Introduction to Ancient History
Code: 100334 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| History | FB | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Isaias Arrayas Morales
- Email:
- isaias.arrayas@uab.cat
Teachers
- Isaias Arrayas Morales
- Joan Oller Guzman
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
When dealing with a first-year subject, there is no particular requirement.
Objectives and Contextualisation
This subject will analyze the main political and social processes, and the cultural events of the civilizations of the Middle East and Europe during antiquity. It will be explained how political powers were generated and became effective from its origin, in the Middle East, to the crystallization of the city-state model (8th century BC) and the emergence of the ancient Empires, in Roman special, that achieved the political union of the Mediterranean.
Competences
- Contextualizing the historical processes and analysing them from a critical perspective.
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills in order to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
Learning Outcomes
- Communicating in your mother tongue or other language both in oral and written form by using specific terminology and techniques of Historiography.
- Critically analysing the past, the nature of the historical speech and the social function of historical science.
- Developing the ability of historical analysis and synthesis.
- Engaging in debates about historical facts respecting the other participants' opinions.
- Identifying the context of the historical processes.
- Identifying the main and secondary ideas and expressing them with linguistic correctness.
- Identifying the specific methods of history and their relationship with the analysis of particular facts.
- Interpreting the plurality and heterogeneity of the cultural development of Humanity.
- Organising and planning the search of historical information.
- Solving problems autonomously.
- Using the characteristic computing resources of the field of History.
- Working in teams respecting the other's points of view.
Content
1: Presentation of the subject. Ancient History.
2: Middle East (IV-III millennium BC).
- The Fertile Crescent. The urban revolution in Mesopotamia.
- The Genesis of the State in Mesopotamia and Egypt. From the temple to the palace.
3: Middle East (II-I millennium BC).
- The empires of the Mesopotamian periphery and Egyptian expansionism.
- The universal empires: Assyrians, Neo-Babylonian and Persians.
4: Protohistoric Greece.
- The Minoan and Mycenaean world.
- The Greek Dark Ages and the Homeric society. The formation of the "polis" and archaic colonization.
5: Archaic Greece.
- Sparta and Athens.
6: Classical Greece.
- The Greco-Persian Wars.
- Athenian imperialism. The Peloponnesian War.
7: Helenism.
- Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic kingdoms.
8: Roman monarchy.
- Origins of the city.
- The reforms of Servius Tullius.
9: The Roman Republic.
- Patricians versus Plebeians
- The Roman conquest: Rome in Italy and in the Mediterranean.
10: The crisis of the Republic.
- From Grac to civil wars.
11: The Early Roman Empire. The Principate.
- From August to the Severs.
12: The Late Roman Empire. The Dominate.
- Crisis of the third century AD. Reforms and fall.
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Type: Directed | 50 | 2 | 2, 1, 5, 7, 6, 8, 4, 11 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Type: Supervised | 15 | 0.6 | 10, 3, 9, 12 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Type: Autonomous | 75 | 3 | 2, 10, 1, 3, 5, 7, 6, 8, 9, 4, 12, 11 |
- Assistance to lectures led by the teacher.
- Comprehensive reading of texts and interpretation of archaeological maps, graphs, tables and documents.
- Perform analyzes, reviews and reviews.
- Personal study
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continuous Assessment Work. | 30% | 3 | 0.12 | 1, 9, 4, 12, 11 |
| Partial Exam 1 (Ancient Near East). | 30 % | 3 | 0.12 | 2, 10, 3, 5, 7, 6, 8 |
| Partial Exam 2 (Greece and Rome). | 30% | 3 | 0.12 | 2, 10, 3, 5, 7, 6, 8 |
| Test exams. | 10% | 1 | 0.04 | 5, 9 |
The evaluation will be done from four notes:
- Continuous Assessment Work (30%): A Continuous Assessment activity will be proposed, to be carried out during the course, where students will have to study some specific aspect of the Ancient World.
- Test Exams (10%): Two multiple-choice tests will be proposed (with 30 questions each on the Ancient Near East and on Greece and Rome), distributed throughout the course (5% each test)
- Partial Exam 1 (Ancient Near East) (30%): A first partial exam (dedicated to Near Eastern civilizations and Pharaonic Egypt) will be carried out during class time, which will consist of developing two topic-questions, to choose from four options.
- Partial Exam 2 (Greece-Rome) (30%): A second partial exam (dedicated to the Classical World) will be carried out at the end of the course, during class time, which will also consist of answering two topic-questions, to be developed, to choose from four options.
The minimum grade required for all assessment activities to be able to make an average will be 4. However, the final average (sum of all assessable elements) must always be equal to or greater than 5.
The schedule for submitting the Continuous Assessment Practices, as well as the different exams and tests, to be carried out throughout the course, will be specified on the first day of teaching. It is expected that the partial exams and tests will be taken upon completion of the corresponding topics. The Continuous Assessment Work will be specified by the teaching staff during the first days of the course and must be submitted in the final part of the course.
The submission of the Continuous Assessment Practices, as well as the completion of the partial exams and tests, are essential requirements to be able to opt for reassessment in January. In this sense, the reassessment will consist of carrying out a test equivalent to the failed one.
The schedule of the assessment tests cannot be modified (except in justified exceptional cases). Erasmus students who request to bring an exam forward must present the teacher with a written document from their home university justifying their request.
Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless theyhave submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.
On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
In the event that the evaluation activities cannot be done in person, their format will be adapted (maintaining their weighting) to the possibilities offered by the UAB’s virtual tools. Homework, activities and class participation will be done through forums, wikis and / or exercise discussions through Teams, ensuring that all students can access them.
This subject does not incorporate Single Assessment.
This subject allows the restricted use of AI technologies exclusively at the discretion of the teaching staff. The teacher's approval must always be obtained. The student must clearly (i) identify which parts have been generated using AI technology; (ii) specify the tools used; and (iii) include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and final outcome of the activity. Lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in the assessed activity will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade may be lowered, or the work may even be awarded a zero. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.
Bibliography
BRAVO, G. (2008), Història del mundo antiguo. Una introducción crítica, Alianza, Madrid.
BRODRICK, M., MORTON, A.A. (2001), Diccionario básico de la Arqueología Egipcia, Ediciones Obelisco, Barcelona.
CHRISTOL, M., NONY, D. (1992), De los orígenes de Roma a las invasiones bárbaras, Akal, Madrid.
CORNELL, T.J. (1999), Los orígenes de Roma. C, 1000-264 a.C., Crítica, Barcelona.
CRAWFORD, M. (1981), La República romana, Taurus, Madrid.
DE LA VILLA, J. (ed.) (2004), Mujeres de la Antigüedad, Alianza, Madrid.
DOMINGUEZ MONEDERO, A., PLÁCIDO, D., GÓMEZ ESPELOSÍN, F.J., GASCÓ, F. (1999), Historia del mundo clásico a través de sus textos. 1- Grecia, Alianza, Madrid.
FORNIS, C. (2016), Esparta. La historia, el cosmos y la leyenda de los antiguos espartanos, Editorial Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla.
GARCIA MORENO, L., GASCÓ, F., ALVAR, J., LOMAS, F.J. (1999), Historia del mundo clásico a través de sus textos. 2- Roma, Alianza, Madrid.
GARNSEY, P., SALLER, R. (1991), El Imperio romano. Economía, sociedad y cultura, Crítica, Barcelona.
GIARDINA, A. (ed.) (1991), El hombre romano, Alianza Editorial, Madrid.
KINDER, H.; HILGEMANN, W. (2007), Atlas Histórico Mundial: de los orígenes hasta nuestros días, Akal, Madrid.
LIVERANI, M. (2012), El Antiguo Oriente. Historia, sociedad y economía, Crítica, Barcelona.
LÓPEZ BARJA, P., F.J. LOMAS, (2004), Historia de Roma, Akal, Madrid.
MOSSÉ, C. (1987), Historia de una democracia: Atenas, Akal, Madrid.
PÉREZLARGACHA, A. (2006), Historia antigua de Egipto y del Próximo Oriente, Akal, Madrid.
PLÁCIDO, D. (1997), La sociedad ateniense. La evolución social en Atenas durante la guerra del Peloponeso, Crítica, Barcelona.
PINA POLO, F. (1999), La crisis de la República (133-44 aC), Síntesis, Madrid.
SANMARTÍN, J., SERRANO, J.M. (2003), Historia antigua del Próximo Oriente: Mesopotamia y Egipto, Akal, Madrid.
SHIPLEY, G. (2001), El Mundo griego después de Alejandro : 323-30 a.C., Crítica, Barcelona.
VEYNE, P. (2009), El imperio grecorromano, Akal, Madrid.
(*) To cite bibliography, see: "Com citar i elaborar la bibliografia: https://www.uab.cat/web/estudia-iinvestiga/com-citar-i-elaborar-la-bibliografia-1345708785665.html".
Software
Virtual campus (Moodle).
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 2 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 2 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |