The course aims to elucidate the multiple relationships between democratic ideology (mainly in its 'periclean variety’), and the methods of 'making war' practiced by Athens in the fifth century BC: in fact, these methods often show several and conscious changes as compared to the traditional military behavior that was still practiced in other areas of the Greek world, and in particular in the Peloponnesian world. Above all, the strategy chosen by Pericles in 431 BC. (the refusal of the land battles) is due not only to military and economic motivations but it is guided by the general principle of reducing unnecessary risks and human losses to a minimum, even at the cost of a greater expenditure of money, material goods, time (as Pericles affirms in Thuc. I 143, 5). This principle - which rejects the entire traditional scale of values of hoplitism – is tied to the Periclean democratic ideology and is expressed in various statements attributed to Pericles (in works by Plutarch), also in relation to specific military campaigns conducted by Pericles (the siege of Samos).
Some lessons will be a seminar: specific topics or ancient texts will be illustrated by the students after adequate preparation, under the guidance of the teacher. The creation of a paper and its presentation in a seminar will form an integral part of the course.
For students not from the classical curriculum, the translation of the texts from Greek will not be required, but in any case, knowledge of specific terms used in the original texts (in order to grasp their actual value) is required.

1) Collection of passages from ancient sources used during the lessons + lecture notes by the teacher (they will be collected at the end of the semester and made available in PDF)
2) M. Bettalli, Un mondo di ferro. La guerra nell’Antichità, Bari-Roma 2019, pp. 24-80; 137-219; 301-363.
3) G. Mosconi, Pericle, la guerra, la democrazia e il buon uso del corpo del cittadino, in «Mediterraneo Antico», 17, 2014, pp. 51-86.
4) G. Mosconi, Pericle e il buon uso del corpo del cittadino: l’assedio di Samo, in «Mediterraneo Antico», 17, 2014, pp. 573-608.
5) G. Mosconi, «Grande cosa è il dominio del mare»: una frase di Pericle e l’esperienza rivelatrice delle guerre persiane in Anna Maria Rotella, Michele Antonio Romano (a c. di), Il mare e le sue genti (Atti Primo Festival dell’Archeologia e del Turismo, Vibo Valentia, 17-19 maggio 2019), Vibo Valentia 2021 (ISBN 978-88-946184-0-2), pp. 45-65.
6) Seminarial papers by the students (gathered and provided by the professor).

N.B. The texts in points 3, 4, 5 are available in PDF format on line: https://independent.academia.edu/GMosconi.



Non-attending students. These texts are to be added:

a) Reading of U. Fantasia, Tucidide. La guerra del Peloponneso, Pisa 2003, pp. 384-388 (commento a Thuc. 2, 39).
a) Reading, and writing of a summary, of D. Pritchard, The Symbiosis between Democracy and War: The Case of Ancient Athens, cap. 1 di D. Pritchard (ed.), War, Democracy and Culture in Classical Athens, Cambridge 2010. (this text will be provided by the professor)