ROMAN HISTORY
Course objectives
The course aims to provide the student knowledge about the economic, social,cultural and religious factors that have shaped the history of ancient Rome. Aim of the teaching unit is to give students knowledge and comprehension skills in the field of Roman Antiquities and Institutions, that complete and/or reinforce those acquired in the first grade of studies. Moreover, it will make the students able to approach orginal themes in a research context, making more complex judgments, communicating knowledge and its process, and studying the subject in an independent and self-educational way. In particular, the course aims at providing students with competence on the basic tools for research in the field of Latin epigraphy and Roman institutions and knowledge of the main fields of research with deepening of methodological skills
Channel 1
JOHN THORNTON
Lecturers' profile
Program - Frequency - Exams
Course program
Speeches in Greek and Latin Historians: Polybius
Prerequisites
Acquaintance with physical and historical geography of the Mediterranean world: indispensable.
Command of classical languages (ancient Greek and Latin): important, but not indispensable;
Ability to read academic works in English and French: important;
Ability to read academic works in German: useful
Books
John Thornton, Polibio. Il politico e lo storico, Carocci, Roma 2020.
John Thornton, Un’intertestualità complessa: paralleli tucididei (e non solo) alla giustificazione dell’intervento romano in Sicilia (Pol. 1.10.5-9), in O. Devillers et B. Battistin Sebastiani (textes réunis et édités par), Sources et modèles des historiens anciens, Scripta Antiqua 109, Ausonius Éditions, Bordeaux 2018, pp. 99-109 (scaricabile dalla pagina del docente in academia.edu).
John Thornton, Oratory in Polybius’ Histories, in Chr. Kremmydas & K. Tempest (ed. by), Hellenistic Oratory. Continuity and Change, Oxford 2013, 21-42.
Teaching and didactic materials
Frequency
Voluntary
Exam mode
The oral exam, with open-ended questions, is aimed at verifying the students’ ability to read critically the documentary sources dealt with over the course. Students are expected to be articulate and to be able to communicate their thoughts and contents with an appropriate language.
To pass the exam the students must get a grade not below 18/30. Students must demonstrate to have acquired a sufficient command of course topics; they are also expected to know how to cope critically with the main documentary sources.
In order to hit a score of 30/30 cum laude, students must demonstrate excellent knowledge of all course topics, and to be able to connect them in a logical and consistent way.
Lesson mode
Traditional lectures
JOHN THORNTON
Lecturers' profile
Program - Frequency - Exams
Course program
Speeches in Greek and Latin Historians: Polybius
Prerequisites
Acquaintance with physical and historical geography of the Mediterranean world: indispensable.
Command of classical languages (ancient Greek and Latin): important, but not indispensable;
Ability to read academic works in English and French: important;
Ability to read academic works in German: useful
Books
John Thornton, Polibio. Il politico e lo storico, Carocci, Roma 2020.
John Thornton, Un’intertestualità complessa: paralleli tucididei (e non solo) alla giustificazione dell’intervento romano in Sicilia (Pol. 1.10.5-9), in O. Devillers et B. Battistin Sebastiani (textes réunis et édités par), Sources et modèles des historiens anciens, Scripta Antiqua 109, Ausonius Éditions, Bordeaux 2018, pp. 99-109 (scaricabile dalla pagina del docente in academia.edu).
John Thornton, Oratory in Polybius’ Histories, in Chr. Kremmydas & K. Tempest (ed. by), Hellenistic Oratory. Continuity and Change, Oxford 2013, 21-42.
Teaching and didactic materials
Frequency
Voluntary
Exam mode
The oral exam, with open-ended questions, is aimed at verifying the students’ ability to read critically the documentary sources dealt with over the course. Students are expected to be articulate and to be able to communicate their thoughts and contents with an appropriate language.
To pass the exam the students must get a grade not below 18/30. Students must demonstrate to have acquired a sufficient command of course topics; they are also expected to know how to cope critically with the main documentary sources.
In order to hit a score of 30/30 cum laude, students must demonstrate excellent knowledge of all course topics, and to be able to connect them in a logical and consistent way.
Lesson mode
Traditional lectures
- Lesson code1038257
- Academic year2025/2026
- CourseModern Philology
- CurriculumSingle curriculum
- Year1st year
- Semester2nd semester
- SSDL-ANT/03
- CFU6