28277 - Archaic and Classical Greek History (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students will have specific training in academic research in the field of Greek history. They will have a critical knowledge of Greek history from its origins to the 4th century BC. They will know how to use the methods and tools of historical research. They will be able to carry out research in the field.

Course contents

Analysis of the following theme:

A Many-Headed Tyranny: The Thirty at Athens. A Historical, Historiographical, and Political-Theoretical Analysis of a Form of Autocratic Rule.

 The course examines the regime of the Thirty at Athens (404–403 BC) as a distinctive form of collective autocratic rule. After reconstructing the historical context that, from the oligarchic coup of 411 BC to the Athenian defeat in the Peloponnesian War, made the establishment of the regime possible, the course will analyse the principal Greek and Latin sources concerning the Thirty. Historical investigation will be consistently integrated with a theoretical discussion of the concepts of tyrannis and dynasteia, with particular reference to Aristotle's classification of constitutions, in order to assess the political nature of the regime and its place within ancient political thought.

Note for students enrolling in the Integrated Course (CI): The courses in Archaic and Classical Greek History and Hellenistic History are connected by a shared thematic approach, traced across a diachronic timeline.

A basic knowledge of the Greek language, in order to read directly literary texts and other sources, is strongly recommended; nevertheless, it is not strictly required for the attendance of the classes.

 

Readings/Bibliography

 

Attending students

A) Required reading:

Cinzia Bearzot, Come si abbatte una democrazia. Tecniche di colpo di Stato nell'Atene antica, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2013, pp. 109-170.

Peter Krentz, The Thirty at Athens. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982 (Complete reading)

Andrew Wolpert, The violence of the Thirty Tyrants, in Sian Lewis (ed.), Ancient Tyranny. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006, 213-223.

The recent publication of the edited volume L'oligarchie des Trente à Athènes (404–403 av. J.-C.). Sources et histoire, edited by Dominique Lenfant (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 2026), represents an important contribution to current scholarship on the regime of the Thirty. Although it is not included among the required readings for the course, some of its principal findings and interpretative perspectives will be presented and discussed during the lectures.

All primary sources will be provided during the course.
The sources included in the dossier and discussed in class will constitute the main subject of the final examination.

Students are required to bring the sourcebook to the examination, either in printed form or in digital format on a laptop or tablet.

 

 Attendance of the lectures is therefore considered obligatory if one wishes to take the examination as an attending student. Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

Non-attending students:

I.

Cinzia Bearzot, Come si abbatte una democrazia. Tecniche di colpo di Stato nell'Atene antica, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2013 (Complete reading)

S. Gastaldi, La tirannide nella Politica di Aristotele, in S. Gastaldi – J.-F. Pradeau (éds.), Le philosophe, le roi, le tyran. Études sur les figures royale et tyrannique dans la pensée politique grecque et sa postérité, Academia Verlag, Sankt Augustin, 2009, pp. 139–155.

Peter Krentz, The Thirty at Athens. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982 (Complete reading)

Andrew Wolpert, The violence of the Thirty Tyrants, in Sian Lewis (ed.), Ancient Tyranny. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006, 213-223.

II. Detailed reading of the following sources (in Italian):

1. Aristotle, Politics, Books:
   III (Chapter 8); IV (Chapters 2 and 10); V and VI (in their entirety). The prescribed edition is the one published by «L'Erma» di Bretschneider.
2. In addition to a thorough knowledge of the contents of the above-mentioned books, students are expected to acquire a thorough knowledge of the accompanying commentary (for the sections indicated).
3. Xenophon, Hellenica, II 3-4.
4. Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution, Chapters 34–40, together with the commentary (for the chapters indicated) by Peter J. Rhodes, A Commentary on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981.
5. Lysias, Against Eratosthenes (any edition).

 

 

 

Teaching methods

The course is mainly taught through lectures, with discussions on the sources and the teaching material.

Assessment methods

   

There are eleven exam sessions scheduled during the academic year: the first six, one per month, from January to June; the seventh in September/October; the eighth in December; the last three, one per month, from January to March. No exam sessions are planned outside of those indicated, always with sufficient advance notice, on AlmaEsami.

The exam is oral. The knowledge of the course content will be tested (lectures and suggested texts reading).

If the student achieves a complete 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, both written and oral, he obtains very good or excellence in the evaluation (28-30L).

Average marks (satisfactory-good) will be awarded to a student who has memorized the main points of the material and is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology or contents (22-27).

An incomplete command of contents and/or inappropriate language and terminology, albeit in a context of minimal knowledge of the course material, will lead to 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).

The exam consists of two distinct parts. To pass the exam, both parts must be evaluated positively; if the result is insufficient in even one of the two, the exam as a whole is considered failed. The final grade will be communicated to students only after both parts have been completed. The final grade does not necessarily correspond to the arithmetic mean of the partial results, but is the product of an overall assessment agreed upon by the two faculty members, based on a comparison between the two parts of the exam. The exam must be taken with both respective professors on the same day.

 

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) with ample
time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

 

 

Teaching tools

The sources and the teaching material will be available on Virtuale (the download is required: on the exam day, students have to bring with them the printed copy of the examined sources)

Office hours

See the website of Maria Elena De Luna