Health and Wellbeing in the Ancient World

What did being healthy in ancient Rome or Greece look like? How can we tell what wellbeing meant in ancient times? This course will help you investigate the health of people in ancient Greece and Rome, using both literary and archaeological evidence to uncover details of real life in ancient societies.

Explore ancient life through primary evidence

This course is designed to challenge simplistic approaches which apply modern distinctions to the ancient world. Instead you’ll go back to the start and look at the primary evidence on which all modern assumptions are based. You’ll examine different objects closely, learning what each item can tell us about life in ancient times.

Understand ancient theories by examining the body

On the course we’ll divide the body up into organs and systems, using each as a starting point to explore ancient theories of the structure and function of the human body, and other aspects of ancient life.

We’ll discover ancient Greece and Rome in full, from the public to the personal, and from army and urban life to the lived experience of women and children. Using the evidence on the hair and face, the eyes, the digestive system, the organs of reproduction and the feet you’ll explore topics with which our society still wrestles, including the location of the ‘self’; the relationship between mind and body; identity; food and drink; sanitation; sexuality, ageing and gender.

Improve your critical and analytical abilities

Through the course you’ll develop some of the skills needed in the study of classics and history including:

• Improving your ability to critically analyse primary sources
• Learning to analyse complex problems based on fragmentary evidence
• Developing your ability to engage with contemporary interpretations and scholarly debates.

For a taste of what will be covered in this course, read this post from Lead Educator, Helen King.