GREEK HISTORY

Main aim of the lectures is to provide a basic understanding of Greek History, including the period of the Civilizations of the Bronze Age until the Roman occupation of Greece. Students will be able to understand the political, military and constitutional development of Greek poleis through the analysis of textual tradition, epigraphic evidence and archaeological data.

 By virtue of the indepth study provided for in Mod. 3, students will have the opportunity to learn specific aspects about Greek Sicily and the native populations, thus being able to distinguish the basic differences between Metropolitan and peripheral Greekness.

According to the Dublin descriptors, students, at the end of the course, will demonstrate:

1) knowledge and understanding in a post-secondary level field of study and knowing the fundamental themes in one's field of study.

2) ability to apply knowledge and understanding in order to demonstrate a professional approach and possess adequate skills both to conceive and support arguments and to solve problems in one's field of study.

3) autonomy of judgment.

4) communication skills.

5) learning skills necessary to undertake subsequent studies with a high degree of autonomy.

The lectures will cover the main themes of the ancient Greek World and will provide a theoretical and methodological basis for studying Ancient History and for its reconstruction through literary and papyrological sources, and through archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic data. Here are some topics covered during the lessons: the pre-Greek Civilizations and the first graphic systems; the collapse of the Mycenaean Civilization; the Greek “Dark Ages” and Homeric society; the birth of the polis; Greek “Colonization” and Ethnic Migrations; religious practices, political systems and relationship between Western and Near Eastern Civilizations; relations between Aristocracy and Panhellenic sanctuaries; legislative reforms and administration of Justice; culture and society in Archaic and Classical periods; the development of Ethnography, Geography and Historiography; Asia Minor and the Persian expansion; the birth of Tyranny in Greece and in Western Colonies; the development of the koinà and the birth of federal systems; Persian-Greek conflicts and alliances; Sparta and the Peloponnese; Athens and the land of Attica; the regions of Northern and Central Greece; the Macedonian Kingdom and the foundation of “Universal Empire”; Diadochoi and Epigonoi; lineaments of Economic and Social History of late-Classical and Hellenistic Ages; science and technique in Hellenistic Age.

 Special attention will also be given to Greek Sicily and native populations, also through the epigraphic and archaeological data.

Mod. 1 (1 ECTS)

Introductory Manual:

- L. Cracco Ruggini (ed.), Storia antica. Come leggere le fonti, Bologna (Il Mulino), 2000, only these sections: pp. 61-119 (archaeological data), pp. 121-133 (literary sources), pp. 203-240 (epigraphic evidence) and pp. 287-308 (papyrological sources).

 

Mod. 2 (3 ECTS)

Basic Manual:

- M. Corsaro - L. Gallo, Storia greca, Firenze (Le Monnier), 2010 or latest reprint (pp. 308).

 

Students also interested in the study of Greek History on the basis of epigraphic and archaeological data can choose this Manual:

- C. Mossé - A. Schnapp-Gourbeillon, Storia dei Greci. Dalle origini alla conquista romana, Roma (Carocci), 1998 or latest reprint (pp. 424).

 

Mod. 3 (5 ECTS)

Focus:

«Greeks and Non-Greeks in Ancient Sicily»

 

Basic Manual:

- L. Braccesi - G. Millino, La Sicilia greca, Roma (Carocci), 2000 or latest reprint (pp. 196).

Texts and essays:

- E. Gabba - G. Vallet (eds.), La Sicilia antica. Indigeni, fenici-punici e Greci, I/1, Napoli (Società editrice Storia di Napoli e della Sicilia), 1980, only these essays: L’elemento indigeno e Trattazione storica (pp. 43-86).

- G. Pugliese Carratelli, Tra Cadmo e Orfeo. Contributi alla storia civile e religiosa dei Greci d’Occidente, Bologna (Il Mulino), 1990, only the following essay: Minos e Cocalos (pp. 43-57).

- N. Cusumano, Una terra splendida e facile da possedere. I Greci e la Sicilia, Roma (G. Bretschneider editore), 1994, pp. 29-177.

- F. Zevi, Siculi e troiani (Roma e la propaganda greca nel V secolo a.C.), in Aa.Vv., La colonisation grecque en Méditerranée occidentale, Actes de la rencontre scientifique en hommage à Georges Vallet (Rome-Naples, 15-18 novembre 1995), Rome (Collection de l’École française de Rome - 251), 1999, pp. 315-343.

- P. Anello - G. Martorana - R. Sammartano (eds.), Ethne e religioni nella Sicilia antica, Atti del convegno (Palermo, 6-7 dicembre 2000), Roma (G. Bretschneider editore), 2006, only these essays: I Sicani, I Siculi e Gli Elimi (pp. 107-179).

- D. Ambaglio, Diodoro Siculo tra storia locale e storia indigena, in C. Miccichè - S. Modeo - L. Santagati (eds.), Diodoro Siculo e la Sicilia indigena, Atti del convegno (Caltanissetta, 21-22 maggio 2005), Caltanissetta (Lussografica), 2006, pp. 81-88.

 

For a useful iconographic and topographical repertoire, we recommend consulting the essay of V. La Rosa, Le popolazioni della Sicilia. Sicani, Siculi, Elimi, in G. Pugliese Carratelli (ed.), Italia. Omnium terrarum parens, Milano (Garzanti/Scheiwiller), 1989, pp. 3-110.

 

Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).

All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.