Ancient East and the Culture of Greco-Roman World

This course is part of the programme
Bachelor's study programme Cultural history (1st level)

Objectives and competences

Students learn about the cultural and historical phenomena of Greek and Roman Antiquity with the appropriate emphasis on the literature – its most tangible legacy besides archaeological monuments. The lectures will discuss all important aspects of the Greek and Roman culture; on the basis of the selected and appropriately adjusted (translated and commented) original texts and secondary sources students will learn about the significant civilization components of the Greek and Roman antique culture. Furthermore, students will be able to follow the cultural and thinking patterns of the Antiquity by reading the primary and secondary sources and connect these with certain phenomena of modern times through contents, chronologically set in the Middle Ages.

Prerequisites

The study vertically links with the knowledge acquired by students at the first cycle studies (especially at the courses Society and Culture of Eastern Alps from Prehistory to High Middle Ages and Introduction to the Study of History), while horizontally it primarily connects to the course History and Literature.

Content

The course’s contents begin with the basic historical overview and the definition of the period which the so-called Greco-Roman world is supposed to encompass. The course is divided into thematic parts where students listen about the individual necessary phenomena of the Greek or Roman Antiquity. These parts are defined either by contents or chronology; thus the student in the part about the Antique religion not only acquires the direct information about the Greek or Roman religion system but also about their interconnectedness and their dependence on Eastern religions and individual later influences. Thematic parts are defined by contents as well as chronology. Students will be confronted not only by the bare historical frameworks but also by the literary heritage of the period (classical Greece, democracy, and other accomplishments), where they will not be limited only to reading the original texts but will also search for responses from one literary genre in another and following individual literary influences of the period on the literature and artistic creations from the Antiquity to the Middle Ages and the present. Students will also learn about various aspects of the Greco-Roman life in detail, e.g. the role of women in the Antiquity, the role and position of children and slaves.

Intended learning outcomes

Students master the basic accomplishments of the first civilizations of the western world, the continuity and upgrade of which they follow in the Greek and Roman civilizations. Students discover the importance of literary works for the understanding of individual cultures and learn how to deal with these as objectively as possible.

Readings

  • A. Sovre, Stari Grki. Slovenska matica, Ljubljana, ponatis 2002. Catalogue
  • B. Cunliffe, Rimljani. Cankarjeva založba, Ljubljana, 1982. Catalogue
  • C. M. Bowra, Klasična Grčija. Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana, 1968. Catalogue
  • O. Luthar et al., Universum Historiae. ZRC SAZU, Ljubljana, 2005.
  • R. Bratož, Rimska zgodovina. Del 1, Od začetkov do nastopa cesarja Dioklecijana, (Zbirka Zgodovinskega časopisa, 33), (Knjižna zbirka Scripta). Ljubljana: Zveza zgodovinskih društev Slovenije: Študentska založba: Filozofska fakulteta, 2007. Catalogue
  • Leksikon antika, Ljubljana : Cankarjeva založba, 1998. Catalogue
  • M. Van de Mieroop, A History of the Ancient Near East, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford 2007. Catalogue E-version
  • M. Van de Mieroop, History of Ancient Egypt, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, 2011. E-version
  • G.B. Conte, Zgodovina latinske književnosti : od začetkov do padca rimskega cesarstva. Ljubljana 2010.

Assessment

Colloquium (20%), seminar paper (20%) and written exam (60%). The first two tests are the condition for the exam.

Lecturer's references

Assist Prof Julijana Visočnik, PhD, is an assistant professor of archaeology and she has been the co-worker at this program and these lectures since 2007. Her main interests are Latin inscriptions and the process of the Romanization in the Eastern Alps region. Her published papers are dealing with Latin onomastics, Roman army, and with religious practices in the Roman period on the Slovenian territory. Since 2007 she cooperates with L’Année épigraphique, for which she prepares the discussion about new inscriptions from the territory of Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina every year. She works in the Archiepiscopal Archives in Ljubljana, occasionally she lectures also at the University in Koper.

A selection of articles:
VISOČNIK, Julijana. Vojaki iz Celeje na tujem = Celeian soldiers attested across the Empire. Arheološki vestnik, ISSN 0570-8966, 2012, 63, str. 235-264, zvd. [COBISS.SI-ID 35011373], [SNIP]
VISOČNIK, Julijana. Dokumenti (nad)župnije Hoče v Kapiteljskem arhivu Nadškofijskega arhiva v Ljubljani. Arhivi, ISSN 0351-2835, 2014, letn. 37, št. 1, str. 197-215, ilustr. [COBISS.SI-ID 1649525]
VISOČNIK, Julijana. Foreigners in the area of Celeia. Classica et Christiana, ISSN 1842-3043, 2014, nr. 9/1, str. 275-298, tabele. http://history.uaic.ro/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Classica-et-Christiana-9-1-2014-5martie.pdf. [COBISS.SI-ID 515106619]
VISOČNIK, Julijana. Tomaž Hren in romarji (pridiga št. IV). Arhivi, ISSN 0351-2835, 2013, letn. 36, št. 2, str. 315-327, ilustr. [COBISS.SI-ID 1594229]
VISOČNIK, Julijana. Hrenova pridiga ob ustanovitvi kapucinskega samostana v Mariboru. Arhivi, ISSN 0351-2835, 2011, letn. 34, št. 2, str. 455-464, ilustr. [COBISS.SI-ID 1315957]
VISOČNIK, Julijana. Names on Celeian inscriptions in numbers and tables - a comparison between town and ager. Opvscvla archaeologica, ISSN 0473-0992, 2010, vol. 34, str. 229-240. [COBISS.SI-ID 1241973]
VISOČNIK, Julijana. Hrenova pridiga ob polaganju temeljnega kamna za kapucinski samostan v Ljubljani. Studia mythologica Slavica, ISSN 1408-6271. [Tiskana izd.], 2010, 13, str. 59-74, ilustr. [COBISS.SI-ID 32051501]
VISOČNIK, Julijana. Izgubljeni napis z reliefom Merkurija (CIL III 5196) : dva nova rokopisa o izgubljenem spomeniku iz Celeje. Annales, Series historia et sociologia, ISSN 1408-5348, 2009, letn. 19, št. 2, str. 291-302, ilustr. [COBISS.SI-ID 1730771] VISOČNIK, Julijana. Two new manuscripts mentioning the lost Mercury-inscription CIL III 5196. Römisches Österreich, ISSN 1012-5833, 2009, jahrgang 32, str. 123-134. [COBISS.SI-ID 1177205]
VISOČNIK, Julijana. Exceptional depiction on the strap end from Rakova Jelša. Studia mythologica Slavica, ISSN 1408-6271. [Tiskana izd.], 2009, 12, str. 55-62. [COBISS.SI-ID 30668845]
VISOČNIK, Julijana. Dokumenti (nad)župnije Hoče v Kapiteljskem arhivu Nadškofijskega arhiva v Ljubljani : nadaljevanje. Arhivi, ISSN 0351-2835, 2014, letn. 37, št. 2, str. 109-120, ilustr. [COBISS.SI-ID 1700469]
VISOČNIK, Julijana. Rimski spomeniki na Dobrni in njeni okolici. V: PREINFALK, Miha (ur.). Iz zgodovine Dobrne, (Kronika, ISSN 0023-4923, letn. 62, 3). Ljubljana: Zveza zgodovinskih društev Slovenije, 2014, letn. 62, 3, str. 355-364, ilustr., zvd. http://www.academia.edu/9465194/Rimski_spomeniki_na_Dobrni_in_njeni_okolici. [COBISS.SI-ID 515188027]
VISOČNIK, Julijana. Epigrafski material zidanih grobov v Starem trgu (Kolacioni) pri Slovenj Gradcu. Studia universitatis hereditati, ISSN 2350-5443, 2013, letn. 1, št. 1/2, str. 111-121, ilustr. http://www.hippocampus.si/ISSN/2350-5443/1-2-2013/2350-5443_01-02-2013.pdf. [COBISS.SI-ID 1637237]

Scientific monographs:
RESMAN, Blaž, VISOČNIK, Julijana, DIMC, Irena (avtor, fotograf), ŠLIBAR, Ani, GROŠELJ, Fani, PIRNAT, Franc, STEGNAR, Peregrin, OTRIN, Blaž (avtor, urednik). Znamenje : cerkve, grajske kapele in znamenja v župniji Dob. Ljubljana: Salve, 2012. 182 str., ilustr. ISBN 978-961-211-644-6. [COBISS.SI-ID 262782464]

VISOČNIK, Julijana. Škofijski arhiv Ljubljana : inventar fonda ŠAL I. : fasc. 1 - 51, (Priročniki, 4). Ljubljana: Nadškofija, 2012. 436 str., ilustr. ISBN 978-961-269-885-0. [COBISS.SI-ID 264738048]