C9569 - SPAZI E MORFOLOGIE DEL CRISTIANESIMO NELLA TARDA ANTICHITÀ

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide students with the critical tools necessary to understand how Ancient Christianity enacted a genuine spatial revolution, appropriating and re-signifying traditional spaces of the sacred (buildings, bodies, objects, animals and plants, waters, mountains, caves), while simultaneously creating a new religious topography centered on cities, new cult buildings, monasteries, and holy bodies—agents of a new conception of time and guarantors of both collective and individual salvation. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to identify, interpret, and critically employ textual and material sources for the informed and up-to-date evaluation, study, and communication of the monumental, documentary, literary, and visual heritage of European civilization during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages.

Course contents

Prerequisite knowledge:

Enrolment in this course is recommended for students who already possess adequate preliminary knowledge, as this cannot be provided during lectures. In particular, students are expected to have:

- a basic knowledge of the broad outlines of the history of Late Antiquity (3^rd-8^th centuries); recommended reading: A. Marcone, Tarda Antichità. Profilo storico e prospettive storiografiche, Roma, Carocci, 2020;

- a basic knowledge of the Bible, its history and structure; recommended reading: P. Stefani, La Bibbia. Il libro per eccellenza, il Mulino, Bologna 2019; or G. M. Vian, La via delle Bibbie, Bologna, Il Mulino 2026.

Classes will be conducted in seminar format (analysis and commentary on sources made available to students via the Virtuale platform) and will focus on The Christianisation of Space in Late Antiquity

Readings/Bibliography

A) Handbooks

A.1. All students enrolled on the course (whether attending or not) must be familiar with one of the following works:

E. Wipszycka, Storia della Chiesa nella tarda antichità, Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2000

G. Filoramo, La croce e il potere: I cristiani da martiri a persecutori, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2014

A.2. Non-attending students are required to know one of the following works:

G. Rinaldi, Cristianesimi nell'Antichità. Sviluppi storici e contesti greografici (Secoli I-VIII), Chieti-Roma, Edizioni GBU, 2008

P. Brown, La formazione dell'Europa cristiana: Universalismo e diversità, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2014

 

B) Monographic section

B1. Attending students must choose at least two of the essays listed below:

A. Guerrerau, Il significato dei luoghi nell'Occidente medievale: struttura e dinamica di uno «spazio» specifico, in Arti e storia del Medioevo, I: Tempi, spazi, istituzioni, a cura di E. Castelnuovo e G. Sergi, Torino, Einaudi, 2002, pp. 201-239

T. Gregory, Lo spazio come geografia del sacro nell’Occidente altomedievale, in Uomo e spazio nell'alto Medioevo, Spoleto, CISAM, 2003 (Settimane di studio, L), pp. 27-60

C. La Rocca, Lo spazio urbano tra VI e VIII secolo, ibid., pp. 397-441

A. M. Orselli, Lo spazio dei santi, ibid., pp. 855-890

C. Sotinel, Les lieux de culte chrétiens et le sacré
dans l’Antiquité tardive, in «Revue de l’histoire des religions», 4 (2005), pp. 411-434

B.2 Non-attending students are required to know with one of the following works:

L. Canetti, Impronte di gloria. Reliquie e ornamento nell'EUropa cristiana, Roma, Carocci, 2012

Spazi e percorsi sacri. I santuari, le vie, i corpi, a cura di L. Carnevale e C. Cremonesi, Padova, Libreriauniversitaria.it edizioni, 2014

A. Vauchez, Sulle orme del sacro. I santuari dell'Europa occidentale. IV-XVI secolo, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2023

 

Teaching methods

The lecturer will use texts and images, which will be projected and made available to students on the course page on the website Virtuale. The textual and iconographic sources presented during the lectures and gradually uploaded onto the website are an integral part of the course programme for attending students.

Students who are affected by learning disability (DSA) and in need of special strategies to compensate it, are kindly requested to contact the Teacher, in order to be referred to the colleagues in charge and get proper advice and instructions.

Assessment methods

Class attendance is recommended to achieve a good result. All those who cannot attend the course for demonstrable reasons of work are required to agree their syllabus in advance during the lecturer’s office hours.

The oral examination will be held at the end of the course, and it will assess:

- basic knowledge relating to the course program (the assessment is carried out on the basis of the materials examined in class and the texts indicated in the program);

- the ability to understand the problems faced during the lectures;

- knowledge of the discipline in its historical development;

- the ability to frame the sources examined in class in their context, and to discuss them critically;

- the quality of oral expression and the ability to construct a logical-argumentative type of speech.

The final evaluation will follow these criteria:

- insufficient grade: lack of basic knowledge and inability to produce a correct interpretation of the texts and / or problems;

- sufficient grade: possession of basic knowledge; mainly correct interpretation, but carried out with imprecision and little autonomy;

- good grade: possession of intermediate level knowledge; fully correct interpretation, but not always precise and autonomous;

- excellent grade: possession of high level knowledge; interpretation of problems not only correct but conducted with autonomy and precision. Excellent oral expression skills.

To apply for the thesis, it is necessary to have submitted for the examination a final paper on a topic defined together with the lecturer. The use of artificial intelligence is not permitted in the preparation of papers and theses. It is also highly recommended to register on the website and take part in the workshops of the «Laboratorio sulle fonti per la ricerca storica» organised by Prof. Donatella Tronca.

As the timeframe for drafting a thesis needs to be carefully calculated, arrangements should be made with the lecturer well in advance: at least six months for a three-year degree and at least a year for a master’s degree. The most appropriate graduation session will be suggested by the lecturer on the basis of the work done

Teaching tools

The main teaching support tools, which will be illustrated in class and on the Virtuale course page, are available at the Campus Central Library (Palazzo Corradini) and at the website AlmaRe, the Library of Bibliographic and Documentary Electronic Resources of the University of Bologna.

Office hours

See the website of Luigi Canetti