OVERVIEW

The course consists in a first approach to Byzantine literary Civilization in a twofold perspective: (a) continuity with ancient Greek literature (mostly preserved/transmitted via Byzantium) and (b) change.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

In the frame of the three-year degree course no. 10, this course aims at the following: (a) understanding essential development(s) of Byzantine Literature and literary genres via relevant texts to be read in Greek; (b) understanding linguistic evolution of Byzantine Greek, especially as regards diglossia; (c) interpreting/analyzing essential features of relevant texts, discerning continuity with and change from ancient Greek civilization.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

AIMS

• To remember continuity and change features of Byzantine Greek with/from Classical Greek (lexicon and style).
• To understand different meanings of the texts presented during classes (polysemy).
• To recognize different literary genres and their ‘codes’.
• To analyze the essential features of Byzantine civilization in the texts presented during classes: paideia (‘education’) & basileia (‘imperial polity’).

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• To be able to put in their contexts the authors & texts presented during classes (historical period & literary genre);
• To be able to translate in English (or Italian) the Greek texts presented in class and their lexical, morphological, stylistic, rhetoric and metric features;
• To be able to recognize essential themes, especially as regards the μίμησις (‘literary imitation’) of ancient authors and, vice versa, the innovative aspects;
• To be able to follow an argumentation in an essay/article/scholarly contribution and to produce a written text in English (or Italian) accurately reporting it.

PREREQUISITES

A good knowledge of ancient Greek is necessary to take the course.

TEACHING METHODS

Blended lessons: in presence-classes and streaming connection as well (for those who cannot attend in person).

Lectures with the help of Power Point/pdf presentations, Wooclap interaction etc.; laboratory of translation via online lexica (GI, LSJ, LBG).

Attending the lessons is strongly recommended.

It is requested to subscribe on Aulaweb as well, in order for the students to get information, didactic material, notices, bibliography and so on.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

“The ancient Greek world at Byzantium and the evolution of literary genres”

Byzantine literature and ancient Greek literature: continuity and innovation. An approach through the texts of different authors, periods and literary genres.

Greek language throughout the Byzantine millennium: continuity and change.

Lectures in Italian by young researchers in Byzantine Studies, together with prof. Pia Carolla:

Agnese Fontana – Stirpe di Omero o di Mosè? Questioni di cronologia e identità nelle cronache universali cristiane (III-VI sec.) [Sons of Homer or Moses? Chronology and Identities in Christian Universal Chronicles].

Arianna Magnolo – I generi letterari in età tardoantica: il caso di Nonno di Panopoli (V sec.) e la poesia ellenistica [Genre in Late antiquity: Nonnos from Panopolis (5th c.) and the Hellenistic poetry].

Marco Enrico – Il panegirico epico e Giorgio di Pisidia (VII sec.): tra riuso dei classici e influenza del Cristianesimo [Epic panegyrics and George Pisides (7th c.): the re-use of Classical models and the Christian influence(s)].

Laura Borghetti - Cassia (IX sec.), un’innografa a Costantinopoli all’ombra dell’iconoclasmo [Cassia (9th c.), an innographer in Constantinople during iconoclasm].

Valeria Marzi - Teodoro Metochita (XIV sec.): la cultura alla guida dell’impero [Theodoros Metochites (14th c.): Cultural paideia and Imperial power].

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography for students taking the course for 6 cfu

Greek texts to be read and translated during classes will be available in pdf format (limited number of selected pages).

Students who want to choose a whole English bibliography are kindly requested to contact the professor as soon as possible via email (pia.carolla@unige.it).

A. KAMBYLIS, Compendio della letteratura bizantina, in H.-G. NESSELRATH, Introduzione alla filologia greca, trad. it., Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2004, pp. 446-478.

L. R. CRESCI, Come e perché venivano letti gli storici greci a Bisanzio, in F. Gazzano – G. Ottone, Le età della trasmissione. Alessandria, Roma, Bisanzio. Atti del convegno di Genova del 29 maggio 2012, Tivoli, Tored 2013, pp. 61-94.

L. R. CRESCI, Exempla storici greci negli encomi e nella storiografia bizantini del XII secolo, «Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric» 22.2, 2004, pp. 115-145.

R. BROWNING, Medieval and Modern Greek, London-Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1969.

St. COLVIN, A Brief History of Ancient Greek, Chichester (UK) 2014, pp. 168-194.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

PIA CAROLLA (President)

AGNESE FONTANA

LIA RAFFAELLA CRESCI (Substitute)

FRANCESCA GAZZANO (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

5 October 2020

Class schedule

BYZANTINE PHILOLOGY

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Oral exam: reading, translation and historical-literary, philological, linguistic commentary of texts presented in lectures to assess students’ knowledge and abilities to identify literary genres, the diachronic development of language and dialectical imitation/innovation in Byzantine to ancient Greek literature.

Before the oral exam, each student will send (via email) a written report on an article/essay (to be chosen among those proposed during classes) to assess student’s capacity for analysis and synthesis.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Please contact the professor for any further information in English.