Greek History Ma
A.Y. 2025/2026
Learning objectives
The aim of the course is to provide students with secure advanced knowledge of Greek history in its chronological development as well as of the specific research methods and current approaches and perspectives within the discipline by means of an in-depth treatment of a monographic theme and a critical and methodologically sound approach to ancient sources.
Expected learning outcomes
The expected learning outcomes include:
- advanced knowledge of the development of Greek history and especially of the political, institutional, socio-economic and cultural issues investigated during the course;
- ability to analyse, contextualise and critically interpret ancient sources (literary, epigraphic and archaeological) according to their specific characters and the thematic issues they individually pose;
- ability to use research methods and bibliographical resources developed by modern scholarship with a view to investigating the ancient Greek world;
- ability to communicate effectively using appropriate language and proving capable of critical judgment with regard to the topics and issues taken into consideration.
- advanced knowledge of the development of Greek history and especially of the political, institutional, socio-economic and cultural issues investigated during the course;
- ability to analyse, contextualise and critically interpret ancient sources (literary, epigraphic and archaeological) according to their specific characters and the thematic issues they individually pose;
- ability to use research methods and bibliographical resources developed by modern scholarship with a view to investigating the ancient Greek world;
- ability to communicate effectively using appropriate language and proving capable of critical judgment with regard to the topics and issues taken into consideration.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
Course title: Democracy and Anti-Democracy: Athenian Society from the Golden Age of Perikles to the Rise of Macedon
The topics dealt with during the course will be as follows:
Part A
Part A.1 will examine some of the issues relating to the internal politics of Athens in the second half of the fifth century from the perspective of the critical reading offered by the Constitution of the Athenians that has come down to us as a part of Xenophon's works. Concerning this essay, of great originality and interest, elements will be offered for the contextualization of its nature, chronology and objectives, as well as an in-depth commentary on a selection of significant passages that reflect the anonymous author's multi-level approach to contemporary political reality.
Part A.2 will focus on the surfacing of an opposition to Athenian democracy and on the oligarchic experiences of the regime of the Four Hundred and that of the Thirty Tyrants, also in relation to the emergence of the political theme of patrios politeia. In addition, the question about the nature of oligarchy as a political regime and, in particular, about the existence of an articulated anti-democratic political thought in this phase of Athenian history and its theoretical foundations will be examined.
Part B
Part B will continue the discourse on the difficult (but not impossible) dialogue between the ideas underlying the notions of democracy and oligarchy through the critical reading of two fourth century Athenian speeches that address a common theme, that of the betrayal of the city's values: Lysias' Against Philon (which takes us back to the events during and after the rule of the Thirty Tyrants) and Lycurgus' Against Leocrates (which in turn belongs to the years following the battle of Chaeronea in 338 and to a phase of Athenian history where, on the threshold of Hellenism, tensions between the democratic tradition and the dynamics of an emerging elitism begin to surface).
The topics dealt with during the course will be as follows:
Part A
Part A.1 will examine some of the issues relating to the internal politics of Athens in the second half of the fifth century from the perspective of the critical reading offered by the Constitution of the Athenians that has come down to us as a part of Xenophon's works. Concerning this essay, of great originality and interest, elements will be offered for the contextualization of its nature, chronology and objectives, as well as an in-depth commentary on a selection of significant passages that reflect the anonymous author's multi-level approach to contemporary political reality.
Part A.2 will focus on the surfacing of an opposition to Athenian democracy and on the oligarchic experiences of the regime of the Four Hundred and that of the Thirty Tyrants, also in relation to the emergence of the political theme of patrios politeia. In addition, the question about the nature of oligarchy as a political regime and, in particular, about the existence of an articulated anti-democratic political thought in this phase of Athenian history and its theoretical foundations will be examined.
Part B
Part B will continue the discourse on the difficult (but not impossible) dialogue between the ideas underlying the notions of democracy and oligarchy through the critical reading of two fourth century Athenian speeches that address a common theme, that of the betrayal of the city's values: Lysias' Against Philon (which takes us back to the events during and after the rule of the Thirty Tyrants) and Lycurgus' Against Leocrates (which in turn belongs to the years following the battle of Chaeronea in 338 and to a phase of Athenian history where, on the threshold of Hellenism, tensions between the democratic tradition and the dynamics of an emerging elitism begin to surface).
Prerequisites for admission
The course, an advanced course, is addressed to students of the Master's programmes in Philology, Literature and History of Antiquity, in the Modern Humanities, in Archaeology and in Historical Sciences who have already taken an introductory course in Greek history.
Teaching methods
Part A (A1 and A.2) will be offered in a lecture format; Part B will be more interactive and will be organised in a seminar-like format. The course takes the students through the different topics with an approach based on a detailed analysis and commentary on the relevant sources and a critical discussion of the interpretative perspectives developed in modern scholarship. All texts and documents analysed during the lectures will be made available in advance for downloading on the course website on the Ariel platform.
International or Erasmus incoming students are kindly requested to promptly contact the teacher of the course. Also students with disabilities should contact the teacher of the course, in order to discuss alternative examination methods, in agreement with the competent Office.
Attendance of lectures highly is recommended but not compulsory.
International or Erasmus incoming students are kindly requested to promptly contact the teacher of the course. Also students with disabilities should contact the teacher of the course, in order to discuss alternative examination methods, in agreement with the competent Office.
Attendance of lectures highly is recommended but not compulsory.
Teaching Resources
Part A
A.1
1) Together with the lectures notes and ancient sources examined during the course (which will be uploaded ahead of each lecture on the Ariel platform),
1) Pseudo-Xenophon, Athenaion Politeia (recommended edition: G. SERRA (a cura di), Pseudo-Senofonte, Costituzione degli Ateniesi (con un saggio di L. Canfora), Milano, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, 2018).
2) C. BEARZOT-F. LANDUCCI-L. PRANDI (a cura di), L'Athenaion politeia rivisitata. Il punto su Pseudo-Senofonte, Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 2011.
A.2
1) C. BEARZOT, Come si abbatte una democrazia. Tecniche di colpo di Stato nell'Atene antica, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2013.
2) A. NATALICCHIO, Μὴ μνησικακεῖν (Me mnesikakein): l'amnistia, in S. SETTIS (a cura di), I Greci. Storia, cultura, arte, società, II.2: Una storia greca. Definizione, Torino, Einaudi, 1997, pp. 1305-1322.
Part B
1) Lisia, Contro Filone (XXXI), in Lisia. Orazioni XVI-XXXIV. Introduzione, traduzione e note a cura di E. MEDDA, Milano, BUR, 1995, pp. 377-403.
2) Licurgo, Contro Leocrate, a cura di A. TADDEI, Milano, Rizzoli, 2012.
3) One of the following books:
- M. PELLEGRINO, Introduzione all'oratoria greca. Autori e testi di età classica, Roma, Carocci, 2021;
- C. BEARZOT, La giustizia nell'antica Grecia, Roma, Carocci, 2008.
Bibliography for non-attendants
Part A
A.1
1) Pseudo-Xenophon, Athenaion Politeia (recommended edition: G. SERRA (a cura di), Pseudo-Senofonte, Costituzione degli Ateniesi (con un saggio di L. Canfora), Milano, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, 2018).
2) C. BEARZOT-F. LANDUCCI-L. PRANDI (a cura di), L'Athenaion politeia rivisitata. Il punto su Pseudo-Senofonte, Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 2011.
3) One of the following essays:
- M.I. FINLEY, La democrazia degli antichi e dei moderni, Roma-Bari 2010 (terza edizione, con postfazione di C. Ampolo; edizione originale Roma-Bari 1973);
- D. MUSTI, «Demokratia». Origini di un'idea, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1995, pp. 3-102, 139-241;
A.2
1) C. BEARZOT, Come si abbatte una democrazia. Tecniche di colpo di Stato nell'Atene antica, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2013.
2) M. CANEVARO, Making and Changing Laws in Ancient Athens, in E.M. HARRIS-M. CANEVARO (a cura di), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Law, Oxford 2015 (pubblicazione on-line).
Part B
1) Lisia, Contro Filone (XXXI), in Lisia. Orazioni XVI-XXXIV. Introduzione, traduzione e note a cura di E. MEDDA, Milano, BUR, 1995, pp. 377-403.
2) Licurgo, Contro Leocrate, a cura di A. TADDEI, Milano, Rizzoli, 2012.
3) M. PELLEGRINO, Introduzione all'oratoria greca. Autori e testi di età classica, Roma, Carocci, 2021.
4) C. BEARZOT, La giustizia nell'antica Grecia, Roma, Carocci, 2008.
A.1
1) Together with the lectures notes and ancient sources examined during the course (which will be uploaded ahead of each lecture on the Ariel platform),
1) Pseudo-Xenophon, Athenaion Politeia (recommended edition: G. SERRA (a cura di), Pseudo-Senofonte, Costituzione degli Ateniesi (con un saggio di L. Canfora), Milano, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, 2018).
2) C. BEARZOT-F. LANDUCCI-L. PRANDI (a cura di), L'Athenaion politeia rivisitata. Il punto su Pseudo-Senofonte, Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 2011.
A.2
1) C. BEARZOT, Come si abbatte una democrazia. Tecniche di colpo di Stato nell'Atene antica, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2013.
2) A. NATALICCHIO, Μὴ μνησικακεῖν (Me mnesikakein): l'amnistia, in S. SETTIS (a cura di), I Greci. Storia, cultura, arte, società, II.2: Una storia greca. Definizione, Torino, Einaudi, 1997, pp. 1305-1322.
Part B
1) Lisia, Contro Filone (XXXI), in Lisia. Orazioni XVI-XXXIV. Introduzione, traduzione e note a cura di E. MEDDA, Milano, BUR, 1995, pp. 377-403.
2) Licurgo, Contro Leocrate, a cura di A. TADDEI, Milano, Rizzoli, 2012.
3) One of the following books:
- M. PELLEGRINO, Introduzione all'oratoria greca. Autori e testi di età classica, Roma, Carocci, 2021;
- C. BEARZOT, La giustizia nell'antica Grecia, Roma, Carocci, 2008.
Bibliography for non-attendants
Part A
A.1
1) Pseudo-Xenophon, Athenaion Politeia (recommended edition: G. SERRA (a cura di), Pseudo-Senofonte, Costituzione degli Ateniesi (con un saggio di L. Canfora), Milano, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, 2018).
2) C. BEARZOT-F. LANDUCCI-L. PRANDI (a cura di), L'Athenaion politeia rivisitata. Il punto su Pseudo-Senofonte, Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 2011.
3) One of the following essays:
- M.I. FINLEY, La democrazia degli antichi e dei moderni, Roma-Bari 2010 (terza edizione, con postfazione di C. Ampolo; edizione originale Roma-Bari 1973);
- D. MUSTI, «Demokratia». Origini di un'idea, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1995, pp. 3-102, 139-241;
A.2
1) C. BEARZOT, Come si abbatte una democrazia. Tecniche di colpo di Stato nell'Atene antica, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2013.
2) M. CANEVARO, Making and Changing Laws in Ancient Athens, in E.M. HARRIS-M. CANEVARO (a cura di), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Law, Oxford 2015 (pubblicazione on-line).
Part B
1) Lisia, Contro Filone (XXXI), in Lisia. Orazioni XVI-XXXIV. Introduzione, traduzione e note a cura di E. MEDDA, Milano, BUR, 1995, pp. 377-403.
2) Licurgo, Contro Leocrate, a cura di A. TADDEI, Milano, Rizzoli, 2012.
3) M. PELLEGRINO, Introduzione all'oratoria greca. Autori e testi di età classica, Roma, Carocci, 2021.
4) C. BEARZOT, La giustizia nell'antica Grecia, Roma, Carocci, 2008.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam is oral and aims at ascertaining knowledge of the topics dealt with during the course, also by means of a critical discussion of ancient sources and modern scholarship.
Assessment criteria are the following: ability to organize knowledge through discourse; ability to reason critically with regard to the topics considered; critical awareness of the problems of method posed by the study of ancient society and by the use of ancient sources; ability to present topics and express oneself with the specialist language appropriate to the discipline.
Marks are out of 30.
Assessment criteria are the following: ability to organize knowledge through discourse; ability to reason critically with regard to the topics considered; critical awareness of the problems of method posed by the study of ancient society and by the use of ancient sources; ability to present topics and express oneself with the specialist language appropriate to the discipline.
Marks are out of 30.
Modules or teaching units
Part A and B
L-ANT/02 - GREEK HISTORY - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Part C
L-ANT/02 - GREEK HISTORY - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)