Skip to main content

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

Trinity Menu Trinity Search



You are here Courses > Undergraduate > Anthropology and the Greeks

CLU44509+CLU44510 Anthropology and the Greeks

Classical conceptions have always been implicated in European attempts to stake out what is essential to the human. This module explores how the modern discipline that claimed the study of humanity as its own, the discipline of Anthropology, inherited and reshaped this Classically-informed question and so began its own relationship with the discipline of Classics. Presenting a range of historical case-studies of close interaction between the two disciplines, it examines a variety of domains in which anthropological enquiry and Classical Studies have been and are currently in dialogue. By so doing it demonstrates how an anthropological Classics can implicate Classicists in contemporary anthropological debates and anthropologists in the need for greater appreciation of the Classical roots of their discipline. Its contention is that as the field that studies the cultures that have set the terms of our understanding of ourselves and our world, Classics belongs not only to the study of the past but also to the vital conversations about humanity of our present; there can be no truly self-reflexive anthropology without it.
  • Module Organiser:
    • Dr Ashley Clements
  • Duration:
    • All Year
  • Contact Hours:
    • 44 hours, 22 x 2 hour seminar
  • Weighting:
    • 20 ECTS
  • Assessment:
    • 75% coursework (three written assignments), 25% written examination
  • Course Open To:
    • Classics, Ancient History and Archaeology; TJH Classical Civilisation; TJH Ancient History and Archaeology and TJH Classical Languages (subject to Departmental approval)

Learning Outcomes

On successful conclusion of this module, students should be able to demonstrate:

  • Interpret the work of the early pioneers of anthropological theory in Classics
  • Analyse the use of Classical cultures by early anthropologists in formulating their anthropological approaches
  • Critique the methodology of cross-cultural comparison and its utility for critics of ancient cultures and anthropologists alike
  • Evaluate the Classical foundations of the discipline of anthropology