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.

The Course Structure will be based on the diachronic development of Greek History and on the expansion of Greek Civilization in the Eastern and Western Mediterranean.

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 “Dark Ages” of Greece and the Homeric World; culture and society in Archaic and Classical Ages; religious practices, political systems and relationship between West and Near Eastern Civilizations; the birth of Tyranny in Greece and in Western Colonies; relation between Aristocracy and Panhellenic sanctuaries; Greek ethnic groups and the mirage of "National Unity"; oracle responses and "Sacred Wars"; Greek "Colonization" and Ethnic Migrations; legislative reforms and administration of Justice; the Ionic culture in Archaic Age, the first philosophers and the Persian expansion in Asia Minor; the development of Ethnography, Geography and Historiography; the ancient Constitutions, the debate about the "Good Governance" and the Aristotelian judgments on democratic Systems; the nature of oligarchic Systems, the Spartan World and the interpretation of Socrates and Plato; the Macedonian kingdom, the foundation of "Universal Empire" and the Aristotelian critiques; Isocrates and the reawakening of Athenian civic pride; 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 Economic and Social History of the Hellenistic World and to the History of Greek Sicily, also through the epigraphic and archaeological data.

Mod. 1

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 (epigraphic evidence), pp. 203-240 (literary sources), pp. 287-308 (papyrological sources).

Mod. 2

Basic Manuals:

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

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

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

Mod. 3

Students are required to study at least one of the following texts:

- R. Lane Fox, Eroi viaggiatori. I Greci e i loro miti nell’età epica di Omero, Torino (Einaudi), 2010.

- M.L. West, La filosofia greca arcaica e l'Oriente, Bologna (Il Mulino), 1993.

- L. Braccesi - G. Millino, La Sicilia greca, Roma (Carocci), 2000.

- C. Meier, La nascita della categoria del politico in Grecia, Bologna (Il Mulino), 1988.

- C. Meier, L’arte politica della tragedia greca, Torino (Einaudi), 2000.

- E. Poddighe, Aristotele, Atene e le metamorfosi dell’idea democratica. Da Solone a Pericle (594-451 a.C.), Roma (Carocci), 2014.

- C. Catenacci, Il tiranno e l’eroe. Per un’archeologia del potere nella Grecia antica, Milano (B. Mondadori), 1996.

- E.A. Havelock, Cultura orale e civiltà della scrittura. Da Omero a Platone, Roma-Bari (Laterza), 1973 (VI ed. 2006).

- J. de Romilly, La legge nel pensiero greco. Dalle origini ad Aristotele, Milano (Garzanti), 2005.

- D. Musti, Demokratìa. Origini di un’idea, Roma-Bari (Laterza), 1999.

- J. de Romilly, Alcibiade. Un avventuriero in una democrazia in crisi, Milano (Garzanti), 1997 (II ed. 2001).

- E. Lévy, Sparta, Lecce (Argo editrice), 2006.

- L. Canfora, Il mondo di Atene, Roma-Bari (Laterza), 2011.

- G. Arrigoni (a cura di), Le donne in Grecia, Roma-Bari (Laterza), 2008.

- C. Mossé, Pericle. L’inventore della democrazia, Roma-Bari (Laterza), 2006.

- A. Banfi, Il governo della città. Pericle nel pensiero antico, Bologna (Il Mulino), 2003.

- I.F. Stone, Il processo a Socrate. Perché una democrazia condanna a morte un filosofo?, Milano (Rizzoli), 1990.

- A.B. Bosworth, Alessandro Magno. L’uomo e il suo impero, Milano (Rizzoli), 2004.

- C. Mossé, Alessandro Magno. La realtà e il mito, Roma-Bari (Laterza), 2003.

- F. Landucci, Il testamento di Alessandro. La Grecia dall’Impero ai Regni, Roma-Bari (Laterza), 2014.

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.