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

Course contents

This module focuses on the 'versatility' of the conflicts as well as on the characteristics of the concords over the classical age. The main issues addressed are:

1. The social, ideological, and political dynamics within the classical polis: the conflict in the context (4th);
2. The 'polysemy' of the term stasis and the interpretations elaborated by scholars (4th);
3. Theoretical argumentations and historical examples of the causes, the modalities, and the purposes of the conflicts in the poleis. Three topics are studied: a) the conflicts within the poleis whose history appears 'rarefied' in the sources; b) the conflicts within the 'interrupted' poleis (destructions, dioikismoi, re-foundations); c) the conflicts within the poleis whose events are the object of different historical accounts and traditional tales (16h)
4 The 'resolving aspects' of the staseis: the 'oblivion of evils' , the harmony among 'the best men', the concord between opposing factions (6h).

Readings/Bibliography

A) For attending students:

B. Gray: Stasis and Stability. Exile, the Polis, and Political Thought, c. 404-146 BC. Oxford: OUP 2015 (Library DiSCi)

and:

1) Maria Elena De Luna, Le metabolai nei regimi oligarchici: struttura argomentativa e uso dei dati storici nell’exemplum di Eritre, in C. Talamo, M. Polito (a cura di), La Politica di Aristotele e la storiografia locale (Atti della Giornata internazionale di studio, Fisciano, 12-13 giugno 2008), Tivoli, Tored, 2010, pp. 47-63 (see Academia.edu)

2) Maria Elena De Luna, Un’oligarchia concorde: il caso di Farsalo (Arist., Pol. V 1306a 9-12), in N. Badoud (éd.), Philologos Dionysios. Mélanges offerts au Professeur Denis Knoepfler, Génève, Droz, 2011, pp. 467-477 (see Academia.edu)

3) U. Fantasia, Corcira, 427-425 a.C.: anatomia di una stasis, in C. Barzot - F. Landucci (a cura di), Partiti e fazioni nell’esperienza politica greca, Milano 2008, pp. 167-201 (see library DiSCi)

4) G. Cuniberti, Giurare e decretare la homonoia: Nota a Thuc. VIII 75, 2 e 93, 3, in Tra Concordia e pace. Parole e valori della Grecia antica, «Quaderni di Acme» 2007, pp 39-54 (see library DiSCi).

For the historical pattern, they will read: L. Breglia-F. Guizzi-F. Raviola, Storia greca, EdiSES, Napoli 2015 or M. Bettalli, Storia greca, Carocci, Roma 2013, and F. Muccioli, Storia dell’Ellenismo, Il Mulino, Bologna 2019 (see library DiSCi).

To complete the module, students can choose between writing a short paper (8-10 pages) about a topic chosen together with the teacher (deadline: ten days before the final exam) or studying the text: N. Loraux, La cité divisée: l'oubli dans la mémoire d'Athènes, Payot et Rivages, Paris 2005 (1997) and G. Agamben, Stasis. La guerra civile come paradigma politico, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino 2015.

B) Students who are not going to attend the class can choose between writing a paper (8-10 pages; deadline: ten days before the final exam) and reading: N. Loraux and G. Agamben (see above A).

They will study the article mentioned (1-4) but also:

- B. Gray: Stasis and Stability. Exile, the Polis, and Political Thought, c. 404-146 BC. Oxford: OUP 2015;

- L. Bertelli, Stasis: la «rivoluzione» dei Greci, «Teoria Politica » 2/3, 1989, pp. 53-96 (Academia.edu)

- M. Moggi, ‘Stasis’, ‘prodosia’ e ‘polemos’ in Tucidide, in M. Sordi (a cura di), Fazioni e congiure nel mondo antico, Milano 2008, 41-72 (Library DiSCi)

- C. Viano, Materia e causa materiale delle passioni: Aristotele e la definizione fisica della collera, in C. Viano (ed.), Materia e causa materiale in Aristotele e oltre, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, coll. Studi di Storia della Filosofia Antica, Roma, 2016, p.61-76 (Academia.edu).

Teaching methods

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

Course attendance is not compulsory; nevertheless, it is warmly suggested.

Assessment methods

The exam is oral. Firstly, there will be a debate on the paper written by the student or on the book specified in the program. Secondly, 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, a good knowledge of the texts of scholarship, shows mastery of expression and of the specific language, both written (if required) and oral, he will obtain excellence in the evaluation.

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 final evaluation in the integrated course of Greek history (archaic and Classical Greek history + Hellenistic history) is the arithmetic average of both evaluations.

 

Teaching tools

The sources and the teaching material will be available on the website of Unibo (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