Dr. Laura Giancola
Kontakt
E-Mail: laura.giancola@unifi.it
Seminar im Sommersemester 2025
How not to kill a tyrant: the 65 AD conspiracy against Nero
Nero’s era was characterized by complex tensions and transformative
processes, the elements of which are difficult to organize and whose historical meaning
is hard to reconstruct in a coherent way. There is talk of an initial positive phase, a ‘happy
five-year period of Nero’, referring to the time when Agrippina’s son ruled with mildness
and moderation. However, the matricide of 59 AD seems to have marked a turning point
towards autocracy and a definitive breakdown of relations with the Senate. It is within
this context that the conspiracy of 65 AD known as the ‘Pisonian conspiracy’ takes place.
Through a careful reading and an in-depth analysis of available sources, the course aims
to retrace the power dynamics and the social tensions that led to the plot against the
emperor, its failure, and its consequences, both immediate (the executions) and long-term
(the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty). The course will combine lectures and interactive
seminars, emphasizing the development of analytical skills in the interpretation of ancient
texts while encouraging students to critically assess the reliability of the sources and the
broader political implications of the conspiracy.
Language: English
Teaching methods: Lectures and seminar activities
Assessment: Written report on the main topics of the course
Vita
October 2024 – present: Research Assistant for the project ‘DaLiB. From the Book to the Library.
Production, Use and Circulation of Books in the Ancient Mediterranean: Greece, Egypt, Rome’
University of Florence
December 2022 - present: Teaching Assistant
University of Florence
Area of Expertise: Classical Philology
November 2022 - January 2023: Visiting Postgraduate Researcher
University of Glasgow
January 2022 - Ocotber 2022: Visiting Scholar
Humboldt Universität zu Berlin
November 2020 - May 2024: Regional PhD programme ‘Pegaso’ in Sciences of Antiquity and Archaeology (with scholarship)
Universities of Pisa, Florence, Siena
Thesis in Classical Philology (defended on 30/05/2024):
‘I carmi dell’Anthologia latina attribuiti a Petronio. Introduction, critical text, commentary’
April 2020: Master in Classical Philology, Literature, and History of the Ancient World
University of Florence
Thesis in Latin Philology (defended on 30/04/2020): ‘La Troiae Halosis (Sat. 89, vv. 1–65).
Introduction, critical text, commentary’
July 2016: Bachelor in Classics
University of Florence
Thesis in Medieval and Humanistic Philology: ‘Callimaco Esperiente reader of Greek Epigrams’
Languages
Italian: Mother tongue
English: Advanced knowledge
German: Basic knowledge
French: Basic knowledge