Learning objectives
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING SKILLS
The course will provide students with a thorough knowledge and understanding of both history of ancient Greek historiography and history of modern historiography of ancient Greece.
ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
The course will provide students with the critical and methodological tools required to read and understand different types of historiographical texts – both ancient and modern – and thus the ability to apply knowledge and understanding to issues in addition to those covered in the lessons.
INDEPENDENCE OF JUDGEMENT
Lessons will focus on the different types of historiographical sources and their interaction with different aspects of historical reality. Students will thus develop autonomy of judgement in reading ancient texts
and interpreting historical facts.
COMMUNICATION SKILLS
At the end of the course students will have acquired the ability to clearly present specialist contents related to the history of ancient Greek historiography and modern historiography of ancient Greece, both verbally and/or in writing.
LEARNING SKILLS
Theoretical and disciplinary content of the course should provide students with the methodological tools and learning
abilities required for the continuation of studies and/or for specialist
professional activities.
Prerequisites
Basic knowledge of Greek and Roman history
Course unit content
Histories and Historians of Ancient Greece, from Antiquity to the 20th Century. A Perspective.
The course is in a single Unit (6 CFU = 30 hours) which will take place April 7th - May, 9th 2025.
The Unit is divided up in two parts: the first one will offer a systematic analysis of the history of ancient Greek historiography from the emergence of Ionian historical thought (6th century BC) to the end of the ancient world (5th century AD). Specific attention will be drawn to different aims, methods, genres and audiences of ancient Greek historiography. In the second part, the Unit will synthetically outline the main stages involved in the formation process of the modern historiography of ancient Greece, from the rediscovery of Greek and Roman authors at the dawn of Humanism up to the rise of 20th-century historical-anthropological research paradigms.
Bibliography
A) Students ATTENDING lessons:
1. Introduzione alla storiografia greca, ed. by Marco Bettalli, Roma, Carocci, 2021 (3rd edn), pp. 15-146.
2. G. Zecchini, Storia della storiografia romana, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2016, pp. 3-41, 69-78, 130-146, 172-211.
3. C. Ampolo, Storie greche. La formazione della moderna storiografia sugli antichi Greci, Torino, Einaudi, 1997, pp. ix-109.
4. Further readings and anthology of ancient texts provided during classes (available on Elly platform).
B) Students NOT ATTENDING lessons:
1. Introduzione alla storiografia greca, a cura di Marco Bettalli, Roma, Carocci, 2018, pp. 13-154.
2. G. Zecchini, Storia della storiografia romana, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2016, pp. 3-41, 69-78, 130-146, 172-211.
3. C. Ampolo, Storie greche. La formazione della moderna storiografia sugli antichi Greci, Torino, Einaudi, 1997, pp. ix-162.
4. A. Momigliano, ‘Ancient History and the Antiquarian’, in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 13 (1950), pp. 285-315 (rist. in Id., Contributo alla storia degli studi classici, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 1955, pp. 67-106).
5. J.P. Vernant - A. Schiavone, Ai confini della storia, Torino, Einaudi, 1993, 66pp.
Teaching methods
The class consists of 30 hours of lectures.
Assessment methods and criteria
Learning assessment will consist of an oral examination.
The minimum requirement to pass the exam (18-23/30) is for the student to be able to understand at a basic level the texts proposed by the teacher during the exam, to demonstrate a sufficient mastery of the topics dealt with in the frontal lessons, to express him/herself with a minimum of correctness, to develop at a sufficient level his/her own research on the topic agreed upon with the teacher. 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 content of the course, a thorough competence in dealing with research tools and methodology, the ability to solve problems related to information retrieval and the decoding of complex texts and to use the adequate specialized vocabulary, the capacity of making autonomous judgments.
A fail is determined by the lack of an understanding of the minimum content of the course or of the texts proposed at the exam, the inability to express oneself adequately and to produce an autonomous reflection on the topic agreed upon with the teacher.
