13352 - Roman Antiquities and Institutions

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student is acquainted with the most important public and private institutions of the Roman world and is able to analyse them through the critics of literary, documentary, and iconographical sources. He is able to understand the evolution and dynamic of those institutions, in the frame of the social, political, and historical context. He is able to properly communicate on the main topics related to this discipline.

Course contents

Oriental Cults in Rome (3rd-4th centuries).

This course aims to deepen some aspects of the religiosity in the Roman world during the crucial period in which Christianity was spreading and gaining a foothold.

Special attention will be paid to the crisis of the imperial cult and the concomitant diffusion of the oriental cults.

Readings/Bibliography

1. Roma, la città degli dèi, La capitale dell'Impero come laboratorio religioso, a cura di Corinne Bonnet ed Ennio Sanzi, Roma: Carocci 2018.

2. Ennio Sanzi, I culti orientali nell’impero romano: un’antologia di fonti, Cosenza: Lionello Giordano editore 2003.

 

CAUTION: The texts from the anthology will be read and exhaustively commented during the lectures. It is up to the students who do not attend the lectures to prepare this part for the exam autonomously. To do this they shall resort to finding of the comments in the original editions. For this reason it is advisable to follow the lessons.

Teaching methods

During the lessons the ancient texts that are found in the anthology recommended in the program will be contextualized, translated, discussed and commented.

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

Assessment will be carried out, through an oral exam, aimed at testing if students can demonstrate:

• Knowledge of the development of Roman history, from the origins to the Late Antiquity and the institutional aspects of the Roman world;
• Knowledge of the methodology of analysis of ancient sources and documentation also based on the interpretations of modern bibliography;
• the ability to use such knowledge to critically identify events, problems and themes of Roman history, also in the light of the materials developed in class and/or self-prepared readings;
• capacity of oral expression.

Grading criteria:

 

Excellent / very good:

• comprehensive and analytical exposition of historical events and institutional issues in all three responses;
• specific and critical recall to the sources behind the reconstruction and the main issues of the scientific debate;
• synthetic organic vision of transversal themes;
• expressive and specific language skills.

Good / satisfactory:

• concise description and synthetic commentary on the events and themes proposed in all three responses;
• constant reference to sources and to scientific debate, even if in essence;
• awareness of the cross-cutting development lines; correct language, even if not always appropriate.

Sufficient:

• basic illustration of the exam material with some circumscribed gap or error in only one of the questions;
• critical analysis of sources only at the examiner's solicitude;
• uncertainty in the reference framework or in evaluating historical development lines or insecurity in correctly explaining transversal themes;
• correct but partially inappropriate language.

Fail:

• Lacks in knowledge of events and lines of historical development in more than one question;
• lack of critical analysis of sources, gaps in the analysis of sources and poor awareness of analytical methods;
• poor orientation within the overall reference framework and limited ability to describe and explain cross-themes and issues;
• inappropriate or incorrect language.

Teaching tools

The course will be organised in frontal lessons held by the teacher himself. He will sometimes make use of an overhead-projector, computer presentations and photocopies of the texts. All these materials can be found at the end of the course also on-line on the web-page of the course.

Office hours

See the website of Tommaso Gnoli