In 2004 the full Lit. Hum. course was revised; students examined since 2008 now
choose eight papers from a wide range of subject areas: Ancient history —
"period" papers ranging from the pre-history of Greece to the first Flavian
emperors in Rome; or "topic" papers, on such subjects as Gender and Sexuality
in the Ancient World or Athenian democracy. Philosophy — from Plato's Republic
and Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics to more modern philosophers, such as Kant
and Wittgenstein. Ancient literature — including "core" papers on mainstream
Greek and Latin texts, plus various individual authors and other topics.
Philology (classical linguistics) — including such papers as 'Greek from Linear
B to the Koine', 'Oscan & Umbrian' and 'General Linguistics and Comparative
Philology'. Classical art and archaeology from vases to buildings. Second
classical language — for those who only offered one language at Mods. Optional
special thesis as a ninth paper; theses can be offered within each of the first
five options. The regulations governing the combinations of papers are
moderately simple: students must take at least four papers based on the study
of ancient texts in the original Latin or Greek; otherwise they can choose what
they want, provided only that if they offer literature papers, they must offer
the appropriate "core" papers too, and if they choose to offer "period" papers
in history then they must offer one of the approved combinations. In the past
it was compulsory also to offer papers in unprepared translation from Latin and
Greek into English; these papers counted "below the line" — candidates were
required to pass them, but they did not otherwise affect the overall class of
the degree. This requirement has now been dropped, and it is possible to pass
Greats without offering any unprepared translation papers. The formerly
optional prose and verse composition papers (English into Latin and Greek) have
been removed from the Greats syllabus entirely.Distinguished graduates in Mods
& Greats include, besides possibly the most celebrated one, H. P. Grice: Isaiah
Berlin, Historian of Ideas, Oxonian professor; Charles Prestwich Scott, Editor
of the Manchester Guardian daily newspaper (now The Guardian); Denis Healey,
read Greats at Balliol 1936–1939, Labour politician, served as Defence
Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour governments of the
1960s and 1970s.; Boris Johnson, former Mayor of London, presently Foreign
Secretary; Ronald Knox, Catholic priest, theologian, writer and apologist; C.
S. Lewis, novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay
theologian, and Christian apologist; Harold Macmillan, former Prime Minister of
the United Kingdom, read Mods (Latin and Greek), the first half of the
four-year Oxford Greats course, at Balliol from 1912–1914, interrupted by
service in the First World War; A.J. Ayer, English analytic thinker (“the
enfant terrible” Grice calls him); H.H. Asquith, former Prime Minister of the
United Kingdom; Peter Snow CBE, British television and radio presenter,
historian; Yang Xianyi, translator of Dream of the Red Chamber into English;
Oscar Wilde, Irish writer and poet. Attained a double first. (His mother signed
as “Speranza”); Bernard Williams, British moral philosopher; Anthony Leggett,
theoretical physicist and winner of Nobel Prize in Physics; H. L. A. Hart,
English legal philosopher (not so much liked by McEvoy); Peter Geach, British
analytic philosopher; G. E. M. Anscombe, British analytic philosopher; J. L.
Austin, English philosopher of language; R. M. Hare, English moral philosopher,
Oxonian professor; Emma Dench, British ancient historian, McLean Professor of
Ancient and Modern History at Harvard University; Gerard Manley Hopkins,
English poet; John Murray Gibbon, read Greats at Christ Church 1895–1899,
Sanskrit & archaeology at Göttingen, world traveller, translator, wrote 35
books, Publicity agent Canadian Pacific Railway, founding Pres. Canadian
Authors Assoc, hon. doctorate Univ of Montreal, Fellow Royal Society of Canada;
Reginald Edward Stubbs, British colonial governor; Barbara Hammond, English
social historian, first woman to take a double first. See also: Modern Greats,
Quadrivium, Trivium. References: Brown, Peter (2003). "Tempora mutantur".
Oxford Today. Archived from the original on May 27, 2011. Retrieved 2006-01-14.
Cook, Stephen (February 18, 2003). "Latin types". The Guardian. Retrieved
2006-09-08. "The Classics Faculty at Oxford". Retrieved 2005-07-12. "The
Philosophy Faculty at Oxford". Retrieved 2006-09-08. Categories: Academic
courses at the University of Oxford, Classical studies; Terminology of the
University of Oxford
Cheers,
Speranza
