29446 - History of the Roman Empire (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

After completing this module , students will have highly specialized skills and appropriate research methodologies in history of Rome and the provinces of the roman empire in the imperial age. The student will be able to analyze 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. He has a sound knowledge of themes, events, phenomena concerning the history of the roman world in the imperial age. He competently uses tools and databases for distance research and distance learning.

Course contents

The course will be devoted to the theme Rome and Egypt in order to foster better connection with the module of Archaic and republican Roman history which together with this module forms the 12 credit course on Roman History - Integrated course for students in degree in History and Oriental Studies.

Lectures will then cover the following topics:

1. Presentation of the course (1 hour)
   
2. The subject of the course and its chronological, geographical and thematic limits (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: grain supply (4 hours)
7. Connections with the Far East through the Red Sed (4 hours)
8. Connections with Africa (4 hours).
   

The program will be completed with the study, by the students, of the main structural problems of the history of the roman empire.

Students attending the integrated 12 credits' course in Roman History are required to write a short paper (5-10 pages) on one of the topics covered in class or related to the history of roman empire, to be agreed with the teacher. 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 the history of the roman empire (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 the history of the roman empire.

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, part III, pp. 339-540: I principi e il mondo [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; in case of problems in finding the volume you can contact the teacher].
2. On the special theme of the course: lecture notes, which will also be published in the form of slides, on the platform Virtuale (https://virtuale.unibo.it/).
3. For writing the paper: special literature, in foreign languages too, 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, part III, pp. 339-540: I principi e il mondo [the text is available in the library of the Department of Storia Culture Civiltà – Sezione di Storia Antica, via Zamboni 38, 2nd floor, under the signature CONS V Giar; in case of problems in finding the volume you can contact the teacher].
2. On the special theme fo the course: C, Riggs (a cura di), Oxford Handook of Roman Egypt, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012, following chapters: Introduction; Part I: Land and State; Part III: People; Part VII: Borders, Trade, and Tourism [the book is available in the Library of the Department of History and Cultures Ancient History, via Zamboni 38, II floor under the signature PROV. VII. 212; in case of problems in finding the volume you can contact the teacher]
3. For an alternative program (particularly on item 2 of the program for non-attending students) contact me, by email too at alessandro.cristofori@unibo.it [mailto:alessandro.cristofori@unibo.it] .

Basic bibliography

The topics that will be dealt with in class assume a good knowledge of the main historical events of the Roman Empire. To recover this general historical picture you can consult 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.

For an historical overview of the topics of the course see C. Salvaterra, l’Egitto romano, «Storia d’Europa e del Mediterraneo. Il Mondo antico. III l’Ecumene Romana. vol. VI da Augusto a Diocleziano» (a cura di G. Traina), pp. 355-416 [can be found in the teaching materials in Virtuale (https://virtuale.unibo.it/)].

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

Teaching methods

Lectures on the special theme Rome and Egypt. In the lectures I will try to actively involve students, especially in reading and interpreting the ancient sources that we will examine in class.

Special seminar on the preparation of the paper.

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

The assessment, through an oral examination (and, for attending students of the 12 credits integrated course in Roman History, in form of a written essay), will test:

• a knowledge the main structural problems of the history of the roman empire;
• 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 of the 12 credits integrated course in Roman History, 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, lasting about 25-30 minutes, tipically involves, for attending students:

• one question on the main structural problems of the history of the roman empire (based on A. Giardina – A. Schiavone, Storia di Roma, Torino, Einaudi, 1999);
• two questions on topics discussed in class, on the special theme Rome and Egypt;
• for attending students of the 12 credits integrated course in Roman History a discussion of the paper.

There will be three questions for not attending students, in a oral examination that will last about 25-30 minutes too:

• one question on the main structural problems of the history of the roman empire (based on A. Giardina – A. Schiavone, Storia di Roma, Torino, Einaudi, 1999);
• two question on the special theme of the course (based on the Handbook by Christina Riggs (a cura di), Oxford Handook of Roman Egypt, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012, following chapters: Introduction, Part I: Land and State, Part III: People, Part VII: Borders, Trade, and Tourism).

The course unit of History of the Roman empire (1) (LM) is an integrated course with the course unit Archaic and republican Roman history (1) (LM) and together they form the course of Roman history (C.I) (LM) of 12 credits for students of the Master programme in History and Oriental Studies; it can also be chosen as a 6-credit independent course by students of Master Programmes in Archaeology and Cultures of the Ancient World, Philology, Literature and Classical Tradition and as free choice for other Master's Degree courses.

In the assessment of the integrated course of Roman history (12 credits), the overall grade will be the result of the joint assessment with arithmetic average between the mark of this module of History of the Roman empire and the mark in the module of Archai and republican Roman history. Students are therefore asked to sit the exam in the same date.

Teaching tools

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

Office hours

See the website of Alessandro Cristofori