00996 - Greek History (A-L)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students will be broadly familiar with the development of Greek history, using the basic interpretive categories towards critical analysis of issues pertaining to the Greek world and working from historical and documentary sources read in the original and in translation. Students will have a good knowledge of the main themes, events and phenomena of Greek history in a broader context. They will possess precise spatio-temporal coordinates and know the main tools of information, research and updating. They will read works by historians in at least one language other than Italian and be able to speak in the appropriate technical terminology.

Course contents

• Sources, methods and tools for the study of Greek history (approximately 20 hours).
• Themes and prominent figures of Greek history through the analysis of selected and translated sources pertaining to the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods (approximately 20 hours).
• Specific topic: Demetrius the Besieger and the creation of the Hellenistic state (approximately 20 hours).

The program will include the knowledge, acquired through the students' independent study, of the key events in Greek history, from its origins to the first century BC, focusing on the evidence for the reconstruction of these events.

Readings/Bibliography

Preliminary readings: all students are recommended to read the first volume of their high school history handbook BEFORE the course starts, in order to recall the outline of Greek history events and more easily follow the course lectures.

Attending students are required to study:

1. D. Musti, Storia greca. Linee di sviluppo dall'età micenea all'età romana, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1990 (second edition and following reprints).

2. M. Giangiulio (ed.), Introduzione alla storia greca, Il Mulino, Bologna 2021, chapters XII-XV, pages 159-208. 

3. M. Bettalli (a cura di), Introduzione alla storiografia greca, terza edizione, Carocci, Roma 2021, capitoli 2-9, pp. 23-184.

4. Selected and translated sources supplied during lectures (cf. virtuale.unibo.it).

Students who will not attend lessons are required to study:

1. D. Musti, Storia greca. Linee di sviluppo dall'età micenea all'età romana, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1990 (second edition and following reprints).

2. M. Giangiulio (ed.), Introduzione alla storia greca, Il Mulino, Bologna 2021, chapters XII-XV, pages 159-208.

3. M. Bettalli (a cura di), Introduzione alla storiografia greca, terza edizione, Carocci, Roma 2021, capitoli 2-9, pp. 23-184. 

4. Selected sources for non-attending students (cf. virtuale.unibo.it).

5. Reading (in Italian translation) and commentary on: Aristotele, Costituzione degli Ateniesi (choosing preferably an annotated edition: A. Santoni, Cappelli, Bologna 1999 or P.J. Rhodes, Mondadori-Valla, Milano 2016).

6. Reading (in Italian translation) and commentary on: Plutarco, Demetrio or Plutarco, Pirro (choosing among the available Italian editions).

Bibliographic resources are available at the DiSCi Library of Ancient History (Bologna, via Zamboni 38).

Teaching methods

Lessons are held exclusively in presence and are not registered.

The course is reserved for students whose last name begins with a letter between A and L.

The course consists mainly in lectures. During these lectures several textual sources will be read (in the original language, Greek and Latin, and in Italian, English or French translation): students will take part in lessons and practice studying ancient sources and solving related problems.

Students with no preliminary knowledge of Greek and Latin are welcome. Students who are willing to specialize in the ancient area courses should be aware that they must achieve competences in these ancient languages as soon as possible.

Ancient Greek literacy courses are offered at FICLIT: see https://corsi.unibo.it/laurea/lettere/greco-zero-alfabetizzazione-al-greco-antico.

Assessment methods

Oral examination (in a single exam session) will test the knowledge of the course contents (individual study texts and sources). It will take place in two steps:

• at least 3 questions concerning the events of the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods (Reading/Bibliography 1. and 2.);
• at least 2 questions concerning ancient historiography and sources analysed during the course (Readings/Bibliography 3. and 4.); for non-attending students, at least 2 questions concerning ancient historiography and sources (Readings/Bibliography 3., 4., 5. and 6.).
  

There are eight exam sessions per calendar year (the first six, one per month, from January to June; one in September/October; one in December).

If the student achieves a complete and detailed vision of the topics discussed in class and required for the discipline, provides an effective critical commentary, shows mastery of expression and of the specific language, he obtains excellence in the evaluation (28-30L).

Those students who demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of the main topics of the subject, basic analytical ability and ability to synthesize, and a correct command of the language, will be given a good mark (25-27).

Those students who demonstrate a mnemonic (and/or non-exhaustive) knowledge of the subject with a more superficial analytical ability and ability to synthesize, a correct command of the language but not always appropriate, will be given a satisfactory mark (22-24).

A superficial knowledge and understanding of the material, a scarce analytical and expressive ability that is not always appropriate will be rewarded with a ‘pass’ mark (18-21).

A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he displays significant errors in his understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology (< 18).

Teaching tools

Original sources will be displayed during lectures.

Sources to be read will be supplied online during the course (virtuale.unibo.it).

Sources to be read for non-attending students will be supplied online at the end of the course (virtuale.unibo.it).

Ancient Greek literacy courses are offered at FICLIT: see https://corsi.unibo.it/laurea/lettere/greco-zero-alfabetizzazione-al-greco-antico.

 

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD), must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students.

Office hours

See the website of Alice Bencivenni