. Kruschwitz’s main research interests are Roman Republican literature (poetry in particular), Roman metre, Latin epigraphy (especially Republican inscriptions, metrical inscriptions, and the wall inscriptions of Pompeii and Herculaneum)and the Latin language.
Dr Dunstan LoweRoom
Dr. Lowe's main research interest is Roman poetry, particularly themes of abnormality and disruptiveness. He has recently completed a PhD at Cambridge on Monsters in Augustan Poetry.
Dr Annalisa MarzanoRoom
Dr. Marzano is a specialist in the archaeology and the social and economic history of the Roman Empire, particularly Roman Italy.
Dr Matthew Nicholls Room 43
Dr. Nicholl’s research interests include Roman architecture, cities, settlement, and monuments, and the way that emperors and other patrons made use of them. His D.Phil. was on public libraries in the Roman world and he is working on a book on the same subject for Oxford University Press.
Professor Ian RutherfordRoom
Professor Rutherford's interests include ancient Greek poetry, ancient Greek language and literature,
pilgrimage in the ancient world.
DrAmy SmithRoom 43 a.c.smith@reading .ac.uk
Dr. Smith's speciality is ancient art and she is interested in politics, myth, religion, and
women in antiquity. She is also active in digitizing the ancient world, having served as
an editor of the Perseus Project. She is curator of the UreMuseum, and director of the MA in Ancient Art.
Dr Phiroze VasuniaRoom
Dr. Vasunia's research interests are in Greek literature, cross-cultural contact, and the histories of colonialism and Orientalism. His current projects include a book on the relationship between classics and the British empire as well as a commentary on Book Two of Herodotus. He is also Director of Research.
Subject Officers:
Subject Officer: Mrs Sue Melia
Subject Officer: Ms Verity Hunt,
Asst. Subject Officer & Asst.Ms Jennifer Allison,
Curator of the UreMuseum
School Post Graduate Administrator:Mrs Lisa Pickering
- Department rooms incl. Postgraduate Room
The Department of Classics occupies a ground floor corridor in the Humanities and SocialSciencesBuilding (HumSS for short). The other departments that make up the School of Humanities (History, History of Art, and Philosophy) are all housed in the same building. Within the department are the offices of the academic staff, the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, the office of the curator, the office of the Subject Officers, the Department Library, and rooms housing the department's public computers and a photocopier.
The Department has recently designated Room 35 as the Postgraduate Room. All postgraduates are issued with keys to this room. As well as serving as a social centre, the room is equipped with an HP PSC 1350 all in one printer/scanner/copier, and a PC6300-64, Windows 2000. Postgraduate mail is left in trays in room 41, where there are also other computers available.
- Keeping in Touch
During your initial MA meeting you will be asked to fill out a departmental registration form. If any of your details change during the course of the year, please inform Lisa Pickering, School Post Graduate Administrator. You should also inform the University Services Office (
The University provides all students with a University email account and email is used regularly in the University as an ‘official’ form of communication between staff and students. Therefore in addition to checking Department notice boards and your pigeon-hole for mail, you must also check your University email account regularly and reply as necessary to messages received.
As a bare minimum, teaching staff and students are required to check their email accounts at leastonce a day during term-time.
You are expected to use your University email account in preference over private Internet Service Provider accounts, for the following reasons:
- the University guarantees that this account will be available to you for the entire duration of your studies;
- the University guarantees that suitable, supported email software will be availableto you for the entire duration of your studies;
- the University offers an email service to standards of availability, reliability, performance and security which it determines and which are under its own control.
You may set up forwarding arrangements to automatically send email received in your University account to another email account of your choosing. However you do so at your own risk and should ensure that you forward to a valid and existing account. The University can only be held responsible for email reaching your University email account. If an email has been sent without apparent problem to your University account, the sender may reasonably assume that you will receive that email. If you do wish to forward email from your University account to a private Internet Service Provider account consult the ITS web pages, It is a good idea to store a copy of any forwarded mail on your University account.
LEARNING RESOURCES
The University Library
Classics materials are concentrated in the Main University Library on the Whiteknights campus. The Research Methods module includes an introduction to the library and the library holds training sessions throughout the year:
To find things, use the computer catalogue, 'Unicorn' ( This allows you to search by author's name, book title, periodical title, or by subject. Books relevant to different areas in Classics are found in different places. In general, Ancient History and Archaeology materials are on the fourth floor in the low to mid-900s. Classical literature is on the third floor, in the 880s. Art is also on the third floor. Remember that much is also shelved in other sections, for example, Sociology (301), Philosophy (170) and Religion (270). Note, periodicals and large (folio) books are shelved in separate areas. New periodicals are in a special section (along with newspapers) on the first floor.
There is also a range of modern technologies available in the Library. CD-ROMs, internet databases, etc. are there for you to use. The librarians are happy to help. Our specialist subject Librarian is Charles Carpenter; his email address is
A University depends on its Library. Please both respect and use it. Please read the books, but please return them and do not damage or deface them.
- The Department Library
The Department has a small library in Room 40. It contains basic texts, dictionaries, and some modern works. You are welcome to browse it and borrow books by signing them out. Times when the library is open are displayed on the door.
The UreMuseumof Greek Archaeology
The Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, owned by the University of Reading and an integral part of the Department of Classics, is recognised as the fourth largest collection of Greek ceramics in Britain. The collection primarily consists of material from the Greek and Graeco-Roman civilisations of the Mediterranean, most notably Greek and Etruscan ceramics and terracottas. Other artefacts include prehistoric pottery, as well as metal and stone artefacts of later periods of antiquity. There is also an important collection of Egyptian antiquities, ranging from the Pre-dynastic to the Roman period.
There are more than 2000 objects in the museum, not all of which can be displayed at any one time. However the displays are changed periodically and less valuable items may be handled by groups of students.
The museum is open between 9am and 5pm weekday. Some seminars and small classes meet occasionally in the Museum. Other groups must book in advance for guided tours (contact Jennifer Allison, )
Interested students are strongly encouraged to develop projects that might relate to museum objects, or to volunteer to help the museum in any capacity: care/conservation of the collections, education, cataloguing, research, or whatever interests you. Please do not hesitate to contact the curator.
Contacts:
- Curator: Dr Amy Smith ()
- Assistant Curator: Ms Jennifer Allison ()
- Computer Facilities
Facilities are available to you in a variety of locations: there are dedicated facilities in the Postgraduate Room; an Apple Macintosh laboratory with open access is available in HumSS 124; PC laboratories are available in the Computer Services Centre [open until 10.00 pm], the PalmerBuilding [open until 10.00pm], London Road, and Earley Gate, as well as the main Library. The s@il facility, on the first floor of the main Library, provides students with state of the art computers catering to all digital needs. See
The Reading Classics Department Homepage is at It provides links to all aspects of the department, including this handbook, as well as the "Reading Classics Gateway". One of our most valuable resources, this Gateway provides links to Classics-related pages throughout the world on the internet.
The university subscribes to a number of databases such as L'Année Philologique, which are accessible from any networked terminal within the university. The department also possesses a number of CD-ROM databases, including the Thesaurus Linguae Graceae (TLG) and Thesaurus Linguae Latinae(TLL). These may not be removed from the department. Please ask Sue Melia for access to these ( )
If all else fails, you can try a Net search for something you are looking for (a subject, an author, a place). The best search engine for classics is one called "Argos", which is linked from our gateway ( Enquiries may be addressed to Dr Amy Smith (), the department's IT Liaison.
A note on Greek fonts
The department's computers have some unicode Greek fonts. If you need others, please contact Dr. Smith.
- Bookshop
The University bookshop is Blackwell. They can be contacted by email:
- Libraries elsewhere
You may find in the course of writing your dissertation that you need access to material held in other libraries. Here are some possibilities:
You can order books or articles from other libraries through the Inter-Library Loan system (or ILL). Books are brought physically to Reading, and then you can borrow them as usual. Articles can be delivered electronically to you by email. It normally takes a week or two for the books to arrive, but the articles can come in a few days. There is a charge of £2 and you need to get a signature from your supervisor (the Subject Officer, Sue Melia, will arrange for someone else to sign it if your supervisor is away). The details are on
Our library has reciprocal arrangements with many other libraries, allowing you to visit and use these libraries and, through the UK Libraries Plus scheme, to borrow books. You need to apply for a membership card of UK Libraries Plus, which you can do online, and take this and your Reading Library card with you.
The details are on
Unfortunately, this scheme does not include some of the most useful libraries for Classicists within easy reach of Reading: the Institute of Classical Studies in London, and the Sackler Library in Oxford.
The Institute of Classical Studies (ICS) is in the centre of London ( This is one of the best Classics libraries in the world and you can borrow books from here. You are welcome to visit a few times to use the library, though without borrowing, and need to show only your Reading student card or library card. But if you need to visit more regularly, or want to borrow, you have to apply for a student membership in either the Roman Society or the Hellenic Society, which costs £20 per year. The details are on look under 'Hellenic and Roman Societies', and 'Non-members / Visitors'. Further information on the Library is at where you can find links to the Hellenic Society and Roman Society, which contain application forms for joining. Please note that being a member of the Hellenic and/or Roman societies gives you the ability to borrow books by post: that is, you can request books by email, and they are sent to you and then reutrned by post. This can be quicker than Interlibrary Loans