Seminar class in source studies II 2900-HAMC-SOURCE2
This course focuses on the history of the Eastern Mediterranean in the Hellenistic period form the conquest of the Alexander the Great to the death of Cleopatra VII, the last queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty. The major aims of this course are to gain better understanding of key aspects of the Hellenistic history and to learn how to select and interpret with critical approach historical sources regarding this period. Topics related to politics, wars, social, ethnic and economic problems, religion and culture will be discussed in classes though the analysis of relevant historical sources. All source material and recommended literature will be sent to students in advance, they will be expected to read literature and prepare the analysis of sources before classes. In the classes students will be asked to interpret these sources and to discuss them in a wider historical context. This course employs the use of different categories of sources: narrative texts, papyri, ostraca, inscriptions, coins and so forth. By this interdisciplinary approach students will learn how to organize and integrate data provided by different sources.
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
It is expected that as result of this course students will:
a) extend their knowledge on the history of the Hellenistic period,
b) learn how to identify, select, and find sources that serve to reconstruct ancient history, especially they will be able to use databases, relevant dictionaries, publications, editions of ancient sources, and other tools that are used to facilitate studies on ancient history.
c) know how to critically analyse these sources; contextualize information provided by this evidence considering the variety of historical sources
d) be familiar with methods and approaches used in historical studies and will apply them successfully,
e) develop a historical awareness,
f) learn how to conduct an ethical historical inquiry,
g) train their academic discussion skills: actively listen to other students, providing constructive feedback/or questions regarding the topic, formulate their own ideas, historical arguments about matters that are discussed.
Assessment criteria
The course involves working with the ancient sources related to the key problems of the history of the Hellenistic period, from the conquest of Alexander the Great to the death of Cleopatra VII. Students will be expected to read literature on the subject and to prepare and analyse the source material before classes. During classes they will be invited to discussion over these texts – they will be asked to analyse them with a critical approach and put them into a wider historical context.
Credit for the course will be based on attendance at classes, active participation, and a positive test result. One absence is allowed per semester, without any consequences. In exceptional situations student can be absent up to three times but will be obliged to make up their 2nd and 3rd absence during the office hours. More than three absences are grounds for failing the course. Coming more than 15 minutes late to the class is considered as absence.
Students will be assessed based on their active participation in the discussion during the classes. They are expected to read literature and to prepare material beforehand. The test will take place during the last class and will include both fragments of original sources to analysis as well as several open-ended questions that will be related to the topics discussed during the class. The test is passed with at least 70% of points.
Bibliography
• Archibald, Z. H., J. Davies, V. Gabrielsen, G. J. Oliver, Hellenistic economies, London and New York, 2005.
• Bagnall, R. S. Reading papyri, writing ancient history, London and New York 2005.
• Bagnall, R. S., (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology, Oxford 2009.
• Bianchi, R. S., ‘Alexander, Son of Amun: The Interaction Between the Egyptian Priesthood and Alexander’s Policy Makers’, Chronique d’Égypte XCIII (2018), fasc. 185, 86-97.
• Bingen, J., Hellenistic Egypt. Monarchy, Society, Economy, Culture, Edinburgh 2007.
• Bosworth, A. B., The Legacy of Empire. Politics, Warfare, and Propaganda under the Successors, Oxford 2002.
• Bugh, G. R. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Hellenistic World, Cambridge 2006.
• Cline, D. H. Six Degrees of Alexander: Social Network Analysis and a Tool for Ancient History, The Ancient History Bulletin. 26 (2012), 59-70
• Dignas, B., Economy of the Sacred in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor, Oxford 2004.
• Evans, J. A., Daily Life in the Hellenistic Age from Alexander to Cleopatra, London 2008.
• Gruen, E. S., The Hellenistic World and the Coming of Rome, 2 vols., Berkeley, Los Angeles, London 1984.
• McLean, B. H., An Introduction to Greek Epigraphy of the Hellenistic and Roman Periods form Alexander the Great down to the Reign of Constantine (323 BC – AD 337, Ann Arbor 2002.
• Nawotka, K. Alexander the Great, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2010.
• Rostovtzeff, M., The Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World, Oxford 1941.
• Walbank, F. W., A. E. Astin, M. W. Frederiksen, The Cambridge Ancient History2, Vol. VII: The Hellenistic World, Cambridge 2008.
• Walbank, F. W., The Hellenistic World, Revised Edition, Cambridge 1993.
Notes
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Term 2024L:
Knowledge of the history of the Hellenistic era; ability to critically analysis historical sources |
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: