Greek History Ma
A.Y. 2019/2020
Learning objectives
The aim of the course is to provide students with secure advanced knowledge of Greek history in its chronological development as well as of the specific research methods and current approaches and perspectives within the discipline by means of an in-depth treatment of a monographic theme and a critical and methodologically sound approach to ancient sources.
Expected learning outcomes
The expected learning outcomes include:
- advanced knowledge of the development of Greek history and especially of the political, institutional, socio-economic and cultural issues investigated during the course;
- ability to analyse, contextualise and critically interpret ancient sources (literary, epigraphic and archaeological) according to their specific characters and the thematic issues they individually pose;
- ability to use research methods and bibliographical resources developed by modern scholarship with a view to investigating the ancient Greek world;
- ability to communicate effectively using appropriate language and proving capable of critical judgment with regard to the topics and issues taken into consideration.
- advanced knowledge of the development of Greek history and especially of the political, institutional, socio-economic and cultural issues investigated during the course;
- ability to analyse, contextualise and critically interpret ancient sources (literary, epigraphic and archaeological) according to their specific characters and the thematic issues they individually pose;
- ability to use research methods and bibliographical resources developed by modern scholarship with a view to investigating the ancient Greek world;
- ability to communicate effectively using appropriate language and proving capable of critical judgment with regard to the topics and issues taken into consideration.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
The topics considered during the course include:
Teaching Unit A
- Athenian democracy and its critics in the second half of the fifth century in the light of the Constitution of the Athenians attributed to Xenophon. The "Old Oligarch", a short pamphlet of great originality and interest, will be analysed with regard to its nature and literary genre, to its dating, purposes and audience. An in-depth commentary on a selection of passages will be provided.
Teaching Unit B
- Athenian democracy and its critics in action: the oligarchic regimes of the Four Hundred and of the Thirty Tyrants and their background;
- the emergence of the notion of patrios politeia and its significance as a political slogan;
- the question whether there ever was a conceptually developed oligarchic thought and its theoretical foundations.
Teaching Unit C
- the "rule of law" and the nature of Athenian democracy in the fourth century BC;
- oligarchy in the fourth century: the regime of Antipater and the "philosophical" rule of Demetrius Phalereus.
Teaching Unit A
- Athenian democracy and its critics in the second half of the fifth century in the light of the Constitution of the Athenians attributed to Xenophon. The "Old Oligarch", a short pamphlet of great originality and interest, will be analysed with regard to its nature and literary genre, to its dating, purposes and audience. An in-depth commentary on a selection of passages will be provided.
Teaching Unit B
- Athenian democracy and its critics in action: the oligarchic regimes of the Four Hundred and of the Thirty Tyrants and their background;
- the emergence of the notion of patrios politeia and its significance as a political slogan;
- the question whether there ever was a conceptually developed oligarchic thought and its theoretical foundations.
Teaching Unit C
- the "rule of law" and the nature of Athenian democracy in the fourth century BC;
- oligarchy in the fourth century: the regime of Antipater and the "philosophical" rule of Demetrius Phalereus.
Prerequisites for admission
The course, an advanced course, is addressed to students who have already taken an introductory course in Greek History.
Teaching methods
Teaching Units A and B will be offered in a lecture format; teaching unit C will be organized as a seminar. The course takes the students through the different topics with an approach based on a detailed analysis and commentary on the relevant sources and a critical discussion of interpretative perspectives developed in modern scholarship. All texts and documents analysed during the lectures are available, in advance for downloading, on the dedicated course website on the Ariel platform.
Attendance at lectures is recommended but is not mandatory.
Attendance at lectures is recommended but is not mandatory.
Teaching Resources
Teaching Unit A
1) as a reference work, one of the following handbooks of Greek history:
C. BEARZOT, Manuale di storia greca, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2015 (third edition), pp. 137-159, 168-184;
D. MUSTI, Storia greca, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1989 (and successive reprints), pp. 395-451, 468-539.
2) the Athenaion Politeia attributed to Xenophon (the so-called "Old Oligarch): recommended edition is G. SERRA (ed.), Pseudo-Senofonte, Costituzione degli Ateniesi (con un saggio di L. Canfora), Milano, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, 2018.
3) C. BEARZOT-F. LANDUCCI-L. PRANDI (ed.), L'Athenaion politeia rivisitata. Il punto su Pseudo-Senofonte, Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 2011.
Teaching Unit B
1) C. BEARZOT, Come si abbatte una democrazia. Tecniche di colpo di Stato nell'Atene antica, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2013.
2) A. NATALICCHIO, Μὴ μνησικακεῖν (Me mnesikakein): l'amnistia, in S. SETTIS (ed.), I Greci. Storia, cultura, arte, società, II.2: Una storia greca. Definizione, Torino, Einaudi, 1997, pp. 1305-1322.
Teaching Unit C
1) M. CANEVARO, Making and Changing Laws in Ancient Athens, in E.M. HARRIS-M. CANEVARO (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Law, Oxford 2015 (on-line publication).
2) M. FARAGUNA, Un filosofo al potere? Demetrio Falereo tra democrazia e tirannide, «Mediterraneo Antico» 19 (2016), pp. 35-63.
Bibliography for non-attending students
Module A
as a reference work, one of the following handbooks of Greek history:
C. BEARZOT, Manuale di storia greca, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2015 (third edition), pp. 137-159, 168-184;
D. MUSTI, Storia greca, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1989 (and successive reprints), pp. 395-451, 468-539.
2) the Athenaion Politeia attributed to Xenophon (the so-called "Old Oligarch): recommended edition is G. SERRA (ed.), Pseudo-Senofonte, Costituzione degli Ateniesi (con un saggio di L. Canfora), Milano, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, 2018.
3) C. BEARZOT-F. LANDUCCI-L. PRANDI (eds.), L'Athenaion politeia rivisitata. Il punto su Pseudo-Senofonte, Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 2011;
4) One of the following books:
- M.I. FINLEY, La democrazia degli antichi e dei moderni, Roma-Bari 2010 (terza edizione, con postfazione di C. Ampolo; edizione originale Roma-Bari 1973);
- D. MUSTI, «Demokratia». Origini di un'idea, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1995, pp. 3-102, 139-241.
Module B
C. BEARZOT, Come si abbatte una democrazia. Tecniche di colpo di Stato nell'Atene antica, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2013.
2) A. NATALICCHIO, Atene e la crisi della democrazia. I Trenta e la querelle Teramene/Cleofonte, Bari, Dedalo, 1996.
Module C
1) G. CAMASSA, Scrittura e mutamento delle leggi nel mondo antico. Dal Vicino Oriente alla Grecia di età arcaica e classica, Roma, L'Erma di Bretschneider, 2010.
2) One of the following essays:
- A. BANFI, Sovranità della legge. La legislazione di Demetrio Falereo ad Atene (317-307 a.C.), Milano, Giuffrè, 2010;
- P. CARTLEDGE, Il pensiero politico in pratica: Grecia antica (secoli VII a.C. - II d.C.), Roma, Carocci, 2011;
- M. MARI (ed.), L'età ellenistica. Società, politica, cultura, Roma, Carocci, 2019;
- L. RUSSO, La rivoluzione dimenticata: il pensiero scientifico greco e la scienza moderna, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1997.
1) as a reference work, one of the following handbooks of Greek history:
C. BEARZOT, Manuale di storia greca, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2015 (third edition), pp. 137-159, 168-184;
D. MUSTI, Storia greca, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1989 (and successive reprints), pp. 395-451, 468-539.
2) the Athenaion Politeia attributed to Xenophon (the so-called "Old Oligarch): recommended edition is G. SERRA (ed.), Pseudo-Senofonte, Costituzione degli Ateniesi (con un saggio di L. Canfora), Milano, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, 2018.
3) C. BEARZOT-F. LANDUCCI-L. PRANDI (ed.), L'Athenaion politeia rivisitata. Il punto su Pseudo-Senofonte, Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 2011.
Teaching Unit B
1) C. BEARZOT, Come si abbatte una democrazia. Tecniche di colpo di Stato nell'Atene antica, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2013.
2) A. NATALICCHIO, Μὴ μνησικακεῖν (Me mnesikakein): l'amnistia, in S. SETTIS (ed.), I Greci. Storia, cultura, arte, società, II.2: Una storia greca. Definizione, Torino, Einaudi, 1997, pp. 1305-1322.
Teaching Unit C
1) M. CANEVARO, Making and Changing Laws in Ancient Athens, in E.M. HARRIS-M. CANEVARO (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Law, Oxford 2015 (on-line publication).
2) M. FARAGUNA, Un filosofo al potere? Demetrio Falereo tra democrazia e tirannide, «Mediterraneo Antico» 19 (2016), pp. 35-63.
Bibliography for non-attending students
Module A
as a reference work, one of the following handbooks of Greek history:
C. BEARZOT, Manuale di storia greca, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2015 (third edition), pp. 137-159, 168-184;
D. MUSTI, Storia greca, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1989 (and successive reprints), pp. 395-451, 468-539.
2) the Athenaion Politeia attributed to Xenophon (the so-called "Old Oligarch): recommended edition is G. SERRA (ed.), Pseudo-Senofonte, Costituzione degli Ateniesi (con un saggio di L. Canfora), Milano, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, 2018.
3) C. BEARZOT-F. LANDUCCI-L. PRANDI (eds.), L'Athenaion politeia rivisitata. Il punto su Pseudo-Senofonte, Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 2011;
4) One of the following books:
- M.I. FINLEY, La democrazia degli antichi e dei moderni, Roma-Bari 2010 (terza edizione, con postfazione di C. Ampolo; edizione originale Roma-Bari 1973);
- D. MUSTI, «Demokratia». Origini di un'idea, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1995, pp. 3-102, 139-241.
Module B
C. BEARZOT, Come si abbatte una democrazia. Tecniche di colpo di Stato nell'Atene antica, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2013.
2) A. NATALICCHIO, Atene e la crisi della democrazia. I Trenta e la querelle Teramene/Cleofonte, Bari, Dedalo, 1996.
Module C
1) G. CAMASSA, Scrittura e mutamento delle leggi nel mondo antico. Dal Vicino Oriente alla Grecia di età arcaica e classica, Roma, L'Erma di Bretschneider, 2010.
2) One of the following essays:
- A. BANFI, Sovranità della legge. La legislazione di Demetrio Falereo ad Atene (317-307 a.C.), Milano, Giuffrè, 2010;
- P. CARTLEDGE, Il pensiero politico in pratica: Grecia antica (secoli VII a.C. - II d.C.), Roma, Carocci, 2011;
- M. MARI (ed.), L'età ellenistica. Società, politica, cultura, Roma, Carocci, 2019;
- L. RUSSO, La rivoluzione dimenticata: il pensiero scientifico greco e la scienza moderna, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1997.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam is oral and aims at ascertaining knowledge of the topics dealt with during the course, also through a critical discussion of ancient sources and modern scholarship.
Assessment criteria are the following: ability to organize knowledge through discourse; critical reasoning skills with regard to the topics considered; critical awareness of the problems of method posed by the study of ancient society and by the use of ancient sources; ability to present topics and express oneself with the specialist language appropriate to the discipline.
Marks are out of 30.
Assessment criteria are the following: ability to organize knowledge through discourse; critical reasoning skills with regard to the topics considered; critical awareness of the problems of method posed by the study of ancient society and by the use of ancient sources; ability to present topics and express oneself with the specialist language appropriate to the discipline.
Marks are out of 30.
Unita' didattica A
L-ANT/02 - GREEK HISTORY - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica B
L-ANT/02 - GREEK HISTORY - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica C
L-ANT/02 - GREEK HISTORY - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)