Introduction to the Socio-Economic History of the Ancient World

Lessons have the aim of introducing the student in the main structures of Greek, Hellenistic and Roman societies (with some references to ancient Near East), while giving him knowledges about sources, methodological problems, the main interpretative theories of these structures. So in a synthetic way will be presented agriculture and agronomic ancient think, the exploitation of natural products (mines, caves ), the development of bank activities, industrial productions end their organization, and finally commerce (networks, local markets, international markets ).

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.