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

Course contents

Arcadia and Boeotia: historical and cultural interactions, parallels and diversity in the Archaic and Classical age.

The course aims to offer, as a first part of a survey that will be further explored in the next academic year, a detailed picture of the salient historical moments of Arcadia and Boeotia, their constitutions and main political institutions, their cultural traditions reflecting specific events in their history.

The course will be divided into two parts (equally divided on the total hours):

• in the first one the history of Arcadia will be examined in its fundamental junctions, relevant both to the dynamics between its main cities and to the external ones, involving Sparta, Athens, Boeotia;
• in the second part, the attention will focus on Boeotia itself, which in the last ten years has been the object of important historical-literary and epigraphical researches.

A basic knowledge of the Greek language, in order to read directly literary texts and other sources, is strongly recommended; nevertheless, it is not strictly required for the attendance of the classes.

 

Readings/Bibliography

The teacher will present the most important publications on the history of Arcadia and Boeotia.

Attending students will therefore study the lecture notes and the other sources discussed in class; in addition, they must read the following papers (the volumes from which they are drawn will be available for consultation in the Department’s library):

1) H. Beck - A. Ganter, Boiotia and the Boiotian Leagues, in H. Beck - P. Funke (eds.), Federalism in Greek Antiquity, Cambridge 2015, 132-157.

2a)  D. Knoepfler, L’occupation d’Oropos par Athènes au Ive siècle avant J.-C. : une cléruchie dissimulée ? in E. Culasso Gastaldi-D. Marchiandi (cur.), Gli Ateniesi fuori dall’Attica: modi di intervento e controllo del territori. Atti del Convegno (Torino, 8-9 aprile 2010), in «ASAA» s. III, 10, 2012, 443-447.

or 

2b)  D. Knoepfler, La loi de Daitondas, les femmes de Thébes et le collège des béotarques au Ive et au IIIe siècle avant J.-C., in P. Angeli Bernardini ( a cura di), Presenza e funzione della città di Tebe nella cultura greca, Pisa-Roma 2000, 345-366.

 3a) Th. Lucas, Entre Attique et Béotie: identités politiques et culturelles à la frontière, in Th. Lucas, Chr. Müller, A.-Ch. Oddon Panissié (éd.), La Béotie de l’archaïsme à l’époque romaine. Frontières, territoire, paysages, Paris 2019, 233-250.

or

3b) L. Prandi, Problemi del confine attico-beotico. La zona di Eleutere, in M. Sordi (cur.), Il confine nel mondo classico («CISA» 13), Milano 1987, 50-79.

4) J. Ma, The Autonomy of the Boiotian Poleis, in S.D. Gartland (ed.), Boiotia in the Fourth Century B.C., Philadelphia 2016, 32-41.

5) Th. H. Nielsen, The Arkadian Confederacy, in H. Beck - P. Funke (eds.), Federalism in Greek Antiquity, Cambridge 2015, 250-268.

6) J. Roy, Problems of Democracy in the Arcadian Confederacy 370-362 BC, in R. Brock - S. Hodkinson (eds.), Alternatives to Athens. Varieties of Political Organization and Community in Ancient Greece, Oxford 2000, 308-326.

For the historical background they must 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.

Students who are not going to attend the classes must read, in addition to the titles 1-6, the following books:

1. Th. H. Nielsen, Arkadia and its Poleis in the Archaic and Classical Period, Göttingen 2002.
2. C. Bearzot, Federalismo e autonomia nelle Elleniche di Senofonte, Milano 2004.
3. A. Schachter, Boiotia in Antiquity, Cambridge 2016.
4. M.E. De Luna, Arkadika. Testimonianze e Frammenti, Tivoli 2017, 83-105; 175-191; 247-253.
5. They will also have to read the books VI-VII of Xenophon’s Hellenica.

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

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

The exam is oral. 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.

For the course of Greek History (Archaic and Classical+Hellenistic History) the final score will be assigned by the two teachers together, after considering the evaluations in both parts.

 

This 6 CFU course can be chosen as a part of the 12 CFU Integrated Course Greek History (Archaic and Classical+Hellenistic History). If the student has the Integrated Course (12 CFU) in his/her study plan, the final grade will result from the arithmetic average of the marks obtained in the two parts.

 

 

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