Insegnamento
CLASSICAL ARCHAEOLOGY I
Docente
RITA SASSU
After the course, students are expected to acquire a general knowledge about Greek art and archaeology and to develop specific competencies in Greek religion, rituals, sacred spaces and architectures, being able to recognize the social, political and economic meaning of Hellenic sanctuaries.
The course provides an outline of the development of Greek sanctuaries from the archaic period to the Hellenistic age. A special attention will be given to the Greek religious practices and rituals, the spatial organization of the sanctuaries and the study of their structures (propylaia, temples, altars, stoai, hestiatoria etc.). A series of emblematic sacred spaces will be analyzed, such as the Athenian Acropolis; the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis; the pan-Hellenic sanctuaries of Delphi, Olympia, Nemea and Isthmia; the extra-urban sanctuaries of Samos. Finally, the identitarian, socio-political and economic role played by sanctuaries will the investigated.
In particular, the didactic program covers the following topics:
- An introduction to ancient Greek ritual practices
- Sacrificial practice and consumption of sacred common meal; altars and hestiatoria
- Defining sacred space; propylaia and periboloi
- Temples: origin, development, internal arrangement and functions
- Poliadic sanctuary: the Athenian Acropolis
- Extra-urban sanctuary: the Heraion at Samos
- Sacred Mysteries: the sanctuary at Eleusis
- Pan-Hellenic sanctuaries: Delphi, Olympia, Isthmia and Nemea
- Rites of passage
- Socio-economic functions of Greek sanctuaries
- J.G. Pedley, Sanctuary and the sacred in the ancient Greek world, Cambridge 2006.
Further additional recommended readings:
- N. Marinatos, R. Hägg (eds.), Greek sanctuaries. New approaches, London-New York 1993 [part. Chapters: 2. The origins of Pan-Hellenism, 6. The sanctuary of Demeter and Kore at Eleusis 7. The Heraion at Samos 8. The evolution of a Pan-Hellenic sanctuary: from archaeology towards history at Isthmia; 11. What were Greek Sanctuaries?].
- E. Lippolis, Sacred texts and Consecrated Texts, in G. Colesanti, L. Lulli (eds.), Submerged Literature in Ancient Greek Culture, II. Case Studies, Berlin-Boston 2016, pp. 125-160.
- R. Sassu, Sanctuary and economics: the case of the Athenian Acropolis, in Mediterraneo Antico 13, 2010, pp. 247- 262.
About Eleusis see also: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/artifactBrowser?object=Building&field=Context&value=Eleusis
About Nemea see also: https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft1q2nb0x1&chunk.id=d0e4317&toc.depth=100&toc.id=d0e4317&brand=eschol
The teaching activity is developed through the combination of video lectures, individual study, and interactive activities (preparation of a short essay by the students, which will be then revised by the professor and the tutor).
The course is developed through:
30 hours of frontal teaching:
- 30 video lectures (the professor presents the course contents, in a way similar to classroom frontal teaching, supported by slides);
6 hours of interactive teaching:
- preparation of a short essay by the student that will be revised by the professor.
For the learning of the discipline, video-lectures, slides and other teaching materials are available to students on the page of the course.
Professor and tutor will assist the students during the entire academic year through e-mail correspondence and, at the student's request, video-reception (dates and times to be agreed in advance with the professor and the tutor).
Self-assessment tools are provided (quiz).
The evaluation will consist in an oral exam (questions concerning general and specific topics addressed during the lessons; recognition/description of monuments, sculptures, vases, artefacts analysed in the lessons; knowledge of the examined ritual performances, archaeological sites and periods).
Students are strongly encouraged to prepare a short essay (5/10 pages, with bibliography), concerning one of the sanctuaries, sacred edifices or subjects considered during the course that will be evaluated during the exam (please refer to the Guidelines published on the web-page of the course in the section “Interactive teaching-Short essay Classical Archaeology I”).
Participation in planned webinars is strongly recommended.
The acquired knowledge and competencies will allow the graduates to continue their researches (eg. as PhD candidates) and to be employed as professional archaeologists in a wide range of potential institutions, such as those connected to cultural heritage management, protection and valorisation, e.g. museums, archaeological sites; public administrations; academic and research entities; archaeological excavations associations or cooperatives; organisations working in the field of tourism, history, architecture etc.