ID:
508161
Duration (hours):
36
CFU:
6
SSD:
STORIA ROMANA
Year:
2025
Overview
Date/time interval
Secondo Semestre (23/02/2026 - 22/05/2026)
Syllabus
Course Objectives
Acquisition of critical methodology in analysing ancient sourcies (in particular historical and philosophical ancient works).
Course Prerequisites
Elementary knowledge of Latin. General knowledge of the Roman history
Teaching Methods
Lectures, in which students will take active part (student presentations)
Assessment Methods
Oral. The assessment will be twofold: 1) Assessment in itinere: each student will have a theme to work on in an independent way during the course. At the end, themes will be discussed by students in individual seminars, guided by the lecturer. 2) The final examination will test the students’ critical skills in interpreting passages commented during the course.
Texts
1) C. Carsana, A. Galimberti, L. Mecella (a cura di), L’invidia sociale nel mondo ellenistico-romano. Competizione, concorrenza, ambizioni, Edipuglia, Bari 2026.
2) B. Cattarinussi, Sentimenti, passioni, emozioni. Le radici del comportamento sociale, Milano 2000.
3) A. Fussi, L’invidia, le emozioni competitive, la speranza. Platone, Aristotele e Plutarco, in V. Fiorino, A. Fussi (a cura di), Emozioni, corpi, conflitti, Pisa 2016, 3-22.
3) R.A. Kaster, Invidia, νέμεσις, φθόνος, and the Roman Emotional Economy, in D. Konstan, N.K. Rutter (eds.), Envy, Spite and Jealousy. The Rivalrous Emotions in Ancient Greece, Edinburgh 2003, 253-276.
4) P. Mishra, Age of Anger: A History of the Present, New Delhi 2017.
5) H. Schoeck L’invidia e la società, trad. it. Macerata 2006 (ed. or. Der Neid. Eine Theorie der Gesellschaft, Freiburg-München 1966).
2) B. Cattarinussi, Sentimenti, passioni, emozioni. Le radici del comportamento sociale, Milano 2000.
3) A. Fussi, L’invidia, le emozioni competitive, la speranza. Platone, Aristotele e Plutarco, in V. Fiorino, A. Fussi (a cura di), Emozioni, corpi, conflitti, Pisa 2016, 3-22.
3) R.A. Kaster, Invidia, νέμεσις, φθόνος, and the Roman Emotional Economy, in D. Konstan, N.K. Rutter (eds.), Envy, Spite and Jealousy. The Rivalrous Emotions in Ancient Greece, Edinburgh 2003, 253-276.
4) P. Mishra, Age of Anger: A History of the Present, New Delhi 2017.
5) H. Schoeck L’invidia e la società, trad. it. Macerata 2006 (ed. or. Der Neid. Eine Theorie der Gesellschaft, Freiburg-München 1966).
Contents
Social envy in the late Republican era: philosophical thought, rhetorical theories, economic and social reality.
The late Roman Republic was a period of political conflicts, strong competition, and economic and social disparity. It is therefore not surprising that the decades from the 70s to the 40s of the 1st century BC were marked by envy, which spread throughout the social and political framework. A key source of evidence in this regard is provided by the Works of Cicero.
The aim of the course will be to compare Cicero's philosophical and rhetorical treatises (in particular the Tusculanae Disputationes, De inventione and De oratore) with his oratory and epistolary works, in order to outline a multiplicity of highly evocative case studies that reveal the complexity of social and political dynamics particularly relevant to the conflictual and highly competitive context of late Republican Roman history. This complexity is reflected in the lexicon related to the phenomenon of social envy, inherent both in emotional impulses (aegritudo, pusillitas, simulatio, aemulatio, malevolentia, iracundia, odium) and in the tools used to arouse them (fama, contumelia, offensio, obtrectatio, infamia, fraus), powerful tools in the hands of orators, lawyers and conservative politicians such as Cicero, and populist tribunes of the plebs such as Clodius. The analysis of the lexicon and its historical contextualisation will therefore be an important aspect of the course.
The late Roman Republic was a period of political conflicts, strong competition, and economic and social disparity. It is therefore not surprising that the decades from the 70s to the 40s of the 1st century BC were marked by envy, which spread throughout the social and political framework. A key source of evidence in this regard is provided by the Works of Cicero.
The aim of the course will be to compare Cicero's philosophical and rhetorical treatises (in particular the Tusculanae Disputationes, De inventione and De oratore) with his oratory and epistolary works, in order to outline a multiplicity of highly evocative case studies that reveal the complexity of social and political dynamics particularly relevant to the conflictual and highly competitive context of late Republican Roman history. This complexity is reflected in the lexicon related to the phenomenon of social envy, inherent both in emotional impulses (aegritudo, pusillitas, simulatio, aemulatio, malevolentia, iracundia, odium) and in the tools used to arouse them (fama, contumelia, offensio, obtrectatio, infamia, fraus), powerful tools in the hands of orators, lawyers and conservative politicians such as Cicero, and populist tribunes of the plebs such as Clodius. The analysis of the lexicon and its historical contextualisation will therefore be an important aspect of the course.
Course Language
Italian
More information
Attendance is strongly recommended. Students who have documented circumstances preventing them from attending lectures should contact the lecturer before the beginning of the course.
Degrees
Degrees (2)
CLASSICAL AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN STUDIES
Master’s Degree
2 years
CLASSICAL AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN STUDIES
Master’s Degree
2 years
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