Entry requirements
This course is open to students who have completed the first year of their bachelor programme related to Archeology, Classics or Art History.
The course [Ancient Sicily: a cultural history](https://studiegids.universiteitleiden.nl/courses/31959/geintegreerde-activiteit "Geïntegreerde Activiteit") is not a compulsory entry requirement for this course, but we do advice students who wish to attend Excursie & Inleiding Klassieke Archeologie, also to attend the course ‘Geïntegreerde Activiteit’. If more students subscribe for Excursie & Inleiding Klassieke Archeologie than the capacity allows, those students who have attended ‘Geïntegreerde Activiteit’ will have priority.
Description
Throughout Antiquity, the island of Sicily attracted settlers from various cultural backgrounds: Greeks, Phoenicians and Romans have all left their mark on the island. The course will present students with the archaeological evidence of this fascinating melting pot of cultures, concerning especially its developments from the early Archaic to the late Roman Imperial period. The material remains of Western Greek colonies will be studied along with Phoenician trading posts, Hellenistic fortresses and late Roman villas.
Furthermore, literary sources will be discussed in the course to highlight the social, political and economic significance of Sicily’s material remains for the ancient contemporaries.
The course will be the preparation for an excursion to Sicily that will include ancient sites from Greek as well as Roman times (e.g. Syracuse, Selinunte and Piazza Amerina will be visited).
Course objectives
Students will acquire basic knowledge of ancient Sicily’s cities, buildings and monuments in view of archaeological and literary evidence The course will also introduce students to the methodological problems and information value pertaining to archaeological material on the one hand and literary sources on the other hand.
The excursion will have various related aims: students will train their (English) presentation skills; they will make themselves familiar with the modern Italian way of life; and they will gain practical experience in travelling through modern Italy. Cooperation and teamwork (both scholarly and social) belong to the most important objects of this excursion.
Timetable
See timetable Griekse en Latijnse taal en cultuur.
The lectures will take place in the 1st block of the 2nd semester. Some additional sessions will be scheduled in the 2nd block of the 2nd semester to discuss practicalities with the students participating in the excursion. Provisional date of excursion: 18-26 May 2013.
Mode of instruction
Lecture course (attendance compulsory) and excursion with interactive parts, focused on practicing archaeological methodological approaches.
Assessment method
At the beginning of the lecture course students will choose a) a partner to to do their presentation with and b) a topic. During block III there will be additional tutoring for the individual teams to find an adequate research question and specialised literature (by Prof. dr. N. Sojc) while in block IV student-pairs will work together to prepare their paper and presentation. Paper and presentation will count together 1:1 to form the aggregate mark of the course.
Paper (50%):
Has to be handed in before going on excursion;
6.000 words (for 2 students);
In English.
Presentation (50%):
To be held during excursion on Sicily in front of the monuments;
Accompanied with a hand out;
25-30 min long (for 2 students);
In English.
More detailed infomation will be distributed and discussed at the beginning of the lecture course.
Reading list
Some secondary literature for preparing the presentation and paper (students do not have to buy these books):
R. Andrews & J. Brown, The Rough Guide to Sicily. Penguin (varius editions).
F. Coarelli & M. Torelli, Sicilia. Roma et. al. Laterza (1997);
T. J. Dunabain, The Western Greeks: The History of Sicily and South Italy from the Foundation of the Greek Colonies to 480 B.C. Oxford: Clarendon Press (1948);
M. I. Finley, Ancient Sicily. London: Chatto & Windus (1979);
V. Hinz, Der Kult von Demeter und Kore auf Sizilien und in der Magna Graecia. Wiesbaden: Reichert (1998);
R. Holloway, The Archaeology of Ancient Sicily. London u.a.: Routledge (1991);
C. Lehmler, Syrakus unter Agathokles und Hieron II. Die Verbindung von Kultur und Macht in einer Hellenistischen Metropole. Frankfurt am Main: Verl. Antike (2005);
K. Lomas, Rome and the Western Greeks 350 BC – AD 200: Conquest and Acculturation in Southern Italy. London et. al.: Routledge (1993);
I. Malkin, “Herakles and Melqart: Greeks and Phoenicians in the Middle Ground” in: E. S. Gruen (ed.), Cultural Borrowings and Ethnic Appropriations in Antiquity. Stuttgart: Steiner (2005) 238 ff.;
C. Marconi, Temple decoration and cultural identity in the archaic Greek world. Cambridge (2007);
D. Mertens, Städte und Bauten der Westgriechen. Von der Kolonisation bis zur Krise um 400 vor Christus. München: Hirmer (2006);
G. Pugliese Carratelli, The Western Greeks: Classical Civilization in the Western Mediterranean [… exhibition at Palazzo Grassi]. London: Thames and Hudson (1996);
C. Smith & J. Serrati, Sicily from Aeneas to Augustus: New Approaches in Archaeology and History. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. Press (2000);
M. Vonderstein, Der Zeuskult bei den Westgriechen. Wiesbaden: Reichert (2006);
R. J. A. Wilson, Piazza Armerina. London et. al.: Granada (1983);
R. J. A. Wilson, Sicily under the Roman Empire: The Archaeology of a Roman Province, 36 BC – AD 535. Warminster: Aris and Phillips (1990).
Registration
Via uSis