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Demokratia and Res Publica

Explore aspects of Ancient Greek and Roman History by drawing comparisons between classical Athens and Rome in this CIVIS Postgraduate Seminar Week.

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CIVIS focus area
Society, culture, heritage
Open to
  • Master's
  • Phd
Field of studies
  • Social Science and humanities
Type
  • Short-term
Course dates
20-25 September 2021

The plan of this postgraduate seminar week (PSW) concerns postgraduate and doctoral/postdoctoral students of Ancient History from NKUA, Sapienza Universitá di Roma, Madrid, Universidad Autonóma and any further CIVIS universities specifically interested in the comparative material of public institutions in classical Athens and Rome under the title 'Demokratia and Res Publica'.

Main topics

Basic sketch of the development of Athenian institutions and their role in the working of the state, mainly in the 5th and 4th centuries BC:

  • Assemblies of the people and their procedures/functions/rights/forms of decisions.
  • Main magistracies/magistrates: social provenance, ways of election, rights, specialization and responsibilities.
  • Citizenship and its religious, political and cultural aspects, content and concomitant rights.
  • The free/freed and the slaves.
  • The economy and the state.
  • Education, theatre and arts against the background of Athenian society.

Basic sketch of the development of Roman institutions and their role in the working of the Res Publica:

  • Assemblies of the people and their procedures/functions/rights/forms of decisions.
  • Main magistracies/magistrates: social provenance, ways of election, rights, specialization and responsibilities.
  • Citizenship and its religious, political, and cultural aspects, content, and concomitant rights.
  • Patronage and Roman society. The free/freed and the slaves.
  • The economy and the state.
  • Education, theatre, and arts against the background of Roman society.

Comparative approaches on the basis of the aspects of Athens and Republican Rome as studied above.

Applications should be directed to professor Kostas Buraselis (NKUA): kburasel@arch.uoa.gr with g.mitro@hotmail.com as CC

Duration of the course: 6 Days

Course format: Blended*

Location: Athens, Greece

Language: English

Nb of ECTS: 4 (depending on your home University) Nb of CIVIS scholarships offered: 16

*Subject to review, depending on the development of the current global pandemic. If overseas travelling and in-person teaching are not advisable, the entire course may be transferred online.  

Main topics

Basic sketch of the development of Athenian institutions and their role in the working of the state, mainly in the 5th and 4th centuries BC:

  • Assemblies of the people and their procedures/functions/rights/forms of decisions.
  • Main magistracies/magistrates: social provenance, ways of election, rights, specialization and responsibilities.
  • Citizenship and its religious, political and cultural aspects, content and concomitant rights.
  • The free/freed and the slaves.
  • The economy and the state.
  • Education, theatre and arts against the background of Athenian society.

Basic sketch of the development of Roman institutions and their role in the working of the Res Publica:

  • Assemblies of the people and their procedures/functions/rights/forms of decisions.
  • Main magistracies/magistrates: social provenance, ways of election, rights, specialization and responsibilities.
  • Citizenship and its religious, political and cultural aspects, content and concomitant rights.
  • Patronage and Roman society. The free/freed and the slaves.
  • The economy and the state.
  • Education, theatre and arts against the background of Roman society.

Comparative approaches on the basis of the aspects of Athens and Republican Rome as studied above.

Learning outcomes

Achievement of in-depth knowledge of two prototype states of antiquity (Athens and Rome) where the original models of many contemporary institutions may be sought. 

Evaluation

The applicants will be evaluated on the basis of their submission of founded scholarly interest and proposals of papers to be contributed in this seminar and the documented ability to express oneself in a common language of understanding (English). Successful candidates will be asked to present a paper in the seminar week at Athens and discuss the conclusions of their research.

Kostas Buraselis is Professor Emeritus of Ancient History at the University of Athens and Former Vice-Rector and Special Adviser of the Rectorate on Academic Affairs and International Relations at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He has written many monographs on various topics of the Hellenistic and Roman History (for example, ''Das hellenistische Makedonien und die Agais'', Munich, 1982, ''Theia Dorea: Studies on the Policy of the Severans and the Constitutio Antoniniana'', Athens -Academy 1989 in Greek with an English summary, German edition of Vienna 2007, ''Kos between Hellenism and Rome'', Philadelphia 2000). He has also contributed in the chapters ''Heroization'' and ''Apotheosis'' of ThesCRA vol. II (2004). His main interests include: Political and institutional history of the Hellenistic world and the Roman imperial period in the Greek East, ancient ruler cult, modern historiograhy on the ancient world.

 

Francesco Camia is Professor of Greek Epigraphy at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. A former student of the Italian Archaeological School at Athens (2001-2003), from 2008 to 2015 he was Researcher at the Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens. His research activity is focused on the study of the Greek world during the Roman period, with a specific focus on the religious landscapes of cities (cultic, social and institutional aspects) and their economic and financial implications. He has dealt in depth with the Roman imperial cult in Greece, a topic on which he has published various articles and the monograph Theoi Sebastoi. Il culto degli imperatori romani in Grecia (provincia Achaia) nel secondo secolo d.C. (2011). He is also the author of Roma e le poleis. L’intervento di Roma nelle controversie territoriali tra le comunità greche di Grecia e d’Asia Minore nel secondo secolo a.C.: le testimonianze epigrafiche (2009). 

 

Adolfo Jerónimo Domínguez Monedero is professor of Ancient History at the Autonomous University of Madrid. His research has focused on the study of archaic Greece, mainly the Greek colonizations in the western Mediterranean. Likewise, he has devoted himself to the study of the problems of ancient geography and to the knowledge of the pre-Roman populations of the Iberian Peninsula. He is the writer of many monographs, such as ''Colonización griega y mundo funerario indígena en el Mediterráneo Occidental'' (Madrid, 1987), ''Griegos, indígenas y púnicos en la Sicilia Arcaica: integración y aculturación'' (Oxford, 1989), ''La polis y la expansión colonial griega (siglos VIII-VI)'', Madrid, Editorial Síntesis, 1991.

Applications should be directed, before 15 May 2021, to Professor Kostas Buraselis (NKUA): kburasel@arch.uoa.gr with g.mitro@hotmail.com in cc.

 

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