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Aim of the course is the study of the Aegean world between the Palaeolithic and the Late Bronze Age, with specific attention to the Minoan, Cycladic and Mycenaean civilisations. The geographical areas included are Crete, the Aegean islands and the Greek mainland. The historical, political and economic framework is analyzed by using the rich archaeological and textual sources, the latter ones particular informative for the end of the Bronze Age. Furthermore, attention is paid to the arts and crafts and their relation with the society, economy and religion. Finally particular consideration is devoted to the Aegean writings of the II millennium B.C. (Minoan Hieroglyphic, Linear A and B), whose origin, function, employment, as well as the relationship with the economic and cultic realms are explained. |
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The course requires basic notions about history, geography and arts of the ancient world. |
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The course provides a basic knowledge of material culture and arts of the Minoan, Cycladic and Mycenaean civilisations; specifically, it enables the students to get orientated within the material culture of the Aegean civilisation, such as the identification of the ceramic products. Finally, the course gives basic notions about the relative and absolute chronology of the Aegean area, about the social structure, economy and religion of the Minoan and Mycenaean societies, as well as the use and characteristics of the Aegean writings during the II millennium B.C. |
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The following arguments are treated in the video lessons: 1. The discovery of the Aegean civilisations. Schliemann: the man and the legend. 2. Schliemann and the discovery of Troy. 3. Schliemann and the Priam hoard. 4. The discovery of Mycenae and the royal tombs. 5. Evans and the discovery of Knossos. 6. Ventris and the decipherment of Linear B. 7. The eastern Mediterranean: the geo-cultural landscape. 8. The chronological framework of the Aegean. 9. The first Aegean communities. From hunters to complex societies. 10. Crete and the Cyclades in the Early Bronze Age. 11. The dawn of the palatial civilisation in Crete. 12. The writings of the first palaces at Crete. 13. The end of the first palaces at Crete. 14. The Greek mainland in the Middle Bronze Age. 15. The Neoplatial era at Crete. 15. Crete and the eastern Mediterranean during the Neopalatial period. 17. Crete and Egypt between the second half of III millennium and 1450 B.C. 18. The Linear A in Neopalatial period. 19. The disk of Phaistos I. 20. The disk of Phaistos II. 21. The end of the Neopalatial society. 22. The arrival of the Mycenaeans and the relation with the mainland. 23. The Mycenaean palaces. 24. The Mycenaean society. 25. The history of human rights throughout Babylon, Mycenae, and Guernica. 26. The Mycenaean religion. 27. The Mycenaean economy. 28. Arts and craft in the Mycenaean period. 29. The Mycenaean states and the eastern Mediterranean. 30. The twilight of the Mycenaean world. 31. From Mycenae to Homer. 32. Around the Iliad. |
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E. BORGNA, La civiltà minoica, in Storia d’Europa e del Mediterraneo. Il mondo antico, I. La preistoria. L’Oriente mediterraneo, vol. II Le civiltà dell’Oriente mediterraneo; a cura di S. de Martino, Roma 2006, pp. 125-166. E. BORGNA, I Micenei, in Storia d’Europa e del Mediterraneo. Il Mondo antico I. La preistoria dell’uomo. L’Oriente mediterraneo, vol. II. Le civiltà dell’Oriente mediterraneo, a cura di S. de Martino, Roma 2006, pp. 227-268. M. CULTRARO, I micenei. Archeologia, storia, società dei Greci prima di Omero, Milano, Carocci 2006. L. GODART, L’invenzione della scrittura. Dal Nilo alla Grecia, Torino, Einaudi, 2011. Optional readings: L. GODART, Il disco di Festo. L’enigma di una scrittura, Torino, Einaudi 1994. J. RUTTER, The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean, http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/ |
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Gli esercizi proposti all’interno del corso hanno la finalità di aiutare lo studente a riflettere ed analizzare, le diverse tematiche proposte nelle videolezioni. Attraverso gli esercizi, dunque, si valutano le capacità di analisi, sintesi e rielaborazione di ciascun studente. |
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Professor/Tutor responsible for teaching
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