Module manager: Regine May
Email: r.may@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2026/27
| CLAS2924 | Ancient Comedy |
CLAS3900 CLAS3940
This module is approved as a discovery module
This module encourages students to acquire an overview of comedy in the ancient world, including detailed study of selected plays from the corpus of extant Greek Old and New Comedy, and the Roman Comedy of Plautus and Terence. Students will explore the various literary-historical, political, religious, philosophical, social and intertextual perspectives which shed light on the plays, and explore what ancient humour entails and how it is reliant on its social and literary contexts. Through the study of primary sources in detail and suitable secondary literature, students will engage with contemporary critical debates surrounding Greek/Roman drama, and important aspects of ancient humour such as sexuality, morality, education. and the role of women in ancient societies. NB in some ancient comedies rape plays a significant role, and will therefore be studied in detail. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
On completion of this module, students should be able to:
Discuss, both orally and in writing, the development of Greek/Roman comedy; Relate the plays to their historical, social and cultural contexts, taking into account changing literary-historical, political, religious, social and intertextual perspectives; Explore parallels between Greek/Roman dramatic texts and assess the relationship of the “comedy” genre within the development of literature in the ancient world. Critically evaluate secondary sources relating to Greek and Roman comedy.
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
1. discuss, and analyse representative plays of Greek/Roman comedy and the development of the genre, and relate them to each other where appropriate.
2. demonstrate detailed knowledge of the theatrical and formal aspects of these plays and their historical, political, social, religious and cultural contexts
3. Appraise similarities and differences between Greek/Roman approaches to humour and the relationship of the genre ‘comedy’ throughout ancient literature, taking into account the literary-historical, political, religious, social and intertextual perspectives in the respective contexts these plays were written.
4. engage in advanced literary study, through primary and secondary sources, of Greek/Roman comedy, including critical evaluations of different methods of enquiry and latest developments in secondary literature, while appreciating the uncertainty, ambiguity and limitations of knowledge in the discipline.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
5. analyse critically various forms of primary evidence and relate them to each other and their historical and cultural context.
6. combine generic and subject specific knowledge and relate it to standard and non-standard scenarios outside the context in which they were originally studied.
7. effectively communicate information, arguments and analysis in a variety of forms; 8 formulate and sustain an argument.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 20 | 1 | 20 |
| Seminar | 6 | 1 | 6 |
| Private study hours | 174 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 26 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
There are ongoing opportunities for formative feedback through participation in seminars. There will be a seminar session dedicated to preparing each of the assessment. Students are also given the opportunity to contact tutors for face-to-face meetings, for example in office hours. Feedback from the first coursework will afford a formal opportunity to monitor student progress.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Essay | 50 |
| Coursework | Written Assignment | 50 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 30/04/2026
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