OVERVIEW

The course intends to introduce  students to an in-depth analysis at a specialistic  level of history, themes and texts of Latin literature.

AIMS AND CONTENT

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the course the student must have acquired the methodologies and tools to deal directly, on a specialized level, the interpretation and analysis of Latin texts, on the linguistic, metric, stylistic, rhetorical, thematic, historical and literary level, with particular attention to the evolution of literary genres in the history of Latin literature.

PREREQUISITES

A solid knowledge of the Latin language and a competence in metrics (hexameter and pentameter) is required and, from the students who have not taken the test in the three-year degree, it is required to pass a Preliminary written Translation Test from Latin (information on this should be requested from Prof. Lara Nicolini, who takes care of the test).

Please note that to facilitate the preparation of solid grammatical bases and for the preparation of the Preliminary written Translation Test, during the first and second semester Latin Lectorates for beginners, intermediate and advanced are activated, open to all students, (see more details in the field FURTHER INFORMATION).

All students on the course are required to enroll in Aulaweb.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures, and possibly seminar discussion based on papers produced by the students

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Food and objects. Encyclopedia of the world and catalog of epigrams in the Xenia and in the Apophoreta of Marziale

Xenia and Apophoreta represent two extraordinary poetic catalogs, articulated innovatively by titles, of descriptions of food and objects respectively: with such a resolute choice of organic anthologization of this typology of epigrams, that we are faced with a sort of autonomous epigrammatic subgenre. In this sense, the epigrams of Xenia and Apophoreta can at least in part be cataloged as ekphraseis, short but often vivid descriptions of those foods and objects: and the belonging to the ecfrastic genre of the epigrams of the two collections, albeit in their brevity, is made indisputable by the section dedicated, in the Apophoreta, to the description of works of art such as statues and paintings, that is, the most traditional form of ecfrastic epigram in antiquity.

Martial's epigrams on food and objects therefore place themselves in a complex relationship with epigrammatic traditions - that of the ecfrastic epigram, but also that of the anathematic or dedicatory epigram - which, together with that of the funeral epigram, originally entertain a close relationship with the often artistic artefact on which the epigrams are inscribed (e.g, a funeral monument, a statue, an object dedicated to a divinity). In particular, the two collections of Martial prove to be the perfect literary equivalent of the iconographic genre of still life, a genre which the ancients gave, not by chance, precisely the name of xenia.

The course will also examine the interesting connection of these very short epigrams on food and objects with the lotteries in use especially during the Roman festival of the Saturnalia (and therefore the problem of the passage from the occasional epigram to the epigram inserted in the book form) .

The course will then analyze the nature of the two collections as a catalog and encyclopedia of the affluent consumer society of imperial Rome, of which Martial jokingly proposes a selective and 'for consultation' reading, similar to that seriously proposed by Pliny the Elder to Titus for the huge encyclopedia of the Naturalis Historia, but also the problem of the arrangement of the very short epigrams in typological series within the two collections (and the relationship with the Hellenistic tradition of building epigrammatic anthologies).

Finally, the insertion of a titulus for each epigram will be examined, a paratextual novelty which makes the two collections also two extraordinary lexicographic collections, with unexpected connections with the ancient grammatical and lexicographic tradition. The titulus / epigram dialectic will then reappear in a partially different way, but not without close ties to the two collections of Martial, also in the later tradition of the Aenigmata, transmitting to the Middle Ages and beyond the paratextual strategy of the 'title of poetry'.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Monographic course:

1) Marco Valerio Marziale, Epigrammi, saggio intr. di M. Citroni, trad. di M. Scàndola, note di E. Merli, I-II, Milano, BUR 1996: reading of the important Introduction and epigrams in Italian is required; in the Latin original only the epigrams read in class and taken from books XIII (Xenia), XIV (Apophoreta) and other Martial books, and any other material read in class (a precise list will be indicated on Aulaweb at the end of the course).

Supplementary texts (individual preparation by the students):

2) Svetonio, Vite dei Cesari, intr. di S. Lanciotti, Milano, BUR, 1982, libro VIII (Vespasianus, Titus, Domitianus).

3) Catullus, a choice of carmina:

1; 3; 5; 13; 42 = Phalaecian endecasyllable

4 = Iambic trimeters

8 = Choliambs

11; 51 = Sapphic stanza

Bibliography:

Catullo, I Canti, intr. e note di A. Traina, trad. di E. Mandruzzato, Milano, BUR; or Catullo, Le poesie, a cura di F. Della Corte, Milano, Mondadori (Fondazione Lorenzo Valla) 1977.

4) Horatius, a choice of Odes:

1,1 = Minor Asclepiads

1,11 = Greater Asclepiads

4,1= Glyconic + Asclepiad

2,3; 4,9; 4,15 = Alcaic stanza.

Bibliography: Orazio, Odi ed epodi, intr. di A. Traina, Milano, BUR 1985.

Non-attending students will integrate the program with S. Boldrini, La prosodia e la metrica dei Romani, Roma, Carocci, 1998, and with the material uploaded on Aulaweb.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

GABRIELLA MORETTI (President)

LARA NICOLINI

VALTER LAPINI (President Substitute)

BIAGIO SANTORELLI (Substitute)

DILETTA VIGNOLA (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Monday 15th February 2021, 14,00-15,00

The other days of lessons during the week will be (except for occasional shifts of time for particular commitments):

Thursday, 17.00-19.00

Friday, 16.00-18.00

The Teams channel code used for the lessons will be: wx4xxgn

The code used for the Reception (to be booked via email) will be: pq1sosu

The code that will be used at the end of the course for the exams will be: 6q9t5ur

Except for unforeseen events, the Course is expected to end around the end of March.

Class schedule

LATIN LITERATURE MODULE 2

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam possibly preceded by a seminar work presented orally and delivered in written form to the teacher during the course.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The exam will first examine the student's competences regarding the Latin language, and will focus in particular on the ascertainment of linguistic, stylistic, metrical, rhetorical and interpretative skills through the translation and exegesis of the Latin texts in the program. Part of the evaluation will also be based on possible seminar work exposed by the students during the course.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Attendance is strongly recommended: an active class attendance, with preparation of the pieces from time to time addressed, will be evaluated during the exam.

Those who for serious reasons could not attend should contact the teacher within the first month of the course, so that they can be put in contact with their attending colleagues.

For students with linguistic problems, the following will be activated:

1) a 60-hour basic Latin Lectorate for absolute beginners, held in the first semester by Prof. Maria Rosaria Di Garbo (organized by the Cultural Heritage Course, but open and highly recommended also for students of all Degree Courses) , to be integrated with the help of language tutors for practical exercises and their correction.

2) a 36-hour intermediate Latin Lectorate (syntax), held in the second semester by Prof. Maria Rosaria Di Garbo, to be integrated with the help of language tutors for practical exercises and their correction.

3) a 30-hour translation Workshop held in the first semester by prof. Biagio Santorelli, compulsory for classicists who had not passed the entrance test consisting of a version from Latin (but VERY HIGHLY recommended to ALL classicists), and also open to all interested modernists, in particular to pass the preliminary test of Translation from Latin.

All students are required to register for Aulaweb in time for the start of the course.