Ancient Cyprus: From the First Settlers to the Romans



Overview

From the deep past to the present-day, the prehistory and history of Cyprus has had enormous influence on our understanding of the archaeology of the Mediterranean and beyond, sitting as it does at the crossroads of three continents.

This course provides a virtual tour of the sites, archaeology, history, and art of Cyprus from the earliest settlers arriving from the Near East in the Neolithic period (from 10th century BCE onwards) to about 200 CE, when the island was a province of the Roman empire. These periods will be explored in chronological order, revisiting recurrent themes including the landscape, rural and urban settlement, religion and ritual, and trade and the economy.

The course will also incorporate a visit to the Ashmolean, including an object handling session, where the tutor Dr Anja Ulbrich works as curator of Cypriot Antiquities.

Programme details

Courses starts: 25 Apr 2024

Week 1: Introduction to the geography and chronology of ancient Cyprus 

Week 2: The Neolithic to the Chalcolithic period: settlement and daily life

Week 3: The Early and Middle Bronze Age: settlements, daily life and the copper industry

Week 4: The Late Bronze Age: urbanisation, trade, and the copper economy

Week 5:  The Bronze/Iron Age transition (until 750 BC): the crisis years

Week 6:  The city-kingdoms of Iron Age Cyprus (750-310): territory, population and economy

Week 7: The city-kingdoms in context: Assyria, Egypt, Greece and the Persian Empire

Week 8: Cyprus as under Egypt and the Roman Empire

Week 9: Visit to the Ashmolean museum: gallery tour, handling sessions (groups up to 10 people)

Week 10: Summary: the current status of Cypriot archaeology and heritage

Certification

Students who register for CATS points will receive a Record of CATS points on successful completion of their course assessment.

To earn credit (CATS points) you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.

Coursework is an integral part of all weekly classes and everyone enrolled will be expected to do coursework in order to benefit fully from the course. Only those who have registered for credit will be awarded CATS points for completing work at the required standard.

Students who do not register for CATS points during the enrolment process can either register for CATS points prior to the start of their course or retrospectively from the January 1st after the current full academic year has been completed. If you are enrolled on the Certificate of Higher Education you need to indicate this on the enrolment form but there is no additional registration fee.

Fees

Description Costs
Course Fee £257.00
Take this course for CATS points £10.00

Funding

If you are in receipt of a UK state benefit, you are a full-time student in the UK or a student on a low income, you may be eligible for a reduction of 50% of tuition fees. Please see the below link for full details:

Concessionary fees for short courses

Tutor

Dr Anja Ulbrich

Dr. Anja Ulbrich is a Classical (Greek) archaeologist and ancient historian. who has specialised in ancient Cyprus and its Greek-Aegean and eastern Mediterranean connections. Since 2009, she has been the curator of Cypriot Antiquities at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, where she teaches diverse audiences Cypriot and Greek archaeology and history.

Course aims

The course aims to give a thorough introductory overview of archaeology and cultural, political and economic history of Neolithic to Roman Cyprus, and set this in the wider context of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Course objectives:

  • To explore the the archaeological and (from the first millennium BCE) textual evidence from the most significant prehistoric and historic sites. 
  • To analyse this evidence to gain insight on ethno-cultural identity, social and political organisation, economy and culture.
  • To enable students to develope a critical awareness of material, visual and textual evidence and its interpretation.

Teaching methods

This course uses various teaching and learning methods to meet different learning styles of students. Teaching includes weekly lectures accompanied by visually rich powerpoint presentations of extensive visual material (images of landscapes, sites, maps, plans, objects/finds, texts in translation), handouts, and the tutor-created workbook for the entire course with further reading suggestions and with questions for assessment.

During the weekly sessions learning will also be facilitated by completing small-group tasks and presentations on specific topics addressed in the lecture, subsequent discussion, and an official group Cyprus gallery tour and handling classes with original Cypriot antiquities (objects) at the Ashmolean Museum.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will be expected to:

  • describe the archaeological and textual evidence from the most important Cypriot sites of each period of the island’s prehistory and history;
  • critically evaluate, analyse, combine and interpret the different types of evidences to extract information on the island’s polities, population and society, government and administration systems, economy, and culture (language, religion, material culture incl. art);
  • understand and describe how Cyprus’ geographic position in the Eastern Mediterranean and its external relations or contacts with and immigration from its neighboring regions (Greek Aegean, Near East, Egypt) impacted on the history of Cyprus and the development of its unique island culture through the millennia.

Assessment methods

For this course, students will be provided with a work-book designed by the tutor at the end of the first, introductory session. The workbook includes the most important material (map, images of important finds, text in translation), suggested further reading list, and  3-5 questions for each of the 10 sessions to be answered by the student in writing by the next session (Option A). The answers to those questions (varying lengths depending on question) should become apparent from the lecture and group discussion in that session as well as from the private study of the suggested reading, which also contains additional illustrated material, or via the web. 

Students must submit a completed Declaration of Authorship form at the end of term when submitting your final piece of work. CATS points cannot be awarded without the aforementioned form - Declaration of Authorship form

 

Application

To earn credit (CATS points) for your course you will need to register and pay an additional £10 fee per course. You can do this by ticking the relevant box at the bottom of the enrolment form or when enrolling online.

Please use the 'Book' or 'Apply' button on this page. Alternatively, please complete an enrolment form (Word) or enrolment form (Pdf).

Level and demands

No previous knowledge of archaeology, history, languages or about ancient Cyprus is required to join or follow the course. Internet literacy and the ability to correspond by email between sessions, if necessary, is highly recommended. The only requirement is a curiosity about the island's past.

Most of the Department's weekly classes have 10 or 20 CATS points assigned to them. 10 CATS points at FHEQ Level 4 usually consist of ten 2-hour sessions. 20 CATS points at FHEQ Level 4 usually consist of twenty 2-hour sessions. It is expected that, for every 2 hours of tuition you are given, you will engage in eight hours of private study.

Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS)

 

Terms & conditions for applicants and students

Information on financial support