Economic and Socilal History of the Ancient World
A.Y. 2020/2021
Learning objectives
The aim of this course is to make the student aware of some rarely treated themes about ancient history, that is the economic structures of the Greek, Hellenistic and Roman Societies, with some necessaries allusions to Near-Eastern ancient Empires. The student will acquire knowledge of the agricultural organization and development, as well as of the agronomic thought of classical world. Then will be treated mine exploitation, banking activities and its influences on the development of "industrial" production and of the exchange, on local, interregional and international commerce and markets. The student will understand that the structure of ancient societies depend on their economic organization and development, as well as on some important cultural factors.
Expected learning outcomes
Knowledges: the student will acquire a knowledge of the organisation of the main sectors of the economy of classical societies and he /she will consider all this in relation with richness and status parameters of people and social groups. The student will acquire the capacity of creating links between historical events and phaenomena and the economic structures as well as some fundamental cultural elements of Ancient societies. A historiographic, as well as a methodologic approach, is a central objective to obtain, in particular through the analysis of the documents -mainly in Greek and Latin-, but in general of all the sources (papyrological, archaeological, numismatic, epigraphical, literary) and their often apparent contradictions.
Competences: the student must obtain a critical capacity of interpretation of documents and ancient sources through which it is possible to reconstruct the social and economic history of the Graeco-Roman world. For this purpose, Graeco-Roman Egypt will be a true "laboratory," being the area from where documentary material mostly comes. The critical method must be applied also to the interpretations of the historiographical thought.
Competences: the student must obtain a critical capacity of interpretation of documents and ancient sources through which it is possible to reconstruct the social and economic history of the Graeco-Roman world. For this purpose, Graeco-Roman Egypt will be a true "laboratory," being the area from where documentary material mostly comes. The critical method must be applied also to the interpretations of the historiographical thought.
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
If emergency conditions will force us to on-line lessons during the second semester:
-programms will not be modified. Eventual problems will be solved through informations published on Ariel;
-lessons will be on Teams in a normally asynchrone form. Contacts with the teacher will take place though maila and, in case, by phone;
- exams will not vary in their form: they will be oral, on-line on teams.
-programms will not be modified. Eventual problems will be solved through informations published on Ariel;
-lessons will be on Teams in a normally asynchrone form. Contacts with the teacher will take place though maila and, in case, by phone;
- exams will not vary in their form: they will be oral, on-line on teams.
Course syllabus
COURSE SYLLABUS
A+B (40 hours, 6 CFU) An introduction to ancient economies and societies
The course will look into the following topics:
- Sources and problems in their interpreation; methodological questions
- Trends in historiography and their development
- Slavery and free labor
- Agriculture in Greek, Hellenistic and Roman world; Latin agronomic thought; the forms of the agrarian organization; agrarian contracts
- Mines and quarries: a regional and diachronic approach; labour involved, administrative organization
- Pre-industrial production: items and organization
- Banking activities: development, operations, contracts
- Trade: local, regional, interregional, international markets; organization of the exchanges
For all these topics a social point of view will be outlined.
C (20 hours, 3 CFU): Cultural tranfers in the society of graeco-roman Egypt.
Part C will focus on Hellenistic and Roman Egypt as a case-study, with the aim of understanding the nature of cultural interactions and influences between ethnic components of the society of this region through documents (principally papyri, but also epigraphical, literary, archaeological, iconographical sources).
A+B (40 hours, 6 CFU) An introduction to ancient economies and societies
The course will look into the following topics:
- Sources and problems in their interpreation; methodological questions
- Trends in historiography and their development
- Slavery and free labor
- Agriculture in Greek, Hellenistic and Roman world; Latin agronomic thought; the forms of the agrarian organization; agrarian contracts
- Mines and quarries: a regional and diachronic approach; labour involved, administrative organization
- Pre-industrial production: items and organization
- Banking activities: development, operations, contracts
- Trade: local, regional, interregional, international markets; organization of the exchanges
For all these topics a social point of view will be outlined.
C (20 hours, 3 CFU): Cultural tranfers in the society of graeco-roman Egypt.
Part C will focus on Hellenistic and Roman Egypt as a case-study, with the aim of understanding the nature of cultural interactions and influences between ethnic components of the society of this region through documents (principally papyri, but also epigraphical, literary, archaeological, iconographical sources).
Prerequisites for admission
No prerequisites for admission.
Teaching methods
The course is offered in a lecture format. All the topics will be presented to students, based on interpretative theories as well as sources, which the teacher will read in Italian translation. Attendance is not mandatory but highly recommended.
Teaching Resources
For undergraduate attending students:
A+B (40 hours, 6 CFU) An introduction to ancient economies and societies
Notes of the lectures
A.Bowman, A. Wilson (eds), The Roman Agricultural Economy, Oxford 2013 (leaving out chapter 3)
Or:
A. Marcone (a cura di), Storia del lavoro in Italia: l'età romana, Castelvecchi editore, 2016.
A+B+ C (60 hours, 9 CFU): Cultural tranfers in the society of graeco-roman Egypt
Notes of the lectures
1) D.Foraboschi, S.Bussi, Integrazione e alterità. Incontri/scontri di culture nel mondo antico, Cisalpino 2013
2) A.Bowman, L'Egitto dopo i Faraoni, Giunti
Oppure
B. Legras, L'Égypte grecque et romaine, Paris, Armand Colin, 2004.
For non-attending undergraduate students:
6 CFU:
3) D.Foraboschi, S.Bussi, Integrazione e alterità. Incontri/scontri di culture nel mondo antico, Cisalpino 2013
4) A.Gara, Tecnica e tecnologia nel mondo antico, CUEM
9 CFU:
1)A.Bowman, A. Wilson (eds), The Roman Agricultural Economy, Oxford 2013 (leaving out chapter 3)
Oppure:
A. Marcone (a cura di), Storia del lavoro in Italia: l'età romana, Castelvecchi editore, 2016.
2)A. Bowman, L'Egitto dopo i Faraoni, Giunti
2)A. Bowman, L'Egitto dopo i Faraoni, Giunti
Oppure
B. Legras, L'Égypte grecque et romaine, Paris, Armand Colin, 2004.
For attending graduate students:
Notes of the lectures
6 CFU
3) A.Bowman, A. Wilson (eds), The Roman Agricultural Economy, Oxford 2013 (tranne il capitolo 3)
Oppure:
B. Marcone (a cura di), Storia del lavoro in Italia: l'età romana, Castelvecchi editore, 2016.
4) D.Foraboschi, S.Bussi, Integrazione e alterità. Incontri/scontri di culture nel mondo antico, Cisalpino 2013
9 CFU
1)D.Foraboschi, S.Bussi, Integrazione e alterità. Incontri/scontri di culture nel mondo antico, Cisalpino 2013
2) J.Andreau, R. Descat, Gi schiavi nel mondo greco e romano, Il Mulino, Bologna 2014
3) LEWIS, Naphtali, Greeks in Ptolemaic Egypt, Case Studies in the Social History of the Hellenistic World, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1986.
For non-attending graduate students:
6 CFU:
4) D.Foraboschi, S.Bussi, Integrazione e alterità. Incontri/scontri di culture nel mondo antico, Cisalpino 2013
5) A.Gara, Tecnica e tecnologia nel mondo antico, CUEM
6) F. Carlà, A. Marcone, Economia e finanza a Roma, Bologna, Il Mulino 2011
9 CFU:
1)A.Bowman, A. Wilson (eds), The Roman Agricultural Economy, Oxford 2013 (leaving out chapter 3)
Oppure:
A. Marcone (a cura di), Storia del lavoro in Italia: l'età romana, Castelvecchi editore, 2016.
2) LEWIS, Naphtali, Greeks in Ptolemaic Egypt, Case Studies in the Social History of the Hellenistic World, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1986.
3) Lewis Naphtali, Life in Egypt under Roman Rule, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1983.
dei Romani, Roma Carocci 2014
A+B (40 hours, 6 CFU) An introduction to ancient economies and societies
Notes of the lectures
A.Bowman, A. Wilson (eds), The Roman Agricultural Economy, Oxford 2013 (leaving out chapter 3)
Or:
A. Marcone (a cura di), Storia del lavoro in Italia: l'età romana, Castelvecchi editore, 2016.
A+B+ C (60 hours, 9 CFU): Cultural tranfers in the society of graeco-roman Egypt
Notes of the lectures
1) D.Foraboschi, S.Bussi, Integrazione e alterità. Incontri/scontri di culture nel mondo antico, Cisalpino 2013
2) A.Bowman, L'Egitto dopo i Faraoni, Giunti
Oppure
B. Legras, L'Égypte grecque et romaine, Paris, Armand Colin, 2004.
For non-attending undergraduate students:
6 CFU:
3) D.Foraboschi, S.Bussi, Integrazione e alterità. Incontri/scontri di culture nel mondo antico, Cisalpino 2013
4) A.Gara, Tecnica e tecnologia nel mondo antico, CUEM
9 CFU:
1)A.Bowman, A. Wilson (eds), The Roman Agricultural Economy, Oxford 2013 (leaving out chapter 3)
Oppure:
A. Marcone (a cura di), Storia del lavoro in Italia: l'età romana, Castelvecchi editore, 2016.
2)A. Bowman, L'Egitto dopo i Faraoni, Giunti
2)A. Bowman, L'Egitto dopo i Faraoni, Giunti
Oppure
B. Legras, L'Égypte grecque et romaine, Paris, Armand Colin, 2004.
For attending graduate students:
Notes of the lectures
6 CFU
3) A.Bowman, A. Wilson (eds), The Roman Agricultural Economy, Oxford 2013 (tranne il capitolo 3)
Oppure:
B. Marcone (a cura di), Storia del lavoro in Italia: l'età romana, Castelvecchi editore, 2016.
4) D.Foraboschi, S.Bussi, Integrazione e alterità. Incontri/scontri di culture nel mondo antico, Cisalpino 2013
9 CFU
1)D.Foraboschi, S.Bussi, Integrazione e alterità. Incontri/scontri di culture nel mondo antico, Cisalpino 2013
2) J.Andreau, R. Descat, Gi schiavi nel mondo greco e romano, Il Mulino, Bologna 2014
3) LEWIS, Naphtali, Greeks in Ptolemaic Egypt, Case Studies in the Social History of the Hellenistic World, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1986.
For non-attending graduate students:
6 CFU:
4) D.Foraboschi, S.Bussi, Integrazione e alterità. Incontri/scontri di culture nel mondo antico, Cisalpino 2013
5) A.Gara, Tecnica e tecnologia nel mondo antico, CUEM
6) F. Carlà, A. Marcone, Economia e finanza a Roma, Bologna, Il Mulino 2011
9 CFU:
1)A.Bowman, A. Wilson (eds), The Roman Agricultural Economy, Oxford 2013 (leaving out chapter 3)
Oppure:
A. Marcone (a cura di), Storia del lavoro in Italia: l'età romana, Castelvecchi editore, 2016.
2) LEWIS, Naphtali, Greeks in Ptolemaic Egypt, Case Studies in the Social History of the Hellenistic World, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1986.
3) Lewis Naphtali, Life in Egypt under Roman Rule, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1983.
dei Romani, Roma Carocci 2014
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam will be oral, an interview, and marks will be out of 30. Students will have to demonstrate to have a clear knowledge of topics treated during the lectures (if attending) and of the bibliography indicated in the programme. Students are expected to organize discourse rationally, with awareness of sources and modern historiography, and to show a critical attitude about topics and sources. Students' presentation must be linguistically accurate with use of the discipline-specific language.
Unita' didattica A
L-ANT/03 - ROMAN HISTORY - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica B
L-ANT/03 - ROMAN HISTORY - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica C
L-ANT/03 - ROMAN HISTORY - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)