Greek and Roman Political Thought in Context

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 5
• Convenor: Dr Benjamin Gray
• Assessment: two 2000-word assessments (50%) and a 48-hour take-home examination (50%)

In this module you have the chance to engage with the most important themes and debates of Greek and Roman political thought, including:

• citizenship
• rule
• justice
• virtue
• slavery
• gender
• cosmopolitanism.

Focusing on the period from Plato’s Republic to Cicero’s Republic, you will be able to read and interpret these two works in detail, but our aim is to place them in a much broader context of Greek and Roman political debate and argument, which extended well beyond formal philosophy. You will be encouraged to study speeches, historical works, drama, epigraphy and material remains, in order to better understand the wider debates to which Plato and Cicero were contributing.

As well as concentrating on fourth-century BC Athens and first-century BC Rome as centres of political debate, we will consider Hellenistic political thought, to encourage you to think about the long and complex historical processes linking the two republics.