OVERVIEW

Through the close reading of a selection of authors from different ages, the class aims to refine students' literary analysis skills. The notions of literary genres and canon will be re-assessed, starting from the apparently  minor genre of Roman epigram.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course intends to introduce students to an in-depth analysis at a specialistic level of history, themes and texts of Latin literature through a direct and analytical reading of the texts, from the Archaic age to the 5th century AD, developing the ability to relate literary production with its historical-cultural context.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion of the course, student will be able to:

· Problematize the concept of literary genre, and especially the case of epigram

· Understand the complexity of the relationship of aemulatio between a literary work and its models.

· Evaluate the connections between literary production, authorial poetics, and the relevant historical-cultural context.

· Exploit their linguistic knowledge, at both morphosyntactic and lexical levels, to translate Latin texts accurately and coherently with their literary typology.

· Analyze literary texts on thematic, metrical, semantic, historical-literary, and rhetorical-stylistic grounds.

PREREQUISITES

Proficiency in Latin language and good knowledge of dactylic metric are mandatory prerequisites

TEACHING METHODS

The literary texts listed in the syllabus, will be read in the original language and analyzed in class. The course will envisage a cooperative approach, aimed at valuing the active participation and critical contribution of the students.

Catullian and Horatian metrics exercises will be held by Dr. Elena Donadio.

Enrollment in the course on Aulaweb is recommended: teaching materials useful to participate in class and necessary for exam preparation will be shared online.

Attendance is highly recommended; non-attending students will contact the teachers at least three months before the exam.

During the first semester, an advanced Latin translation class will be offered, to consolidate the requested level of linguistic competence.

Students with disabilities or specific learning disabilities (SLD) can find information on requesting services, compensatory tools, or specific dispensatory measures and aids in the document available at the following link: https://unige.it/disabilita-dsa/modulistica.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Martial's Xenia: the History of the Epigram, Realien, Saturnalian Traditions, and the Visual Arts

Xenia and Apophoreta constitute two extraordinary poetic catalogues, innovatively structured through tituli, consisting respectively of descriptions of foodstuffs and objects. By deliberately assembling this particular type of epigram into coherent collections, Martial effectively creates what may be regarded as a distinct subgenre of the epigram.

In particular, the Xenia should be recognized—as commentators have often overlooked—as the first complete and self-published book of epigrams to survive from antiquity. As such, it provides a unique opportunity to investigate the often subtle and indirect principles governing the arrangement of epigrams within an ancient poetic collection.

Martial's epigrams on food (as well as those on objects) stand in a complex relationship with earlier epigrammatic traditions—not only the ecphrastic epigram, but also the dedicatory or anathematic epigram. Together with the funerary epigram, these traditions were, from their very origins, closely associated with the often artistic objects on which the poems were inscribed (such as funerary monuments, statues, or votive offerings dedicated to a deity). In particular, Martial's two collections prove to be the perfect literary counterpart of the pictorial genre of the still life, a genre which the ancients themselves significantly called xenia.

Both Xenia and Apophoreta are characterized not only by their extreme brevity—each epigram consists of just two lines, apart from the introductory pieces—but above all by an extraordinary paratextual innovation: the presence of a titulus or lemma for every epigram. Although this device has a somewhat different precedent in the sectional titles of the so-called New Posidippus, it transforms this catalogue of foods—sometimes simple, sometimes refined and luxurious—into a compact encyclopaedia of food, structurally comparable in striking ways to works belonging to seemingly very different literary genres, such as Pliny the Elder's monumental Naturalis Historia or Greek and Latin lexicographical works.

The theme of food explored by Martial also had a long literary history. Beginning at least with the gastronomic epic of Archestratus and Ennius' Hedyphagetica, continuing through comedy—especially Plautus—and culminating in satire, where Horace and Juvenal investigate food and dining in ways that are often remarkably close to Martial's own epigrams.

Finally, the connection between the carnivalesque theme of food and the Saturnalian occasion for which Xenia and Apophoreta, along with many of Martial's other books, were composed will provide an opportunity to reflect upon the circumstances surrounding the publication of his poetry. It will also allow a comparison between Martial's epigrams and the Saturnalian compositions—likewise rich in references to food—of the greatest poet among Martial's contemporaries, Statius, whose Silvae in several poems display a striking affinity with Martial's epigrammatic techniques.

The analysis of the Xenia and the related texts will be conducted partly by the professor and partly by the students (workshop).

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reading list: all text must be read and analyzed in Latin:

Monographic Course:

a) Martial, Xenia (translation: Marco Valerio Marziale, Gli epigrammi, a cura di C.Vivaldi, Newton Compton).

Supplementary texts (to be prepared independently by students):

b) Catullus, poems 1–14; 22–32; 35–37; 38–40; 42–46; 49–53; 55–57; 68A; 70; 72–73; 75–76; 79; 82–87; 92–93; 95–96; 101; 107; 109; 113; 115.
(Recommended translation: Catullo, Il Liber. Tutte le poesie, edited by L. Micozzi, Milan, Mondadori, 2023, with a useful introduction and commentary.)

c) Horace, Odes, Book I, 1–11.
(Recommended translation: Orazio, Odi, vol. I, Books I–II, edited by E. Pianezzola and G. Baldo, with an important introduction and commentary.)

Students are strongly encouraged to study the introductions and commentaries included in the recommended editions; for non-attending students this is a compulsory part of the course.

Additional reading materials will be made available through the Aulaweb platform.

Recommended reference works:

For a review of the history of Latin literature from the perspective of literary genres:

Lo Spazio letterario di Roma antica, edited by G. Cavallo, P. Fedeli, and A. Giardina, Vol. I, La produzione del testo, Rome, Salerno Editrice, 1998.

Foundations of University Latin:

Latino Universitario, edited by L. Galasso, Hoepli, 2026.

History of the Latin Language:

B. Santorelli, Storia della lingua latina, Carocci.

Latin Metre:

S. Boldrini, La prosodia e la metrica dei Romani, Carocci.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Around February 15, 2027.

https://corsi.unige.it/corsi/11966/studenti-orario

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Assessment will be by oral examination. As an integral part of the assessment, students will be required to prepare an independent critical analysis of one or more epigrams from Martial, a poem by Catullus, or a Silva by Statius. Students attending the course will present their analyses in the form of an in-class seminar paper during the semester.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Students will be required to:

· Present and discuss the results of their independent metrical, linguistic, and literary analysis of of one or more epigrams from Martial, a poem by Catullus, or a Silva by Statius, selected in agreement with the professor. Attending students will present and discuss their analysis during in-class workshops

· Read (if requested, metrically) and translate passages from the Latin texts in the reading list, analyzing them from linguistic, lexical, and stylistic-rhetorical perspectives. Attending students will also present and discuss their analysis of one passage during in-class workshops

· Critically discuss the exegetical and literary issues presented by the texts in the reading list, referring also to the essay listed in the bibliography.

· Show a thorough understanding of the features of the epigrammatic genre and its evolution, projecting these insights onto the broader historical and cultural context of Latin literature.

Assessment criteria:

· 30 cum laude - 28: The student will be able to translate and discuss accurately the texts and outline their linguistic features;

· 27 - 23: The student will show an overall knowledge of the selected texts, with some flaws that will not prejudice their correct interpretation.

· 22 - 18: The student will show a partial understanding of the texts and their language.

· Fail: The student who will misinterpret or not be able to translate the texts will not pass the exam.

FURTHER INFORMATION

For further information please contact the teacher: gabriella.moretti@unige.it