GREEK HISTORY
Academic Year 2022/2023 - Teacher:
ENNIO GIUSEPPE AGATINO BIONDI
Expected Learning Outcomes
1) Knowledge and understanding: the
student will have to understand and interpret the fundamental dynamics of Greek
history through the study of the main sources (literary texts, papyri,
inscriptions, archaeological remains, iconographic finds, numismatic documents)
coming from the eastern and western Mediterranean and distributed in a large
time span including from the Minoan age and the Roman conquest of Greece.
2) Applying knowledge and understanding:
the student must be able to connect the theoretical and methodological contents
learned with the interpretation of past, present and future events and
processes, and to use methodologies appropriate to the educational objectives.
3) Making judgements: the student will
acquire the ability to formulate opinions on the contents learned; he will be
able to deepen the topics of study .
4) Communication skills: The analysis
of the foundations of the discipline will allow students to confront each other
on a dialogical level with different interlocutors (specialists or not); to
motivate, in oral and written form, objectives, procedures and methodologies,
acquiring awareness of the expressive means of the sectoral languages.
5)Learning
skills: the student will perfect his skills in the study of complex topics; he
will improve his learning skills and use of innovative methodologies to deal
with new problems
Course Structure
Frontal lessons, with the reading of selected literary and epigraphic
testimonies, for the purpose of deepening the disciplinary contents acquired on
a manual basis.
Required Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of the classical world, Greco-Roman history and
historical geography of the Mediterranean.
Detailed Course Content
General introduction to Greek historiography.
The
archaeological discovery of pre-Greek civilizations and studies on the
deciphering of graphic systems; the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization and
the "Greek Middle Ages"; the Homeric society and the birth of the
polis; Greek migrations and "colonizations"; religious practices,
aristocracies and panhellenic sanctuaries; constitutional systems and
legislative reforms; the relations between the Mediterranean West and
near-eastern civilizations; culture and society in archaic and classical times;
geography, ethnography and the development of historiography; Asia Minor and Persia; the rise of tyrannies in Greece
and the West; the formation of leagues, federal states and disputes for
territorial hegemony; Greco-Persian alliances and conflicts; Sparta and the
Peloponnese; Athens and Attica; central and northern Greece; the kingdom of
Macedonia and the foundation of the "universal empire"; diadochi and
epigones; outlines of economic and social history of the late classical and
Hellenistic periods. Science and technology in the Hellenistic age.
The
course also includes an in-depth study of the relationship between the Hellenic
world and other cultures throughout the time span of Greek history.
Textbook Information
Module 1 (3 cfu): Introduction to the Greek
historiography:
Introductory text: C. Bearzot, Storiografia greca. Un’introduzione,
Bologna (Il Mulino) 2022 (pp. 226).
Module 2 (3 cfu): Outlines of Greek history.
Basic manual: M. Corsaro, L. Gallo, Storia Greca, Firenze (Le Monnier), 2010
(pp. 308).
Alternatively
C. Bearzot, Manuale
di storia greca, Bologna (Il Mulino), 2015 (pp. 368).
Module 3 (3 cfu): The Greeks and ‘the Barbarians’
Introductory text: A. Momigliano, Saggezza straniera. L’Ellenismo e le altre culture,
Torino (Einaudi), 20192 (pp. 167).
Reading passages of the Histories of Herodotus: I, 96-130; III,
89-116 (edition of your choice).
Learning Assessment
Learning Assessment Procedures
Final oral exam. The questions formulated during the exam will
be based on the introductory text (Module 1), on the basic manual (Module 2)
and on the in-depth texts and essays (Module 3).
A written test is expected in progress.
For the evaluation of the exam, the mastery of the
contents and the skills acquired, the linguistic accuracy and lexical
properties, as well as the argumentative ability demonstrated by the candidate
will be taken into account.
Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises
- The formation of the polis.
- The hoplite reform.
- Solon's reforms in Athens
-The Persian Empire and the Greco-Persian Wars
- The work of Cimon.
- The reforms of Pericles.
- The Peace of the King.
VERSIONE IN ITALIANO