00996 - Greek History

Course contents

Democracy and oligarchy in Classical Greece.

Politics, power, and ideology

The thematic section of the course will focus on the birth and evolution of the ideas of democracy and oligarchy, especially in 5th- and 4th-century Athens, including their history and political implications. The course will deal with the notions of citizenship, equality and freedom of speech; the violent civil wars and reforms; the monuments, symbols, and representations of democracy. The theme of oligarchy, especially in relation with Sparta, will be studied as a counterpart to democratic Athens, especially from the ideological and political point of view. In its final part, the course will analyse the reception of the idea of Greek democracy in contemporary Western culture, through relevant case studies concerning the ideological use (and often abuse) of the past in our recent history.

Course structure:

1. First module of 6 CFU (institutional section): Themes and issues of Greek history, from the origins to the Hellenism.

2. Second module of 6 CFU (thematic section): Democracy and oligarchy: politics, power, and ideology.

NB: this is a blended-learning course: 40 hours of class lectures will deal with fundamental notions of Greek history and with the thematic section. The student shall add 20 hours of online study and activities on more general notions, carried out autonomously and with the assistance of the lecturer, on the institutional e-learning platform of the course: themes of Greek historiography, a critical outline of authors and works, some passages from ancient texts (esp. Herodotus and Thucydides), and an overall framework of events, dates, and historical geography useful to the study of Greek history.

Readings/Bibliography

Institutional section:

1) One among the following textbooks of Greek history:

C. Bearzot, Manuale di storia greca, Bologna: Il Mulino, 2015 (3a ed.) or M. Bettalli, A.L. D’Agata, A. Magnetto, Storia Greca, Roma: Carocci, 2013 (2a ed.) or L. Breglia, F. Guizzi, R. Raviola, Storia greca, Edises: Napoli, 2015.

2) Activities, texts and resources available on the online institutional e-learning platform, useful to the study of the following themes:

• Greek historiography
• Ancient chronology and geography

Thematic section:

3) P. Schmitt Pantel, I migliori di Atene. La vita dei potenti nella Grecia antica, Roma-Bari: Laterza 2012, or M. Lupi, Sparta. Storia e rappresentazioni di una città greca, Roma: Carocci, 2017.

4) Course notes and didactic material, available on this website during the course.

Students with specific interests can propose any variation to the bibliography above, as long as it is relevant to the course.

Non-attending students

In addition to 1), 2), 3), above, students who do not attend classes will be required to study the following two books:

• D. Musti, Demokratia. Origini di un’idea, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2013.
• F. Landucci Gattinoni, Il testamento di Alessandro: la Grecia dall’Impero ai Regni, Roma-Bari: Laterza, 2014.

NB: non-attending students and students from courses attended in previous years are requested to get in touch with the lecturer at least two weeks in advance before signing up for any exam session.

Teaching methods

This is a blended-learning course: traditional class lectures will be supported by online activities as per following:

• Class lectures with PowerPoint and handouts (40 hours)
• Online didactic activities and resources, carried out autonomously by the student and with the assistance of the lecturer, on the institutional e-learning platform of the course (20 hours).

Assessment methods

Oral exam. Normally, 1 question on each of the following (institutional section, incl. fundamental notions of historiography):

• Archaic Greek history
• Classical Greek history
• Hellenistic Greek history

In addition, 2-3 questions on themes discussed in class regarding the thematic section (or, for non-attending students, the additional reading).

Teaching tools

PowerPoints, PDFs of sources, images and maps. Resources available on the institutional e-learning platform of the course.

All materials will be made available to the students during the course.

Links to further information

https://iol.unibo.it/course/view.php?id=23702

Office hours

See the website of Matteo Zaccarini