29440 - Archaic and Republican Roman History (1) (LM)

Academic Year 2019/2020

Course contents

The course unit of Archaic and republican Roman history is an integrated course with the coure unit: History of the Roman Empire and together they form the course of Roman history (C.I) (LM) of 12 credits for students of the Master programme in Historical Sciences; it can also be chosen as a 6-credit independent course by students of LM Programmes in Archeology and Cultures of the Ancient World, Philology, Literature and Classical Tradition and free choice for other Master's Degree courses.

To promote a better connection with the integrated course unit of History of the Roman Empire both course unit will be dedicated - with different perspectives and chronologies - to the theme Rome and Egypt.

It includes a first introductory part (the first week), on methodological issues, scholarship and problems of ancient documentation; a second part will be devoted to the contacts between the Roman Republic and the Hellenistic kingdom of Egypt: In the classes the following topics will be addressed in particular:

  1. First week (6 hours): The themes and methods of the course 
    • Presentation of the course
    • The object of the course and its chronological, geographical and thematic limits
    • The problems of archaic and republican history
  2. Second week (6 hours): the nature of the relations between Rome and the Kingdom of Egypt  
    • The context and the sources
    • Defining amicitia
  3. Third week (6 hours): Rome and Egypt in the geopolitical context of the Hellenistic states
    • Diplomacy, alliances and the debate on Roman imperialism
    • Egypt in the Roman hegemonic sphere?
  4. Fourth week (6 hours): Rome and the dynastic disputes within the kingdom - Egypt and civil wars 
    • Rome's intervention in dynastic conflicts – the wills
    • Egypt and the civil wars in Rome
  5. Fifth week (6 hours): not just politics
    • Economic and commercial relations
    • Culture and religion
    • Alessandria Mediterranean megacity - altera Roma
 The course assignments  include the authonomous study of some structural problems inherent to the history of Rome in the Archaic and Republican age.

Students attending the integrated 12 credits' course are required to write of a short paper (5-10 pages) on one of the topics covered in class or related to the classes on the history of the roman empire, to be agreed with the teachers. The paper must be submitted at least one week before the examination. The preparation of the paper will be the subject of a special seminar (about 8 hours), which will cover the following topics:

  1. The main features of a paper in Roman history  (about 1 hour).
  2. Finding modern bibliography (about 2 hours).
  3. Finding ancient evidence (about 2 hours).
  4. The analysis of the modern bibliography (about 1 hour).
  5. Writing the paper (about 2 hours).

The seminar will deal with the tools (both in the traditional format, and the new digital tools) for research in Roman History.

Readings/Bibliography

For attending students:

  1. On the main structural problems of the history of the Roman Empire: A. Giardina – A. Schiavone, Storia di Roma, Torino, Einaudi, 1999 [the text is available in the library of the Department of Storia Culture Civiltà – Sezione di Storia Antica, via Zamboni 38, 4th floor, under the signature CONS V Giar].
    • Parte I La città arcaica, following chapters: Carmine Ampolo, La città riformata e l'organizzazione centuriata. Lo spazio, il tempo, il sacro nella nuova realtà urbana e Mario Torelli, Dalle aristocrazie gentilizie alla nascita della plebe.
    • Parte II La repubblica imperiale, following chapters: Francesco De Martino, Il modello della città-stato. Filippo Cassola, Lo scontro fra patrizi e plebei e la formazione della nobilitas. Emilio Gabba, L'imperialismo romano. Emilio Gabba, Il processo d'integrazione dell'Italia nel II secolo. Umberto Laffi, Il sistema di alleanze italico. Ettore Lepore, La crisi della nobilitas: fra reazione e riforma (this last contribution can be substitued with: Ettore Lepore, La decisione politica e l'«auctoritas» senatoria. Pompeo, Cicerone, Cesare, in A. Momigliano e A. Schiavone (a cura di), «Storia di Roma, 2. L'impero Mediterraneo La Repubblica imperiale», Torino, Einaudi, 1990, pp. 759-788. The essay is available among teaching materials in IOL).

  2. On the special theme of the course: lecture notes, which will also be published in the form of slides, on the platform Insegnamenti on line (https://iol.unibo.it/ ).
  3. For writing the paper: specific literature, identified by the students themselves, thanks to the bibliographic tools which will be presented in the seminar.

For not attending students:

  1. On the main structural problems of the history of the Roman Empire: A. Giardina – A. Schiavone, Storia di Roma, Torino, Einaudi, 1999 [the text is available in the library of the Department of Storia Culture Civiltà – Sezione di Storia Antica, via Zamboni 38, 4th floor, under the signature CONS V Giar].
    • parte I La città arcaica, following chapters: Carmine Ampolo, La città riformata e l'organizzazione centuriata. Lo spazio, il tempo, il sacro nella nuova realtà urbana e Mario Torelli, Dalle aristocrazie gentilizie alla nascita della plebe.
    • Parte II La repubblica imperiale, following chapters: Francesco De Martino, Il modello della città-stato. Filippo Cassola, Lo scontro fra patrizi e plebei e la formazione della nobilitas. Emilio Gabba, L'imperialismo romano. Emilio Gabba, Il processo d'integrazione dell'Italia nel II secolo. Umberto Laffi, Il sistema di alleanze italico. Ettore Lepore, La crisi della nobilitas: fra reazione e riforma (this last contribution can be substitued with: Ettore Lepore, La decisione politica e l'«auctoritas» senatoria. Pompeo, Cicerone, Cesare, in A. Momigliano e A. Schiavone (a cura di), «Storia di Roma, 2. L'impero Mediterraneo La Repubblica imperiale», Torino, Einaudi, 1990, pp. 759-788. The essay is available among teaching materials in IOL).

  2. On the special theme of the course: Study of some essays on the aspects covered in class, among those that will be indicated and made available in the online Teaching platform (https://iol.unibo.it/).

Students can agree an alternative bibliography (particularly on item 2 of the program for non-attending students) by personal meeting or by e-mail.

Previous knowledge - Basic bibliography

The topics that will be dealt with in class and the suggested readings for the exam assume a good knowledge of the main historical events and structres of the Roman History of the Archaic and Republican periods and of the main developments of History of the Eastern Mediterranean. To recover the general historical picture you can use a good handbook of Roman History, for example G. Geraci – A. Marcone, Storia romana, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2002 or later editions, also available at the Library of the Department of Storia Culture Civiltà - sezione di Storia antica, via Zamboni 38, 2nd floor, under the signature CONS V. Geraci.

I also recommend a review of the main events that have affected the Eastern Mediterranean between the 3rd and 1st cent. B.C.E. for example through the reading of C. Franco, I regni ellenistici tra Oriente e Occidente, «Storia d’Europa e del Mediterraneo, sez. III, L’ecumene Romana» (a cura di G. Traina), parte II, Contesti mediterranei, cap. III, pp. 331-375

This basic bibliography is useful for a better understanding of the topics that will be covered in class and by personal study, but will not be the subject of the final assessment.

Teaching methods

Lectures on the problems and on the nature of the evidence and on the special theme Rome and Egypt. Problem based classes: students will be offered a series of assignments related to the week topics in order to complete critical analyisis of a selection of sources on the basis of modern scholarship 

Special seminar on the preparation of the paper.

Assessment methods

The assessment, through an oral examination (and, for attending students, in form of a written essay), will test:

  • a knowledge the main structural problems of the history of Rome in the archaic and republican period;
  • a knowledge of the special theme Rome and Egypt
  • a critical approach to ancient evidence and to modern historiographical interpretations;
  • a good ability to communicate orally, in particular skills in synthesis and in logical organization of the topics and the mastery of an appropriate vocabulary;
  • for attending students, the ability to use the main tools for research in history of the roman empire (both in the traditional format, and the new digital tools) and a good ability to communicate in written form; also for the written essay, in addition to the correctness and completeness of the contents, the logical organization of the arguments and the use of a lexicon and a style appropriate to the discipline will be evaluated.

For each of the criteria outlined above, the following assessment scale can be proposed:

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

Evaluation of the individual parameters will contribute to determine final vote. In the assessment of attending students, I will take into account constancy and active participation to the lectures.

In detail, oral examination tipically involves, for attending students:

  • one question on the main structural problems of the history of the history of Rome in the archaic and republican period (based on A. Giardina – A. Schiavone, Storia di Roma, Torino, Einaudi, 1999 parts indicated above);
  • two questions on topics discussed in class, on the special theme
  • a discussion of the paper for students taking the 12 credits integrated course.

There will be three questions for not attending students:

  • one question on the main structural problems of the history of Rome in the archaic and republican period (based on A. Giardina – A. Schiavone, Storia di Roma, Torino, Einaudi, 1999 parts indicated above);
  • two question on the special theme of the course (based on readings suggested in the teaching materials).

In the assessment of the integrated course of Storia romana (12 credits), the overall grade will be the result of the joint assessment of this module of Storia romana arcaica e repubblicana together with the module Storia dell’Impero romano.

Teaching tools

In lessons we will use PowerPoint slide shows, which will be published on the website of the course on the platform Insegnamenti on line (https://iol.unibo.it/).

Office hours

See the website of Carla Salvaterra

SDGs

Quality education Partnerships for the goals

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.