5TH SEMESTER

Mandatory Electives (choice of 3 out of 5)

This course offers an overview of the history and archaeology of the Near East from the late 3rd to the early 1^st mil. B.C. An emphasis is given to Anatolia (Hittite empire, Phrygia, Lydia), the Levant (Canaanite archaeology, Late Hittite, Aramaic, Philistine, Phoenician and Israelite kingdoms, the Assyrian expansion) and Egypt (Middle and New Kingdom). A special discussion will follow about the Egyptian and Hittite texts which refer to the Aegean (Ahhiyawa, Keftiu, Tanaja).

75501 / 10 ECTS

This course surveys the archaeological record and related interpretations concerning the lifeways of the last hunter-gatherers and the gradual appearance of food-producing communities in the Aegean and the eastern Mediterranean (Cyprus, Anatolia and the Near East) from ca. 12.000/9.000 BC until 3200/3000 BC. The course particularly focuses on the processes of “neolithisation”, its wider socio-economic transformation, technological innovation and the rising degree of social interaction. Ultimately, this course provides a comprehensive view of the broader socio-economic structures in Mesolithic/Neolithic communities, the changing topographical patterns, the introduction, domestication and exploitation of new plant (e.g. wheat, barley, legumes etc.) and faunal species (e.g. cattle, pigs, sheep and goats) and also the current interpretative perspectives concerning the spread of a “Neolithic way of life”.

75506 / 10 ECTS

This course is designed as an overview of the Ancient Greek world during the Hellenistic period. It begins with the death of Alexander the Great and ends with the battle of Actium and the death of Cleopatra VII (323-30 BCE). In between, we will examine the wars of succession and follow the political, social and cultural developments among the major Hellenistic Kingdoms and the Hellenistic cities. A major aim of this course is the connection of the various primary sources (literary, inscriptions, papyri and coins) with history, as well as the familiarization of students with the extraction of information from these sources and with their evaluation.

75602 / 10 ECTS

The main objective of this course is for students to become familiar with Ancient Greek Drama through the study of works by the three great tragic poets (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides), and by representative authors of Greek Comedy. The students will focus on set-texts, parts of which will be read in the original. Through this close study, they will be able to understand the social, religious, and cultural context that encouraged the development of drama in classical Athens. A significant part of the course will be dedicated to the history of dramatic performances from antiquity, according to extant evidence and images on vases from the wider Greek-speaking world. The course will be supplemented with audio-visual evidence from performances of Ancient Drama in the 20th and the 21st centuries, and with educational visits to relevant archaeological sites and contemporary performances.

75503 / 10 ECTS

The course introduces students to the work and personality of the great Roman orator, statesman, philosopher and intellectual Cicero, who lived in the last generations of the Roman Republic (106-43 BC). The students will read selections from his extensive collection of Letters, which comprise one of the most important sources for studying Roman history, politics and society of the Republican era, and from his speech On Behalf of the poetArchia, which constitutes a eulogy of literature and the value of the humanities for the formation of the ideal statesman.

75507 / 10 ECTS