HISTORY OF ANCIENT SICILY

Academic Year 2026/2027 - Teacher: CRISTINA SORACI

Expected Learning Outcomes

The expected learning outcomes, according to the Dublin descriptors, are as follows

Knowledge and understanding (DD1)

- Know the theories and historical models for interpreting the events of ancient Sicily;

- Know the theories useful for understanding the political, economic and social dynamics of the ancient world.

Knowledge and applied understanding (DD2)

- Know and be able to analyse the sources (literary, legal, epigraphic and archaeological) on the history of ancient Sicily;

- Link theoretical and methodological content to the interpretation of past, present and future events and processes;

- Know how to apply the methodology of historical research in order to achieve educational objectives.

Autonomy of judgement (DD3)

- Evaluate the relevance of theories studied for the interpretation of events;

- Know how to develop, formulate and argue proposals for change and transformation in the field of tourism, starting from the observation of case studies.

Communication skills (DD4)

- Being able to justify, both orally and in writing, the objectives, procedures and methodologies for the promotion of Sicilian heritage in the field of tourism.

Learning skills (DD5)

- Knowing how to identify unexpected research results and their possible developments in terms of methodology and impact.

Course Structure

Frontal and interactive lessons. Guided tours of sites of significant tourist interest are planned.

Required Prerequisites

The student must know the correspondence between years and centuries (e.g. 264 BC is part of the third century BC).

The student must have a basic cultural background in the field of the historical geography of Europe, Asia and North Africa.

Attendance of Lessons

Attendance is highly recommended: active participation in the lessons and other educational activities offered will greatly facilitate understanding of the topics being studied and will provide fruitful opportunities for discussion with the teacher on the topics that each student finds most relevant to his or her specific interests.

Detailed Course Content

Sources on the history of ancient Sicily

Greek colonisation of Sicily

The first Sicilian tyrants: Panezio, Falaride and the tyrannies of Selinunte, Gela and Syracuse

The so-called "democratic interlude"

Dionysius the Elder and his successors

Timoleon in Sicily

The reign of Agathocles

Pyrrhus in Sicily

Hieron II

Sicily during the Punic Wars

The Roman province of Sicily: administration, urban organisation and tax system

The island in the second century BC: reconstruction and building fervour; servile wars

Verres' propraetorship. The Verrines

Ius Latii and Roman citizenship in Sicilian cities

Sextus Pompey and Sicily

The Augustan period in Sicily

The administrative status of Sicilian cities in the imperial period: colonies, municipia, populations of Latin law and stipendiarii

The meaning of the term stipendiarii

Sicily between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD: the importance of wheat, building renovation; the villas

Emperor Hadrian and Sicily

The Severian era

The empire of Gallienus and banditry

Christianity

The great estates of Sicily during the Empire

Late antique villas

The barbarian invasions

Saint Agatha and Iulia Florentina

Textbook Information

General course: Sicily from the Archaic age to the Roman age

M.I. Finley, Ancient Sicily, Totoma (NJ) 1979.

In-dept studies: Iulia Florentina and the cult of the martyrs of Catania

C. Soraci, Iulia Florentina’s burial in Catania: urban and suburban religious spaces in connection, in Inside-Out: Gender and Ageing Agency in Urban and Non-urban Religious Spaces in Antiquity: International Workshop, Hamburg, 29–30 March 2022 and 22–23 June 2023, G. Pedrucci, F. Fulminante, and M. Seifert (eds), Turnhout 2026, 319-327;

C. Soraci, Saint Agatha’s burial in Catania: new discoveries, in Inside-Out: Gender and Ageing Agency in Urban and Non-urban Religious Spaces in Antiquity: International Workshop, Hamburg, 29–30 March 2022 and 22–23 June 2023, G. Pedrucci, F. Fulminante, and M. Seifert (eds), Turnhout 2026, 329-342.

Learning Assessment

Learning Assessment Procedures

The examination consists of an oral examination.

For the examination, students are required to present a selection of 30 sources, including literary, epigraphic, numismatic, and archaeological sources (monuments, sarcophagi, statues, paintings, bas-reliefs, artefacts, etc.), each representing a different topic covered in the course. Students are expected to present a diverse range of materials that comprehensively and diversely reflect all the topics addressed during the course. The sources must be chronologically contextualized and thoroughly discussed, with particular attention to the relevant historical context and to the significance of each source for reconstructing the history of ancient Sicily.

On the first part of the programme (from the Greek colonisation to the Pyrrhic expedition) there will be optional in itinere conversations.

Those who pass the in itinere conversation with a mark of at least 18/30 may be examined on the remainder of the programme in one of the official examination sessions of the immediately following session. The final evaluation will take into account the mark obtained in the conversation. Students who have not obtained a mark of 18/30 in the aforementioned presentation may, at their option, repeat it on a date to be agreed with the teacher or be examined on the whole programme during the official examination.

The evaluation will take into account

- the relevance of the answers given

- the richness of the content

- the ability to relate to other topics in the programme

- the ability to express oneself

- lexical accuracy.

Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises

Greek colonisation in Sicily

The first Sicilian tyrants