Learning objectives
Knowledge and understanding.
With this course, the student will acquire a general knowledge and understanding of the political, social and institutional history of the Greek world from the archaic age to the early Hellenistic age.
Applying knowledge and understanding.
The course will provide the student with the basic, both critical and methodological, tools needed to read and understand the different types of sources and thus to apply knowledge and understanding to topics not directly dealt with in the lessons.
Making judgments.
By actively participating in the lessons, in which the different types of sources are made to interact with the different aspects of historical reality, students will be able to develop, for the moment at a basic level, their autonomy of judgment in the reading of texts and the interpretation of historical facts.
Communication skills.
At the end of the course, students will have the ability to expose, verbally or in writing, non-specialist contents related to the main events and problems of the history of the ancient Greek world.
Learning skills.
Theoretical and disciplinary skills acquired during the lessons should provide the students with the methodological tools and learning skills that are useful for continuing the studies or for carrying out non-specialist professional activities.
Prerequisites
No particular prerequisite is asked for, but for a good general preparation given in the secondary schools in historical disciplines.
Course unit content
The course of Greek History will be divided into two Units: the first one will focus on the basics, while the second one will consist of further study of a major specific issue of the ancient Greek history.
Unit of basic knowledge (6 credits = 36 hours, comprehensive of frontal lessons and tutorials), for students attending both the 6 cfu course and the 12 cfu course: February, 14th – March, 23th 2017.
This Unit, which has a preparatory and methodological character, will serve as an introduction to the history of the ancient Greek World, from the early archaic period to the reign of Philip II of Macedon (ca. 800-336 BC). Through the study of several translated literary and epigraphic texts and figurative documents, the teacher will illustrate: a) the sources, research tools, and methodologies which allow us to reconstruct the history of archaic and classical Greece; b) the broad lines of the history of Greek historiography; c) some of the main political, social, and economic issues of the pre-hellenistic Greek world.
Second Unit (6 credits = 36 hours, comprehensive of frontal lessons and tutorials), only for students attending the 12 cfu course: April, 11th – May, 18th 2017.
This Unit, whose title is "Alexander the Great and the birth of the hellenistic world", will be devoted, in a first part, to a portrait of the great Macedonian king (336-323 BC) and a history of his conquest of the Achaemenid empire, in a second part, to the laborious process of political settlement that occurred in Greece and in the East in the aftermath of his death and the characteristic features of the Hellenistic civilization before the coming of Romans.
Full programme
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Bibliography
Unit of basic knowledge.
Students will prepare this Unit on the following material:
1. M. CORSARO – L. GALLO, "Storia greca", Firenze, Le Monnier Università, 2010 (to be studied with the support of a good historical atlas);
2. the topics dealt with and the sources read in class (see below, under Teaching Methods).
Unit of in-depth knowledge.
Students will prepare this Unit on the following material:
1. C. MOSSÉ, "Alessandro Magno. La realtà e il mito", Italian translation, Roma-Bari, Ed. Laterza, 2008;
2. the topics dealt with and the sources read in class (see below, under Teaching Methods).
Teaching methods
Teaching will consist mainly of frontal lessons (not less than 30 hours), integrated with practice and training activities. These activities will consist of visits to the libraries, in order to directly consult collections of sources and bibliographical as well as research tools, and of workshops with small groups of more actively involved students, aimed at the close analysis of literary and epigraphic texts.
Assessment methods and criteria
The learning assessment will consist of an oral examination. The sufficiency threshold in the exam (18-23/30) is reached if the student shows to have got a basic knowledge of the historical development of the Greek world from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period and the main features of the ancient Greek civilization, to understand the texts studied in class, to orient him/herself in the main issues dealt with in the course, to express him/herself in a sufficiently clear way and with a sufficiently correct vocabulary. A fail grade is determined by failure to meet these basic requirements. Middle-range scores (24-27/30) are assigned to the students who produce evidence of a more than sufficient or good level in the evaluation indicators listed above. Higher scores (28/30 to 30/30 cum laude) are awarded to the students who demonstrate a full mastery of the historical development of ancient Greece up to the Hellenistic age and the main aspects of its civilization, the ability to fully understand and frame in the right context the documents read in class, to reflect independently on the contents of the program and to make transversal links between the topics covered in the course, the ability to express themselves clearly and using the correct disciplinary vocabulary. Some acquaintance with the basic research tools will contribute to a high score.
Other information
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2030 agenda goals for sustainable development
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