Learning objectives
To provide a critical account, according to science and knowledge and for the use and enjoyment of students, of the documentary and human wealth of texts which are largely unknown outside of academic circles. History, real history I mean, not that of apologists or story-tellers (such as Montanelli or Messori), is, above all, rigorous and authentic memory - sine ira et studio, as Tacitus wrote – of the subordinate classes, losers, and common men and women in their daily lives and activities. Those, in short, who have made and are making history, but do not know it! Too much has already been written, and continues to be written, about the mighty, the rich and the powerful. <br />
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Prerequisites
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Course unit content
The course (5 credits) will contain a brief preliminary and methodological introduction to (ancient) history and its sources, particularly epigraphical sources. It will then develop research dedicated to the structures and social classes of Roman Italy, with ethno-anthropological and socio-economic examples. The general historiographical outline is as follows: <br />
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- females and males: women (suitable and unsuitable for childbirth [under the age of puberty, elderly]), men (suitable and unsuitable for war [under the age of puberty, elderly]), children; <br />
- the un-free (urban and rural slaves, private and public slaves [imperial, municipal, etc.] and the free (born free [ingenui] and ex-slaves [the freed]); <br />
- the poor and the rich; <br />
- the plebs and the patricians; <br />
- the knights, senators and emperors. <br />
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Full programme
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Bibliography
AA.VV., "Res publica Veleiatium". Veleia, tra passato e futuro, cur. N. Criniti, Parma, MUP Editore, 2006 <br />
AA.VV., Gli aff anni del vivere e del morire. Schiavi, soldati, donne, bambini nella Roma imperiale, cur. N. Criniti, 2 ed., Brescia, Grafo, 1997 <br />
E. Cantarella, La vita delle donne, in AA.VV., Storia di Roma, curr. A. Giardina - A. Schiavone, Turin, Einaudi, 2000, pp. 867-894 <br />
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and: <br />
AA.VV., «Lege nunc, viator ...». Vita e morte nei "carmina Latina epigraphica" della Padania centrale, cur. N. Criniti, 2 ed., Parma, La Pilotta Editrice, 1998 <br />
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Teaching methods
Off campus, but with frequent specialised seminars and field trips to museums and archaeological sites (Veleia being the most important). These will serve as periodic laboratories to develop a better understanding of and specialisation in daily lives of women. <br />
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Other information
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