58505 - Social History of the Ancient World (1)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the Course the student  will know the social history of the greek and roman world and he can understand and interact  with the present storiographic debate.  The student will be able to contextualize and comment upon the specific literary sources by means of  a personal knowledge of the  greek and roman language original texts. Furthermore he will know the structure of the greek and roman society as well as the importance of gender and identity definition involved in the social and cultural debate of that time according to their structural components and historical evolution. He will be able to deal with texts and data according to personal interpretative perspectives, and can synthetically organize  and classify complex informations and problems in a consistent manner.

Course contents

Religion, medicine and doctors in the ancient Greco-Roman society.

Disease, medical science, dream, water, cures, religious beliefs: some trends lines concerning the relationships between disease and healing will be outlined starting from the analysis of these concepts that were characteristic of Greek and Roman Societies.


The analysis will focus on Greek and Roman field, a social fabric rich in evidence which inspires the reflection on a large-scale problem and representing the outcome of an essential path for the scientific knowledge.

In particular, some elements will be examinated:

-birth and development of medical science (three lectures);

-the image of doctor and his role in Greek and Roman Society (three lectures);

-the relationship with patients (one lecture);

-the treatment centres (two lectures);

-the relationship with medicine scientific, magical and sacred (twoo lectures);

-the function of healer deities (three lectures).

The first lecture will be devoted to the analysis of the historical research methodology.

The lessons will take place on monday, tuesday and wednedsday from 11 to 1 pm, in the Laboratorio informatico 2, via Zamboni 34, ground floor.

Readings/Bibliography

1) Lessons Notes.

2) D. Rigato, Gli dei che guariscono. Asclepio e gli altri, Patron 2013.

Students not attending lessons, must contact the professor (daniela.rigato@unibo.it)

For those not attending lessons, the reading the following volumes is highly suggested:

D. Rigato, Gli dei che guariscono. Asclepio e gli altri, Patron 2013.
V. Gazzaniga, La medicina antica, Carocci editore, Roma 2014

For an approach to the broader chronological subject, we recommend the reading of some articles in the volume:

Doctors and Patients. History, Representation, Communication from Antiquity to the Present, Edited by Maria Malatesta, University of California. Medical Humanities Press, San Francisco 2015, in particular, the study of Daniela Rigato and Tommaso Duranti.

Teaching methods

Direct lessons in classroom.

Assessment methods

The exam will take the form of an oral discussion and the student will be assessed according to the knowledge he has acquired, his ability to provide a clear summary of the topics covered and his critical handling of the material. He will be expected to refer to both the exam bibliography and the texts read and discussed during the lectures.

The assessment will concentrate particularly on the skill displayed by the student in handling the sources and material in the exam bibliography and his ability to find and use information and examples to illustrate and correlate the various themes and problems addressed in the course.

The assessment will thus examine the student's:

- factual knowledge of the subject;
- ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts;
- familiarity with the terminology associated with the subject and his ability to use it effectively.

Top marks will be awarded to a student displaying an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures, combined with a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology.
Average marks 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.
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.

The student will have to answer for three questions concerning:

-the handbooks,

-the items discussed during the lectures.

Teaching tools

Hand-outs; ppt concerning the different studied topics.

Office hours

See the website of Daniela Rigato