HIST W4006: "Old Age in Antiquity"
Columbia University, Department of History, 2006
Mo., 9.00 a.m. - 10.50 a.m.
The aging population due to decreasing levels of fertility and lower levels of mortality is one of the major problems modern Western societies are facing today. This module intends to consider the similarities and differences between the status of old age then and now. Classical authors such as Cicero and Plutarch would have us believe that the elderly were revered, active citizens in ancient times, in contrast to the allegedly unfavourable position of old people today. But upon closer inspection, it appears that older people may not have enjoyed as respected or as powerful a place in Roman society as has been supposed.
This module attempts to clarify what defined 'old' to the Greeks and Romans, how the elderly � individuals and in general - were portrayed in Greek and Roman literature, and what life really may have been like for the elderly by analysing such diverse sources like legal documents, representations of old age in classical literature and art, epigraphic evidence from tombstones, Graeco-Roman medical texts, papyri from Hellenistic and Roman Egypt and demographic studies of ancient society. This will provide us with new insights in aging and old age in antiquity - not only of high-ranking men in their public life but of men and women of all social strata in their private, everyday life. It will become clear that aging is not only a biological process but also a cultural one affected by the wealth, gender, and status of the individual. Not the topos of �old age� in classical literature but older people and their individual living conditions, the attitudes and reactions of the rest of the family and community will be analysed through the use of documentary and literary sources.
As a module focusing on both social and cultural history, it will broaden our knowledge of the ancient world, provide striking insights into the differences and similarities between growing old in antiquity and in our modern society and encourages us to re-examine our treatment of older people today.
Proseminar: "Die Stadt in der Spätantike"
Fr., 9.00 - 12.00 Uhr UHG, SR 29Beginn am 16.4.2004
Sprechstunde Do 16.30-17.30
Die Städte im römischen Reich und damit die Lebensverhältnisse ihrer Bewohner erfuhren beim Übergang zur Spätantike durch die gewandelte politische, gesellschaftliche und wirtschaftliche Situation und nicht zuletzt durch den Sieg des Christentums schwerwiegende Veränderungen. Die Idee, Funktion und Bedeutung der Stadt im Hinblick auf frühere Epochen änderten sich. Sowohl im Stadtbild als auch in ihrer politischen Verwaltung machte sich ein Wandel zur römischen Prinzipatszeit bemerkbar, die städtische Kurie verlor an Bedeutung, heidnische Tempel wurden geschlossen, die Kirche trat als neuer religiöser, aber auch politischer und wirtschaftlicher Faktor hinzu.
Das Proseminar soll so zugleich eine Einführung in die Spätantike als Epoche und ihre wesentlichen Rahmenbedingungen und Entwicklungszüge geben. Die jeweils dritte Stunde ist für die Einführung in die historischen Hilfswissenschaften, Hilfsmittel und Methoden vorgesehen.