Visiting Scholar - Classics & Arch B

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

Total: 85 Hours

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject will be taught by a Visiting Scholar in an area of their expertise. It will provide graduate-level engagement with contemporary work in the student's own or cognate disciplines. A subject description and any preliminary reading will be available by the beginning of the academic year in which the subject is to be taught.

March 2016

Early Empires in Mesopotamia and Anatolia

Coordinator: Professor Paul Zimansky (Stony Brook University)

This seminar examines mankind’s first experiments in creating and maintaining political control by a single sovereign over large territories, embracing multiple ethnic groups and diverse socio-political structures. Case studies include the Hittite Empire, Neo-Assyrian Empire, and Urartu, with comparison stdudies of other states such as the Akkadian and Neo-Babylonia Empires. Each case will begin with a survey of conditions prior to the emergence of the empire, and a review of the process by which the empire was formed. In each instance the contributions of archaeology and cuneiform evidence will be employed to investigate legitimization and transmission of leadership, the role of the capital, administrative bureaucracy, military institutions, provincial structure, frontiers and boundaries, economic integration, and the role of religious institutions in maintaining imperial control. Causes of collapse are to be sought in these building blocks of empire.

A student who completes this subject should have:

• enhanced knowledge of the topic or area of scholarship taught in the module;
• an ability to reflect upon their own research work in relation to the content of the module; and
• enhanced engagement with leading-edge research in particular areas of the Humanities and Social Sciences today.

1. A 500-word essay proposal (20%), due at the end of the teaching period.

2. A 2,000-word essay (80%), due 4 weeks after the teaching period.

Hurdle Requirement: Students are required to attend a minimum of 80% of classes in order to pass this subject. Regular participation in class is expected.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

The subject will contribute, through teaching and discussion with academic staff and peers, to developing skills and capacities including those identified in the University-defined Graduate Attributes for the PhD, in particular:

• the capacity to contextualise research within an international corpus of specialist knowledge;
• an advanced ability to engage in critical reflection, synthesis and evaluation of research-based and scholarly literature; and
• an advanced understanding of key disciplinary and multi-disciplinary norms and perspectives relevant to the field.

Students wishing to enrol in this subject must be admitted into the 101AA Ph.D. –Arts or DR-PHILART Doctor of Philosophy - Arts