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Honour School of Classics and English

A

1. The Honour School of Classics and English shall be under the joint supervision of the Boards of the Faculties of Classics and English Language and Literature, and shall consist of such subjects as they shall jointly by regulation prescribe. The boards shall establish a joint committee consisting of three representatives of each faculty, to advise them as necessary in respect of the examination and of the First Public Examination in Classics and English.
2. No candidate shall be admitted to the examination in this school unless he or she has either passed or been exempted from the First Public Examination.
3. No candidate shall be permitted to enter his or her name for the examination who has been adjudged worthy of Honours in Honour Moderations in Classics, or who has there satisfied the Moderators.
4. The Chair of Examiners for the Honour School of English Language and Literature shall designate such of the number of the examiners as may be required for the English subjects of the examination for the Honour School of Classics and English, and the nominating committee for examiners appointed by the Board of the Faculty of Classics shall nominate such of the number of examiners as may be required for the Classics subjects of the examination. When these appointments have been made the number of examiners shall be deemed to be complete.

B

All candidates must take seven subjects. All candidates not taking subject 4(e), Second Classical Language, must offer A, two subjects in English, B, two subjects in Classics, C, two subjects linking both sides of the school, and D, a dissertation. The dissertation may be concentrated on English or on Classics, or may link both sides of the school.

Candidates who take 4(e), Second Classical Language will under C take only one subject, either subject 5 or one of the subjects under 6. The subjects will be examined by written examinations of three hours’ duration, unless otherwise specified.

A: ENGLISH

1. One of the following periods of English literature:
- (a) Literature in English 1350 – 1550 (one paper) [As specified for the Honour School of English Language and Literature Course I Subject 2];
  
  (b) Literature in English 1660 – 1760 (one paper) [As specified for the Honour School of English Language and Literature Course I Subject 4];
  
  (c) Literature in English 1760 – 1830 (one paper) [As specified for the Honour School of English Language and Literature Course I Subject 5].
2. One of the following:
- (a) a second of the periods specified in 1 above;
  
  (b) Shakespeare (portfolio) [As specified for the Honour School of English Language and Literature Course I, Subject 1];
  
  (c) The Material Text (portfolio) [As specified for the Honour School of English Language and Literature Course II, Subject 5(a)];
  
  (d) any of the Special Options subjects from the list for the year concerned, which will be published by the English Faculty Office in the year preceding the examination (extended essay) [As specified for the Honour School of English Language and Literature Course I, Subject 6];
  
  (e) any of the Special Options subjects for English Course II, Medieval Literature and Language, from the list for the year concerned [As specified for the Honour School of English Language and Literature Course II, Subject 6];
provided that candidates who offer (b), (c), (d), and (e) avoid duplicating, in their answers to one paper, material that they have already used in answering another paper.

B: CLASSICS

Subjects 401-14, 501-54, 566-9 and 599 below will be set in accordance with the regulations for the Honour School of Literae Humaniores. For each subject, a detailed specification and, where applicable, prescribed texts will be given in the Greats Handbook applicable to the relevant year of examination. The handbook will be published by Monday of Week 5 of Hilary Term two years preceding the examination.

Subjects 110-1, 115-6 and 130-9 will be as specified in the Regulations for Philosophy in all Honour Schools including Philosophy.

Any candidate whose native language is not English may bring a bilingual (native language to English) dictionary for use in any examination paper where candidates are required to translate Ancient Greek and/or Latin texts into English.

3. A text-based subject in Greek or Latin Literature from (a) 501–513, 515 and 524-5 below.
4. A subject from (a)-(e) below not already offered under 3.
Notes:

(i) Subject (e), Second Classical Language, counts as two subjects; hence candidates offering it should offer only one subject under section C.

(ii) Each of the subjects 503: Historiography, 504: Lyric Poetry and 507: Comedy will be examined by an extended essay of 5,000–6,000 words and a one-and-a-half-hour translation paper, as specified in the Regulations for the Honour School of Literae Humaniores.

(iii) University classes will be given for only one of options 512 and 525, and only one of options 515 and 524 each year.

(iv) It cannot be guaranteed that university lectures or classes or college teaching will be available on all subjects in every academic year. Candidates are advised to consult their tutors about the availability of teaching when selecting their subjects.

(a) Greek and Latin Literature
- 501: Greek Core
  
  502: Latin Core
  
  503: Historiography
  
  504: Lyric Poetry
  
  506: Greek Tragedy
  
  507: Comedy
  
  508: Hellenistic Poetry
  
  509: Cicero the Orator
  
  510: Ovid
  
  511: Latin Didactic
  
  512: Neronian Literature
  
  513: Euripides, Orestes: papyri, manuscripts, text
  
  515: Catullus: manuscripts, text, interpretation
  
  517: Byzantine Literature
  
  518: Modern Greek Poetry
- 524: Seneca, Medea: manuscripts, text, interpretation
- 525: Latin Literature from Titus to Trajan
  
  599: Thesis in Literature
(b) Philology and Linguistics
- 551: Greek Historical Linguistics
  
  552: Latin Historical Linguistics
  
  553: General Linguistics and Comparative Philology
  
  554: Comparative Philology: Indo-European, Greek and Latin
(c) Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
- 110: Aquinas
  
  111: Duns Scotus, Ockham
  
  115: Plato, Republic (in translation)
  
  116: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (in translation)
  
  130: Plato, Republic (in Greek)
  
  131: Plato on Knowledge, Language, & Reality in the Theaetetus & Sophist (in Greek)
- 132: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, (in Greek)
  
  133: Aristotle on Nature, Life and Mind (in Greek)
  
  134: Knowledge and Scepticism in Hellenistic Philosophy (in Greek)
  
  135: Latin Philosophy (in Latin)
  
  136: Knowledge and Scepticism in Hellenistic Philosophy (in Latin)
  
  137: Plato on Knowledge, Language, & Reality in the Theaetetus & Sophist (in translation)
  
  138: Aristotle on Nature, Life and Mind (in translation)
  
  139: Knowledge and Scepticism in Hellenistic Philosophy (in translation)
(d) Greek and Roman History
- 401: Archaic Greek History:c.750 to 479 BC
  
  402: Thucydides and the Greek World: 479 to 403 BC
  
  403: The End of the Peloponnesian War to the Death of Philip II of Macedon: 403 to 336 BC
  
  404: Polybius, Rome and the Mediterranean: 241-146 BC
  
  405: Republic in Crisis: 146-46 BC
  
  406: Rome, Italy and Empire from Caesar to Claudius: 46 BC to AD 54
  
  407: Athenian Democracy in the Classical Age
  
  408: Alexander the Great and his Early Successors
  
  409: The Hellenistic World: Societies and Cultures c.300-100
  
  410: Cicero: Politics and Thought in the Late Republic.
  
  411: Politics, Society and Culture from Nero to Hadrian
  
  412: Religions in the Greek and Roman World, c.31 BC-AD 312
  
  413: Sexuality and Gender in Greece and Rome
- 414: The Conversion of Augustine
- 415: The Achaemenid Empire, 550-330 BC
Note: Each of the subjects 401-6 will be examined in a three-hour essay paper and a one-and-a-half hour paper comprising passages for translation and comment from the prescribed texts, as specified for the Honour School of Literae Humaniores.

(e) Second Classical Language. As specified for the Honour School of Literae Humaniores (VI). Candidates who offer a Second Classical Language must offer either both subjects in Greek (566/568) or both subjects in Latin (567/569), and may not offer either subject in a language in which they satisfied the Examiners in the Preliminary Examination in Classics and English.

C. LINK PAPERS

Detailed prescriptions and set texts for link papers will be provided in the Classics and English FHS handbook for the relevant year of examination.

5. Epic (one paper of three hours plus 15 minutes’ reading time)

6. One of the following:
- (a) Tragedy. This subject may not be combined with 506: Greek Tragedy.
  
  (b) Comedy. This subject may not be combined with 507: Comedy.
  
  (c) The Reception of Classical Literature in Poetry in English since 1900
- This paper will be examined by an extended essay of 5,000-6,000 words. Essay topics set by the examiners will be released on Monday of Week 6 of the Hilary Term preceding the final examination and essays should be uploaded to the University approved online assessment platform by Monday of Week 10 of the same term (12 noon). Candidates will be required to use at least three authors in their essays, at least one of whom must be a classical author. This subject may NOT be combined with subjects 503, 504, or 507. Candidates must avoid repetition in this paper of material used in Paper 2(d).

D: DISSERTATION

1. All candidates for the Honour School of Classics and English must offer a dissertation.
- (i) The subject of the dissertation must be substantially connected with any subject area in Literae Humaniores and/or English Language and Literature.
  
  (ii) The subject of the dissertation may, but need not, overlap any subject or period on which the candidate offers papers. Candidates are warned, however, that they must avoid repetition in their papers of materials used in their dissertation, and that they will not be given credit for material extensively repeated.
  
  (iii) Candidates must submit a dissertation abstract of no more than 100 words, to the Chair of Examiners in Classics and English, care of the English Faculty Office, by 5 p.m. on Thursday of the eighth week of the Michaelmas term preceding the examination.
  
  (iv) The Chair of Examiners in Classics and English will decide as soon as possible, and in every case by Thursday of the first week of the Hilary Term preceding the examination, whether or not to approve the abstract, and will advise candidates of the decision forthwith.

2. The candidate may not discuss with any tutor either his or her choice of content or the method of handling it after Friday of the sixth week of the Hilary Term preceding the examination.

Candidates must include a certificate stating that the dissertation is their own work, and that they have read the Joint School guidelines on plagiarism (see also 3 below). This certificate must be included with the dissertation.

3. Dissertations previously submitted for the Honour School of Classics and English may be re-submitted. No dissertation will be accepted if it has already been submitted, wholly or substantially, for any other degree of this or any other university; and the certificate must also contain confirmation that the dissertation has not already been so submitted.

4. No dissertation shall be ineligible because it has been submitted, in whole or in part, for any scholarship or prize of this University advertised in the University Gazette.

5. The dissertation shall be of 7,000-8,000 words; failure to keep to these limits is liable to be penalized. In the case of a commentary on a text, and at the discretion of the Chair of the Examiners, any substantial quoting of that text need not be included in the word-count. There must be a select bibliography and, if appropriate, list of sources.

6. The dissertation must be uploaded to the University approved online assessment platform, by noon on Tuesday of the ninth week of Hilary Term preceding the examination.