HAMC Elective courses (grupa przedmiotów zdefiniowana przez Wydział Historii)

• Konwersatorium - 15 godzin

This course aims to acquaint the students with the three most prominent poetic genres of Ancient Greek literature from the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey until the Hellenistic period: epic, lyric, and drama. The students will be trained in defining these genres (and their subgenres) while at the same time nuancing the boundaries of such definitions. On the basis of this framework, the students will familiarize themselves with the most paradigmatic authors, acquiring a broad knowledge of a selection of the (canonical) texts of the three main genres. The students will also be taught how to interpret these works (in translation) with a focus on the historical context in which they were (or are thought to have been) performed.

Prerequisites:

The courses will be taught in English and are designed for students with no (or little) prior knowledge of the Ancient Greek language and literature.

• Konwersatorium - 30 godzin

The present course focuses on various forms of ancient Greek democracies from the very beginning of the concept to its gradual evaporation in the high Hellenistic period. It does not omit the best known Athenian example of the Classical period. Still, the ambition of this class is to show alternative forms of democracy, and especially of democracies that possibly predated Cleisthenes’ reform at Athens. Towards the end of the semester, the particular focus of the course will be on the changing values (especially ones related to citizens’ rights) in the new enlarged and greatly entangled Greek world of the Hellenistic period. It will show how democracies evolved in the era of globalization and cosmopolitanism, and how finally they disappeared as self-conscious societies.

• Konwersatorium - 10 godzin

The course focuses on the role of religious imaginations and practices in ancient urbanism and such ‘urbanity’. How did religious rituals, festivals, and discourses make life bearable or enjoyable? How could people learn to deal with interpersonal relationships and the problems of subsistence or even affluence under such conditions? How did they experience the modes and frequency of encounters and make sense of it? Drawing on texts from the city of Rome, the course will try to reconstruct such experiences and strategies. By reading not just small particularly relevant passages but entire literary units, analysis will also address the questions of the role and position of the authors as observers and participants in urban discourse: How were these very texts engaged in the production of specific forms of urbanity and urban ethos? Whenever possible, the discussion will also allow to reflect on contemporary urban life in the light of ancient institutions and voices.

• Konwersatorium - 30 godzin

This course offers an introduction to the study of ancient papyri with special attention to Greek documents from Egypt.

• Konwersatorium - 15 godzin

The course lasts 15 hours (7 in-person sessions, 90 minutes each) and will take place between mid-March and mid-May 2026.

Tuesdays 3.00 - 4.30 p.m.

• Konwersatorium - 30 godzin

This course offers a critical introduction to the ancient Mediterranean through the lens of cultural history. Covering Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome, it examines how culture functioned as a framework for organising societies and expressing human experience. Students explore key aspects of ancient life—belief, politics, art, technology, and identity—while engaging with the principles of cultural studies and historiography.

Lectures and seminars combine historical, archaeological, and literary perspectives, providing the analytical tools to interpret classical sources within their social and cultural contexts. Topics include state formation, writing systems, philosophy, religion and death, political culture, and the materiality of ancient societies.

• Konwersatorium - 30 godzin

The course introduces students to a wide range of magical practices in the ancient Greek and Roman world (ca. 500 BCE – 500 CE) by means of analysing literary texts as well as archaeological evidence.

• Konwersatorium - 30 godzin