LFU:online

Critical assessment of different kinds of sources that inform historical reconstructions; writing of an essay; development of analytical perspectives and own critical points of view.

Violence is part and parcel of every society. In sharp contrast to modern idealizations, ancient Greece has its “dark side” (Martin Zimmermann) as well: military violence and political aggression, physical, domestic and structural violence in everyday life, ritualized forms of violence in cults and festivals, and socially accepted violence such as revenge, cursing and corporal punishment. Above all, abundant textual and visual representations of violence emerge in the Greek world of the 6^th to 4^th centuries. In recent decades, these representations have increasingly attracted scholarly interest, yet not as sources to write a history of violence, but as mediated forms of communication about violence. As it depends on the historical, social and cultural context which forms of violence are accepted, which are frowned upon and whether or how these are judged, it is also not self-evident how images and texts represent violence, what is narrated or depicted and what is not, and in which frameworks and by which means they do so. Based on case studies, we will treat textual und visual representations of violence and explore the potentials as well as the limitations of the extant sources. Moreover, we will discuss key literature.

Combination of lecture, reading tasks, and exercises.

Evaluation of exercises and participation in discussions, reading tasks and final essay.

Literature will be announced in class.

Online-enrollment required.