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Study online with Macquarie University through Open Universities Australia. Explore all degrees, subjects and short courses now.

The Bachelor of Arts (OUA) at Macquarie University is a distinctive course that equips its graduates with knowledge and skills that can be applied in any career or in further study. No other course offers as much flexibility and a wide range of study options as the Bachelor of Arts. You will be given the opportunity to turn your passion into a career while developing a strong set of core transferable skills valued by industry and the society. In consultation with industry, the Bachelor of Arts (OUA) places a strong emphasis on skills for success in the 21st century workplace. You will be taught by active researchers, leading academics and award winning teachers.

Make your degree unique and study what interests you. Analyse critically, think creatively and problem-solve at work or in everyday life. Complete foundational studies then tailor your degree with a major. Create a portfolio and build your connections.

Bachelor of Arts

Graduates in the Master of Ancient History (OUA) will have specialised knowledge in this discipline and skills for research and further learning. In this course, you will have the opportunity to gain advanced and integrated understanding of a complex body of knowledge in a range of relevant disciplines. In addition to the coursework offered through seminars, you will conduct research in your chosen field. You may only enrol in the course as an online student. The course caters for anyone who wishes to further their studies in Ancient History, support specific professional development (eg teachers), or prepare for higher degree research studies.

Understand who we are today by looking into the trials of history. Learn how to critically examine cultures of ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds at a postgraduate level.  

Master of Ancient History

Please note: All Macquarie subjects are now available in Semesters. Please refer to the <a href="https://www.open.edu.au/your-studies/getting-started/key-dates" target="_blank">Key Dates </a>page for further information.The course will provide pathways for you, to further studies in Ancient History, support specific professional development needs (eg for teachers) or preparing you for entry into the Master of Ancient History in an online mode.You will have the opportunity to gain an understanding of a complex body of knowledge in a range of the disciplines offered: Ancient Greece, Rome, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Israel, Early Christianity, Coptic Studies, and Ancient Languages.In addition to the coursework offered through a program of online seminars, you may conduct research in your chosen field.From 2020 the Macquarie subject codes have changed. All subjects previously studied under the old subject code will be recognized as equivalent.

Study the art, architecture, religion and literature of ancient civilisations to develop an understanding of cultural history. Specialise in Ancient Greece, Rome, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Israel, Early Christianity, Coptic Studies or Ancient Languages. 

Graduate Certificate of Ancient History

Myth in the Ancient World

Latin A

Studying the Past: An Introduction to Ancient History in the 21st Century

History of Intelligence

The Archaeology of Egypt and Near East: Applying Lessons from the Past

Revolutions, Nationalism and Exploitation in the Modern World, 1789-2001

Ancient Greek A

Forging the West: A World History of Europe, 1215-1788

The study of the past is constantly evolving and this unit sets out to introduce students to the changing nature of the study of antiquity and the on-going significance of the past in the modern world. This unit also introduces students to the study of primary sources, or evidence from Greek and Roman world, and the evaluation of how history is written through an analysis of a specific historical area. The first section of the unit is focused on the study of ancient sources - what is our evidence and how did authors millennia ago write about major world events - pandemics, war, politics, and so on that continue to be a focus for us today. This section of the unit will give you a thorough understanding of the issues around the use of evidence in Ancient History.The second section of the unit focuses on the writing of ancient history in the modern world. You will study a developing area of recent research and critically evaluate how this research is created, its limitations and its strengths, and its significance for those living in the modern world.The third section introduces students to recent research on the ancient Mediterranean and current approaches to the writing of the Ancient History of this region that includes a variety of ancient cultures and peoples: Carthaginian, Greek, Roman, Italian, Numidian, Sicilian and so on.

Explore how universities in today’s modern world research and make meaning of the past. You’ll review evidence of major events in Greek and Roman history. And with a critical eye, you’ll evaluate ancient sources against current principles and processes.

In 1215 CE, a Mongol army led by Genghis Khan conquered the Chinese city of Zongdhu (present-day Beijing), creating the basis for the largest contiguous land empire in human history. That same year, leaders of the Latin Church met for the Fourth Lateran Council in Rome at the other end of Eurasia, establishing western European Christian doctrine for the next three centuries. These civilizations soon came into contact as the Mongol Empire enabled commerce and cultural exchange between east and west Eurasia. This unit explores how the increasingly complex network of connections that linked Europe and the wider world between the High Middle Ages and the eve of the modern era helped to create the particular society and culture that we today frequently refer to as “the West.” We focus on the historical contingency of this creation and the ways in which both European and non-European influences and factors forged the idea of the West. From medieval encounters between Christianity and Islam to eighteenth-century encounters between Pacific Islanders and Europeans, from the thirteenth-century Eurasian economic world system to the truly global economy that emerged after 1500, from the horseback empire of the Mongols to the martime empires built by European states, we explore the transformation of the premodern world. The unit considers these processes from both European and non-European perspectives.

Explore a crucial period of premodern history. Analyse the religious, political, economic, and cultural events that contributed to the creation of Western society. Dive more deeply into an aspect of this era by penning a research-based essay. 

Every week students will be introduced to a number of myths from ancient Greece, Rome, the ancient Near East (including Egypt), and some myths from the Aboriginal traditions. You will study the earliest creation myths, explore the stories of gods and goddesses, heroes and monsters, in ancient literature and art. The myths, studied in translation, will be analysed in terms of their cultural context, the genre in which they belong, their typology and as the semester progresses through certain theoretical perspectives.

Reveal how the politics and cultural life of ancient civilisations are reflected in their mythology. Meet figures from Greek, Roman and Near-Eastern mythology. Study Egyptian and biblical texts. Look for examples of myths in literature and art.

This unit comprises the study of Byzantine history from the foundation of Constantinople in the fourth century AD onwards. It focuses on the role of the emperors as continuators of the Roman imperial tradition, and on the continuity/discontinuity of the classical tradition, as wellas on contacts between the Byzantines and the Arabs(East), Medieval Europe (West) and the South Slavs (Balkans). Major themes include: interactions between emperors and their subjects; historiography; legislative developments; art and architecture; philosophy; monasticism; iconoclasm; and the role of women in society.

Byzantium in the Age of the Emperors

This unit surveys the history of magic from the ancient world to the present day, covering cultures from the Ancient Near East, Egypt and the Graeco-Roman world, Late Antiquity, Medieval and Renaissance Europe, down to the early modern world, as well as aspects of cognitive psychology such as perceptual illusions and delusional beliefs. It provides thorough coverage of the way magic has been defined, understood, and used in these civilisations, and the way it has been conceived and studied in the history of modern scholarship over the past two centuries. Students will focus closely on the material sources for ancient magic, especially handbooks of spells and amulets on papyrus. There will also be close consideration of the construction of magic as an antithesis to religion in the ancient and modern worlds, and a focus on the role, use, and understanding of magic in wider historical, literary, and scientific contexts.

A History of Magic: From the Magi to Merlin

An advanced level study of some of the most common categories of material in the ancient world, including metals, stones, clay, animal and plant based fibers, timber and ivory, and various genres of materials production such as architecture, ceramics, sculpture, weaponry and equestrian equipment, with particular emphasis on technology, manufacture, function, style, iconography, chronology and spatial distribution. Material will normally be drawn from a diverse range of cultures, with specific physical examples from the collections of the Museum of Ancient Cultures, and may vary from year to year. Relying on this background, and in parallel, students will also be introduced to the history of museums and museum collections, the illicit trade of antiquities, the manufacture of forgeries, the participation of public museums and private collectors and related repercussions for the reconstruction of the historical record.

Explore how ancient cultures made things and how they’re displayed in museums today. From ceramics to weapons, you’ll reflect on various materials and technologies. Think ethically about exhibiting artefacts, considering forgeries and illicit trade.

Material Culture and Museum Studies

Introduces students to foundational skills and concepts in the study of modern history from the late eighteenth century. Students will traverse the world from 1789 to 2001 looking closely at the role of revolution and the emergence of the nation-state, as well as the cost to humans and the natural world of economic growth and colonisation. Beginning with the French Revolution, the unit investigates conflict and change in the quest for equality and citizenship, telling the story of democratic aspirations in the modern world, including competing visions of modernity. It considers those excluded along with the new forms of solidarity and enmity created against the backdrop of rapid industrialisation, capitalism and environmental change. Students will build a foundational chronology of the modern world and develop skills such as critical and analytical thinking, effective communication and empathy.

Recent surveys of popular historical awareness have demonstrated that most people find out about the past from film and television, yet visual histories are often criticised for the ways they present the past. This subject will consider the limitations and possibilities of history on screen. Do filmic histories represent a more &#39;authentic&#39; engagement with the past, or do they peddle false versions of history to a gullible public? How might we read historical films and television programs carefully and critically to understand diverse historical interpretations? This subject will develop student&#39;s understandings of the critical study of history on film, examining the ways that all historical texts (including films) make arguments about the past. The unit will examine cinematic and televisual representations of Australian, American and British histories.

Screening the Past: History on Film and Television

More than seventy years after the end of the Second World War, fascism and Nazism continue to fascinate. In this course, we will explore Italian fascism and German Nazism as broadly understood in Europe and globally to better understand the appeal of their conservative, reactionary, and militaristic ideology. We will read the key literature on definitions of fascism in order to understand the concept as more than a pejorative. Through a close examination of the governments of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany we will investigate how fascist regimes controlled everyday life, mobilised political support, shaped men and women&#39;s bodies, built cults of personality around their leaders, silenced the press, defeated leftist student organisations and unions, and organised repressive systems of militaristic expansion. We will also concentrate on the way that people learned to resist, survive, and even thrive under fascism through the formation of armed bands, clandestine intellectual networks, and organisations for non-violent struggle.

Resisting the Nazis: Fascism and its Opponents

This subject was previously known as MHIX220 Twentieth Century Europe.Was Europe indeed the &#39;dark continent&#39; suggested by historian Mark Mazower? This unit offers a political, social, cultural and economic overview of Europe&#39;s 20th century relations with the wider world. We will trace European’s obsession with race and empire and consider how that gave rise to the First World War. In the second part, we address the crisis of European liberalism in the face of the Great Depression, Russian communism, and the rise of fascism and Nazism. We finish with an investigation of Europe’s postwar evolution in the context of the Cold War; the Americanisation of Western Europe and the effects of decolonisation and post-colonial immigration. Through a wide range of primary and secondary sources, class discussions, and scaffolded assessments students will develop their critical historical reading and writing skills.

Trace the obsession with race and empire across Europe. Register the impact of fascism and communism. Learn about the wars that wracked the first half of the century.
Watch as the continent embarks down a road of political, cultural and social change.

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