OVERVIEW

Ancient Greek literature includes some of the greatest masterpieces of poetry and thought of all time. In the formation of an European citizen, this knowledge cannot be lacking, at least at a basic level, because it favors the critical understanding of the main problems of humanity throughout history.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

(History of literature with a written exam / Fundamentals of philology prosody and metrics)

The “Greek Literature” course for the three-year degree course aims to give students the essential outlines and the most relevant figures and genres of ancient Greece in its historical evolution from the origins to the Imperial age. An integral part of the programme is the choice of important and meaningful texts that must be tackled in the original language. The “fundamentals of philology prosody and metrics” course aims to give students basic notions of Greek philology and metrics in their most relevant aspects. In relation to the fundamentals of philology, in the first place students must acquire an adequate knowledge of the critical-textual terminology to enable them to decipher and interpret a critical system; secondly, essential historical data and basic principles of textual criticism will be given. In relation to metrics, lectures aim to give students the fundamental notions of prosody and knowledge of the most common and widespread metric systems of Greek poetry beginning with the hexameter and iambic trimeter. 

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

To make the history of ancient Greek literature known in depth and to enable the student to read texts by particularly significant authors in the original language.

Students are expected to acquire a sound knowledge of the main aspects of ancient Greek literature and a good understanding of the Greek language.

At the end of the course the student must be able to know and describe the essential features, the most relevant figures and genres of the literary civilization of ancient Greece, and also knowing how to apply the linguistic knowledge to the translation of Greek texts and those of prosody and metrics to the metrical reading of texts in hexameters and in iambic trimeters.

PREREQUISITES

A high school knowledge of the ancient Greek language and of the basis of the history of Greek literature.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures by the teacher and possibly additional lessons for further information on individual topics and deepening.

Tests during the year with parts of texts prepared, translated and commented by students of the course.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

 MONOGRAPHIC ARGUMENT OF TEACHING FOR ALL STUDENTS

Myth and poetry.

The myth is the fundamental content of Greek poetry, up to at least the Hellenistic age, used and declined in different ways: that of story-tale especially in the narrative epic, that of dramatic action in the theater, that of paradigmatic exemplum in the lyric. In the lessons of the course, significant examples of these three modalities will be examined and analyzed, with the aim of showing how and how much the possibility of intervention on the content of the myth and to change it for its own expressive and thinking purposes has made available to poets resources of great breadth and great intellectual value.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Monographic course for all students

It is recommended a text of the Iliad:

Omero, Iliade, traduzione di G. Cerri, comm. di A. Gostoli, Rcs Libri e Grandi Opere, Milano 1996

Omero, Iliade, a cura di F. Ferrari, Mondadori Oscr Classici, Milano 2018.

A text of the Odyssey:

Omero, Odissea, a cura di V. Di Benedetto, Bur Rizzoli, Milano 2010

Omero, Odissea, a cura di F. Ferrari, UTET Torino 2005.

And one of the following volumes:

Lirici Greci. Età arcaica e classica, Introduzione, edizione, traduzione e commento di Camillo Neri, Roma, Carocci Editore, 2011.

Lirici Greci, Introduzione di Umberto Albini, Scelta dei testi, traduzione, note e commenti di Francesco Sisti, Milano, garzanti Editore, 1990.

Lirici Greci, a cura di Gregorio Bottonelli, Lorenzo Ferroni, Luigi Galasso, Fausto Montana, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 2005

HANDBOOK
Franco Montanari - Fausto Montana, Storia della Letteratura Greca. Dalle origini all’eta’ imperiale, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2010.
 

MORE INFORMATIONS

At the beginning of the lessons will be given indications on the texts for the course and for the exam. Texts and other materials will also be made available in Aulaweb. During the course there are intermediate forms of verification of the level of learning, consisting in the translation by the students of parts of the texts examined.
Students who can not attend or who intend to iterate the exam are asked to contact the Professor.

Texts for 6 CFU

A book of the Iliad and one of the Odissey chosen by the student (one in Greek and one in translation).
A tragedy of Sophocles and one of Euripides chosen by the student (one in Greek and one in translation).
Lysias, Against Eratosthenes or On the Refusal of a Pension to the Invalid (this text can be replaced with the lessons of Philology and Metric, see below: information at the first lesson).

Texts for 9 CFU

A book of the Iliad and one of the Odissey chosen by the student (one in Greek and one in translation).
A tragedy of Sophocles and one of Euripides chosen by the student (one in Greek and one in translation).
A discourse of Demosthenes or of Isocrates chosen by the student.

MOREOVER for 9 CFU

PHILOLOGY AND METRICS. Fundamental basis of classical philology and Greek metrics, with lessons specifically dedicated to these two themes.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

FRANCO MONTANARI (President)

LARA PAGANI

SERENA PERRONE

LESSONS

LESSONS START

September 24, 2019

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The exam consists of a written test (only for 9 cfu: a translation using a dictionary) and an oral test consisting in a discussion of the texts included in the programme and the monographic course with translation of some passages, questions on the language and historical-literary framework; history of literature.

The final grade of the exam will be determined by a weighted average between the rating of the two tests according to the following proportion: written test: 30%; oral exam: 70%. It is essential that the written test is sufficient to gain access to the oral exam. Both parts of the exam must be sufficient.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

In relation to the indicated teaching objectives, the exam will verify the acquisition of a sufficient knowledge of ancient Greek to translate the original texts with the help of a dictionary and a sound knowledge of the main aspects of ancient Greek literature.
The exam consists of a written test (only for 9 cfu: a translation using a dictionary) and an oral test consisting in a discussion of the texts included in the programme and the monographic course with translation of some passages, questions on the language and historical-literary framework; history of literature.

In relation to the written test, the evaluation of text comprehension will weigh 55%, the evaluation of the morpho-syntactic knowledge 30%, the evaluation of the expressive yield 15%.

In relation to the oral test, the evaluation of knowledge and the ability to apply them will weigh 70%, the evaluation of the personal ability to process knowledge and communicate it will weigh 30%.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

At the beginning of lectures indications will be given on texts to be used for the course and the exam. Texts and other materials will be made available on Aulaweb. During the course there will be some intermediate tests on the level of learning attained consisting in translation by students of some passages of the texts being examined.

Students who are unable to attend or wish to repeat the exam must contact teaching staff.