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

1. Sources, methods and tools for the study of Greek history (approximately 20 hours).
2. Themes and prominent figures of Greek history through the analysis of selected and translated sources pertaining to the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods (approximately 28 hours).
3. Specific topic: the laws of Solon (approximately 12 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. The program lastly requires a reading on the institutional, political, social, and cultural aspects of the Archaic, Classical or Hellenistic periods.

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. Bettalli (a cura di), Introduzione alla storiografia greca, Carocci, Roma 2009 (second edition and following reprints) or 2021 (third edition).
3. A book chosen among the followings:
   • P. Carlier, Omero e la storia, Italian edition by S. De Vido and L. Mondin, Carocci, Roma 2014;
   • D. Musti, Demokratìa. Origini di un’idea, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1995 (and following reprints);
   • M. Mari (a cura di), L'età ellenistica. Società, politica, cultura, Carocci, Roma 2019.
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. Bettalli (a cura di), Introduzione alla storiografia greca, Carocci, Roma 2009 (second edition and following reprints).
3. A book chosen among the followings:
   • P. Carlier, Omero e la storia, Carocci, Roma 2014;
   • D. Musti, Demokratìa. Origini di un’idea, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1995 (e successive ristampe);
   • M. Mari (a cura di), L'età ellenistica. Società, politica, cultura, Carocci, Roma 2019.
4. Selected sources for non-attending students (cf. virtuale.unibo.it).
5. Two among the following sources:

• Aristotele, Costituzione degli Ateniesi (choosing preferably an annotated edition: A. Santoni, Cappelli, Bologna 1999 or P.J. Rhodes, Mondadori-Valla, Milano 2016);
• Arriano, Indiké (preferably the annotated edition: N. Biffi, Edipuglia, Bari 2000);
• a Life by Plutarch choosing among Licurgo, Solone, Temistocle, Cimone, Lisandro, Alessandro, Demetrio, Eumene, Agide e Cleomene, Arato (Mondadori-Valla or BUR).

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

Teaching methods

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.

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:

1. at least 3 questions concerning the events of the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods;
2. at least 2 questions concerning Greek historiography, selected book and sources analysed during the course; for non-attending students, at least 2 questions concerning Greek historiography, selected book, sources for non-attending students and full version sources.

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).

Office hours

See the website of Alice Bencivenni