OVERVIEW

The course offers an overview of some crucial Byzantine literary texts, from scratch to the top: students start reading a manuscript, understanding some layers of the text (in terms of lexicon, style, variant readings, literary imitation, variatio and historical context) and will be guided towards a philological/literary commentary.

A good knowledge of ancient Greek is required.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The educational objectives aim at the acquisition of the following knowledges, skills and abilities: - know through direct reading of the texts the main genres of the Byzantine literature through their diachronic development and the contribution of each author; - lead a philological, linguistic, stylistic and historical-literary exegesis of the texts belonging to the Byzantine literary culture; - contextualize the texts both in their relationship with the Attic and Christian cultural heritage, and in the specific literary and cultural configuration of the Greek Middle Ages; - identify the role of individual texts and authors in the Nachleben of literary and ideological themes.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

For the aims, see the previous item.

Learning outcomes

It is expected that, at the end of teaching attendance and the study of the related program, students will be able:

(a) to read correctly and accurately translate the proposed texts with awareness of the multiple meanings;

(b) to connect the texts to the characters of the literary genre they belong to;

(c) to read the manuscripts which hand down the texts, read the critical apparatus correctly, follow the path that leads from the witnesses to the edition, the translation and the comment;

(d) to critically address the reading of a critical essay/article, drawing up a reasoned report and critical assessment of it.

PREREQUISITES

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

TEACHING METHODS

Depending on the general guide-lines of the University of Genoa, classes will be in person and lessons will be broadcasted via streaming as well. Should lessons shift to an online-mode, a password for a dedicated Microsoft Teams channel will be published here.

Classes will be complemented with Power Point/pdf presentations and various kinds of interaction; a laboratory of translation via online lexica (GI, LSJ, LBG and so on) will be complemented by samples of focused commentaries.

Attending the lessons is strongly recommended.

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

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Polisemos: decoding Byzantine texts

Byzantium saved most of the Greek texts which we can read nowadays; yet the Byzantine era (330-1453 AD) produced a rich and diverse literature of its own as well, where tradition and innovation are always interwoven.

This year, polysemy will be taken into account: a paradoxical phenomenon to the point of reading two diametrically opposite meanings into one single text. The term polisemos (i.e., polysemic/polysemous) draws from Dante Alighieri’s Epistle to Cangrande, as a homage to the seventh centenary of Dante’s death and with the intention of comparing Byzantium and the Western Medieval culture in some respects.

Webinars by relevant experts will be offered during the lessons.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Relevant texts and selected pages/open access weblinks can be found on Aulaweb.

Students are kindly asked to wait the lessons start and a confirmation about the bibliography by the professor before buying/loaning the texts.

(a) Byzantine texts in Greek (selected passages will be found on Aulaweb):

Eusebio di Cesarea, Vita di Costantino, a cura di L. Franco, Milano 2009, selected passages.

Procopio di Cesarea, Storie segrete, a cura di F. Conca, versione italiana di P. Cesaretti, Milano 1996, selected passages.

Procopio di Cesarea, Santa Sofia. Un tempio di luce (De aedificiis I 1,1-78), a cura di P. Cesaretti – M.L. Fobelli, Milano 2011, selected passages.

Georgii Monachi Chronicon, edidit C. de Boor, addenda et corrigenda adiecit P. Wirth, Bibliotheca Teubneriana, Stutgardiae 19782, vol. II, p. 767, 5-14.

Jean Géomètre, Poèmes en Hexamètres et en Distiques Elegiaques, ed. E. M. van Opstall, Leiden-Boston (The Medieval Mediterranean 75) 2008, selected passages.

(b) Bibliography (a fully English list may be requested instead)

P. Magdalino, Basileia: the Idea of Monarchy in Byzantium, 600-1200, in A. Kaldellis-N. Siniossoglou (eds.), The Cambridge Intellectual History of Byzantium, Cambridge 2017, pp. 575-598.

L.R. Cresci, L’assassinio di Niceforo Foca attraverso la lente di due citazioni omeriche, “Erga-Logoi” 8, 2020.1, pp. 119-128.

A.Kaldellis, Procopius of Caesarea. Tyranny, History, and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity, Philadelphia 2004.

L.R. Cresci, Aspetti della mimesis in Procopio, “Diptycha. Hetaireias byzantinon kai metabizantinon meleton” 4, 1986-87, pp. 232-249.

Ead., Ancora sulla mimesis in Procopio, “Rivista di filologia e di istruzione classica” 114, 1986, pp. 449-457.

Av. Cameron, Procopius and the Sixth Century, London 1985

(c) Summary of Byzantine literature (optional for students who have already passed Byzantine philology):

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

Students may choose a wholly English bibliography: please contact the professor as soon as possible via email (pia.carolla@unige.it).

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

PIA CAROLLA (President)

FRANCESCA GAZZANO

CLARA FOSSATI (President Substitute)

LIA RAFFAELLA CRESCI (Substitute)

AGNESE FONTANA (Substitute)

ARIANNA MAGNOLO (Substitute)

LUCA VILLANI (Substitute)

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Tuesday, 2021 October 5th.

Class schedule

BYZANTINE LITERATURE

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Oral exam: students will be asked to read, translate and provide a historical, literary, philological and linguistic commentary of the texts analyzed during the course, in order to assess their knowledge of the language, literary genre and tradition of each text. Students will have to present the laboratory activity conducted on the text, from the reading of the manuscript to the elaboration of a commentary.
Before the oral exam, students will email (or hand over) a report on a critical reading/article/contribution (to be chosen by the student in a list); the aim is to assess their level of proficiency in text analysis and synthesis. The report has to be written in rather accurate Italian (B1 level) and to summarize the essential contents of the reading. 'Excellence' requirements for the written test are: writing an effective, reasonable report on the argumentation, by underlining its strengths and weaknesses as well.

Minimum 'pass' requirements for the oral exam are: (i) being able to read the manuscript analyzed in class, (ii) being able to translate and (iii) to comment texts by outlining the major linguistic, literary and philological features of such texts.

'Excellence' requirements are: being able to confidently read manuscripts, to translate and comment texts accurately by making connections with Byzantine literary context; being able to point out accurately all aspects of texts: linguistic, historical, literary and philological aspects.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Please contact the professor for any further information in English.