Learning objectives
Critically relate – from a scientific standpoint and personal knowledge – for the use and enjoyment of students, the documentary and human wealth of inscribed texts of which nothing is said or known except, it would seem, within a strictly academic environment ... History, real history I mean, not that of apologists or story-tellers (such as Montanelli or Messori) and, above all, rigorous, authentic memory - sine ira et studio, Tacitus wrote – of subordinate classes, losers, common men and women in their daily lives and activities. Those, in short, who made history but don’t know it!: too much has already been written, and continues to be written, about the mighty, the rich and the powerful, ...
Prerequisites
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Course unit content
<br />[Specialised readings]. The course will cover a long-term study of the relationship between women, sex and society in the ancient world and will examine the conception, the fears and the taboos of woman in the male world of ancient Rome, according to the following general outline: <br /><br />- male and female in the ancient Mediterranean world;<br />- sexuality and eroticism in the ancient world;<br />- the gradual collapse of the patriarchal ethic in Rome from matrimonium to libido;<br />- eros and sexus in Roman Italy: original taboos and myths;<br />- female roles: matronae, mulieres, meretrices, .. ;<br />- inferiority, subalternity and alienation: freemen and slaves;<br />- Roman women during the imperial age: from the pagan to the Christian world.<br />[Exercises]. Exercises will cover the daily life and memory of lower-class women and men through the messages and images of Latin epigraphy.<br />Specifically, historical auxiliary sciences of the ancient world will be analysed as well as the various types of site inscriptions (the Tabula alimentaria in Veleia, first and foremost), studying the compositional technique and contents of ancient and modern “last words”.
Full programme
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Bibliography
<br />AA.VV., "Res publica Veleiatium". Vele ia, tra passato e futuro, cur. N. Criniti, Parma, MUP Editore, 2006 <br />AA.VV., Gli affanni del vivere e del morire. Schiavi, soldati, donne, bambini nella Roma imperiale, cur. N. Criniti, 2 ed., Brescia, Grafo, 1997<br />E. Cantarella, La vita delle donne, in AA.VV., Storia di Roma, curr. A. Giardina - A. Schiavone, Torino, Einaudi, 2000, pp. 867-894<br /> <br /> and: <br /> AA.VV., . Vita e morte nei "carmina Latina epigraphica" della Padania centrale , cur. N. Criniti, 2 ed., Parma, La Pilotta Editrice, 1998
Teaching methods
outside the classroom, with frequent specialised seminars and field trips to museums and archeological sites (Veleia being the most important) which serve as periodic laboratories for enhanced knowledge and specialisation in the daily lives of women <br />
Assessment methods and criteria
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Other information
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