B5094 - History of the Roman Empire (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the module, students will have highly specialised skills and appropriate research methods in the history of Rome and the provinces of the Roman Empire in the Imperial period. Students will be able to analyse historiographical and documentary sources in the original language and to discuss the evidence on the basis of modern bibliography written in European languages other than Italian. They will have a sound knowledge of themes, events and phenomena relating to the history of the Roman world in the Imperial period. They will be able to make competent use of tools and databases for learning and research.

Course contents

This module deals with the theme of Rome and Egypt. It has been designed to ensure close integration with the module on Archaic and Republican Roman History, with which it forms the integrated course in Roman History for students of the degree programme in History and Oriental Studies.

Students are expected to have a basic knowledge of the main developments in Roman history in the imperial age; students lacking this knowledge may acquire it following the guidance provided in the Bibliography section.

The lectures will cover the following topics in particular:

1. Course presentation (1 hour)
2. The subject of the course and its chronological, geographical and thematic scope (3 hours)
3. The sources (4 hours)
4. Political and ideological aspects of the Roman province of Egypt (5 hours)
5. Administrative and institutional aspects of the Roman province of Egypt (5 hours)
6. Economic aspects of the Roman province of Egypt: a grain-producing province (4 hours)
7. Contacts with the East via the Red Sea (4 hours)
8. Contacts with Africa (4 hours)

The syllabus will be complemented by student-led study of the main structural issues in the history of the Roman Empire.

Students taking the integrated course in Roman History (12 credits) are also required to produce – possibly as part of a working group – a research project including relevant sources and an up-to-date bibliography of secondary literature (approximately 5 pages), on one of the topics covered in the lectures of either module, or on another topic in Roman history to be agreed with the teaching staff. The research project must be submitted at least one week before the exam session. This activity fosters transferable skills in academic writing, teamwork and the critical, informed use of generative artificial intelligence. Work on the research project will be introduced in a dedicated seminar, in which the general features of a research project will be presented and the possible use of generative artificial intelligence tools for this activity will be discussed.

Readings/Bibliography

For students attending classes:

1. Foundational preparation on the main structural issues in the history of the Roman Empire, based on A. Giardina – A. Schiavone, Storia di Roma, Turin, Einaudi, 1999, limited to Part III, pp. 339-540: I principi e il mondo [the book is available at the library of the Department of History and Cultures – Ancient History Section, via Zamboni 38, 2nd floor, shelf mark ESAMI PRES and ESAMI CONS; students who have difficulty obtaining the book may contact the lecturer].
2. On the specific topic of the module: lecture notes and slides presented in class, which will be made available on the module website, on the Virtuale platform (https://virtuale.unibo.it/). The slides presented in class also include, for each topic, a number of bibliographical suggestions for further independent study by interested students; these additional readings are not examined.
3. For the research project: specific bibliography on the chosen topic, which will also include works in the foreign languages most widely used within the scholarly community, to be identified by students themselves using the bibliographical tools illustrated in the materials available on the Virtuale platform (see point 2 above).

For students not attending classes:

1. Foundational preparation on the main structural issues in the history of the Roman Empire: as in point 1 for students attending classes (A. Giardina – A. Schiavone, Storia di Roma, Turin, Einaudi, 1999, Part III, pp. 339-540: I principi e il mondo) [the book is available at the library of the Department of History and Cultures – Ancient History Section, via Zamboni 38, 2nd floor, shelf mark ESAMI PRES and ESAMI CONS; students who have difficulty obtaining the book may contact the lecturer].
2. Study of C. Riggs (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012, limited to the following parts: Introduction; Part I: Land and State; Part III: People; Part VII: Borders, Trade, and Tourism [the book is available at the library of the Department of History and Cultures – Ancient History Section, via Zamboni 38, 2nd floor, shelf mark PROV. VII. 212; students who have difficulty obtaining the book may contact the lecturer].

Students who wish to agree on an alternative syllabus (in particular for point 2 of the syllabus for students not attending classes) are invited to contact the lecturer, including by email at alessandro.cristofori@unibo.it.

Background reading

The topics covered in the lectures presuppose a good knowledge of the main historical developments of the Roman Empire. To acquire this general historical framework, students may consult a good textbook of Roman history, for example G. Geraci – A. Marcone, Storia romana, Florence, Le Monnier, 2002 or later editions, also available at the library of the Ancient History Section, via Zamboni 38, 2nd floor, shelf marks ESAMI CONS and ESAMI PRES.

For a historical framework of the specific topic of the lectures, students are advised to read C. Salvaterra, L'Egitto romano, «Storia d'Europa e del Mediterraneo. Il Mondo antico. III. L'Ecumene Romana. VI. Da Augusto a Diocleziano», edited by G. Traina, Rome, 2009, pp. 355-416 [available among the module's teaching materials on the Virtuale platform].

This background reading is useful for a better understanding of the topics covered in the lectures, but it is not examined.

Teaching methods

Introductory lectures on the main issues in the history of the Roman imperial period and its sources, and on the special theme of Rome and Egypt, in which students will be actively involved, in particular through the reading of the numerous ancient sources referred to during the lectures.

Seminar for setting up the research project (see the Contents section).

In agreement with Professor Carla Salvaterra, who teaches the module on Archaic and Republican Roman History, this module takes part in the University's teaching innovation project based on the Blended Digital Teaching (DDI) model, aimed at students who are unable to attend classes in person and who will form a kind of virtual class.

The project involves recording lectures using the Panopto application; interaction with students will be ensured by opening a Forum (one of the tools available on the Virtuale platform) for each scheduled lecture, where students following the module in this mode can put questions to the lecturers for clarification and further discussion of the topics covered in class; questions and the corresponding answers will thus be visible to the whole virtual class.

Also through the Virtuale platform, not only will lecture outlines be made available, as has been the case for all participants in previous years, but additional in-depth materials will also be provided specifically for the virtual class.

A preliminary online meeting will be held via Teams with all members of the virtual class before the start of the lectures, to explain this pilot project to those interested; the date of the meeting will be announced on the Notices page of both lecturers' websites. From lecture to lecture, simple learning assessment activities on the topics covered will also be proposed, again through the Virtuale platform; their successful completion will allow students to continue attending the module.

At the end of the module, an online meeting will be held to assess the effectiveness of this teaching mode (accompanied by an anonymous questionnaire for the same purpose); this will be of great value in identifying any adjustments needed should this pilot be repeated in future academic years.

Students in the virtual class who successfully complete the learning assessment activities, thereby demonstrating that they have followed the module attentively, will be considered as attending students and may sit the exam on the corresponding syllabus.

Assessment methods

Students are considered to be attending if they take part in at least 75% of lectures; students in the virtual class (DDI project, see Teaching Methods) who successfully complete the learning assessment activities provided for that mode are likewise considered attending students.

The assessment takes the traditional form of an oral examination (and, for attending students, also a written research project) and is designed to test:

• knowledge of the main structural issues in the history of the Roman Empire;
• knowledge of the theme of Rome and Egypt, as covered in lectures or explored independently by students;
• a critical approach to ancient source material and to the interpretations of it found in modern scholarship;
• oral presentation skills, in particular the ability to summarise and logically organise arguments, and command of appropriate terminology;
• for students taking the integrated course in Roman History (12 credits), the ability to use the main research tools (both traditional print resources and new digital tools) and written presentation skills; for the research project, in addition to the accuracy and completeness of its content, assessment will also take into account its logical organisation, the use of vocabulary and style appropriate to the discipline, and the ability to work as part of a team.

For each of the criteria above, the following assessment scale may be used, corresponding to marks out of thirty:

• Excellent (30 cum laude)
• Very good (28-30)
• Good (25-27)
• Fairly good (22-24)
• Sufficient (18-21)

The assessment of each individual criterion will contribute to the final mark. For attending students, consistent and active participation in lectures will also be taken into account.

The examination, lasting approximately 25-30 minutes, generally includes, for attending students:

• one question on the main structural issues in the history of the Roman Empire (based on A. Giardina – A. Schiavone, Storia di Roma, Turin, Einaudi, 1999);
• two questions on two topics covered in the lectures (based on lecture notes and slides presented in class);
• for students taking the integrated course in Roman History (12 credits), a discussion of the research project.

For students not attending classes, the examination, again in the form of an oral examination lasting approximately 25-30 minutes, generally includes:

• one question on the main structural issues in the history of the Roman Empire, based on A. Giardina – A. Schiavone, Storia di Roma, Turin, Einaudi, 1999;
• two questions on two topics covered in C. Riggs (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012.

The module History of the Roman Empire is an integrated module together with the module on Archaic and Republican Roman History, forming the 12-credit course Roman History for students of the Master's degree programme in History and Oriental Studies; it may also be taken as an independent 6-credit module by students of the Master's degree programmes in Archaeology and Cultures of the Ancient World, Archaeology, Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology and Philology, Literature and Classical Tradition, and as a free-choice module by students of other Master's degree programmes.

For students taking the integrated 12-credit course Roman History, the overall mark will result from the joint assessment of the two modules, calculated as the arithmetic mean of the marks obtained in Archaic and Republican Roman History and Roman History from the Fall of the Republic. The examination for the integrated course must therefore be taken in the same exam session.

Students with SLD (Specific Learning Disabilities) or temporary or permanent disabilities are advised to contact the relevant University office in good time (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it); the office will propose any necessary adjustments to the students concerned, which must in any case be submitted for the lecturer's approval at least 15 days in advance; the lecturer will assess their suitability also in relation to the module's learning objectives.

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support individual study through in-depth analysis, summarising and self-assessment; its use is therefore permitted and encouraged, provided it is informed and responsible. As regards the assessment of learning, the preparation of the research project involves substantial use of generative AI. In the seminar dedicated to this activity, students will be introduced to some guidelines for using this tool. The project must be accompanied by a short, compulsory written critical analysis appendix, in which students will indicate: the tools used, the purpose for which they were used, the strengths and limitations identified, any errors detected, the checks carried out on the reliability of the content produced, and their own original contribution. These aspects will also be discussed during the oral examination and will contribute significantly to the final mark. During the oral examination, students may make use of notes, any concept maps and, above all, the ancient texts discussed in class with commentary; the use of artificial intelligence tools or other electronic devices is not permitted.

Seven exam sessions are held during the academic year, open to all students, in November, January, March, May, June, July and October.

Teaching tools

PowerPoint slides, which will be presented during lectures and made available on the Virtuale platform (https://virtuale.unibo.it/).

Bibliographical material for the preparation of the research project will be identified by students themselves, using the bibliographical tools illustrated in the materials available on the Virtuale platform; Bibliography will be mainly available in digital format, or at the library of the Department of History and Cultures – Ancient History Section (via Zamboni 38, 2nd floor).

Generative artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support individual study, for example through in-depth analysis, summarising and self-assessment, and can play a particularly significant role in the preparation of the research project. Guidance on the correct use of AI will be provided in the seminar dedicated to setting up the research project.

Office hours

See the website of Alessandro Cristofori