Ancient Documents in Their Visual and Performative Context

The course contributes to the MA in Visual, Intellectual and Cultural History by introducing students to approach ancient documents as sources for cultural history, contextualizing them in the spatial, performative and visual dimension of the ancient Greek city (polis) and her countryside.
Students will deal with different aspects of the life of ancient communities, including the process of decision making, war and military training, economy, religion, family and social life. These aspects will be approached based on the analysis, discussion and in-class presentation of selected sources, which, in the case of material remains, inscriptions and texts addressing vast audiences, will be considered also in their visual and performative context. Students will learn the different typologies and characteristics of ancient documents as well as the challenges their interpretation entails.

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

- understand, explain and discuss the different aspects of life of ancient communities in specific spheres, such as politics, economy, war, religion, justice, family and social life;
- use and interpret different types of ancient documents with focus on those addressing public audiences;
- formulate research questions based on the analysis of ancient sources and historiographical materials;
- lead and participate in public discussions;
- write and present (in English) pieces of original research on specific case studies;
- use digital instruments and multimedia to present case studies both in class and online.