13328 - Greek Literature (1)

Academic Year 2020/2021

  • Docente: Marco Ercoles
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: L-FIL-LET/02
  • Language: Italian
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in History (cod. 0962)

    Also valid for First cycle degree programme (L) in Philosophy (cod. 9216)

Learning outcomes

Students will become acquainted with a range of texts from Greek literature and be able to analyse them from a historical, philosophical and literary angle. They will recognise the importance of certain complex topics and concepts debated in ancient times. They will use the appropriate terminology of their discipline, be able to appreciate different cultures and spot the tie-ups between history and literature.

Course contents

Module 1 (30 hours).

From the 'masters of truth' to the criticism of poetical wisdom: a diachronic route, with readings from the Homeric poems, Hesiod, the lyric poets, the historians, and Plato.

Module 2 (30 hours).

The doctrine of musical ethos in ancient Greece (from the Pythagoreans to Aristotle)

Course timetable: Tuesday 13-15, Thursday and Friday 9-11, Aula B (via Centrotrecento 18).

Beginning: Tuesday 22.9.2020 (Module 1), Tuesday 10.11.2020 (Module 2). The course will last from September to December (first semester)

NB If there are no relevant changes related to the Covid-19 emergency, the first week of class will be online for all the students (through Teams); from the second week on, a blended teaching mode will be adopted, with students attending online and in class at the same time. Shifts of attendance will be organized in case the request to attend is higher than the capacity of the classroom.

Readings/Bibliography

A (modules 1 and 2): student are required to know the historical development of Greek literature and its main authors. They can use the handbook they have from previous studies; otherwise they can use one of the following handbooks: A. Porro-W. Lapini, Letteratura greca, Bologna (Il Mulino) 2017; F. Montanari, Storia della letteratura greca, Roma (Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura) 2017; G.A. Privitera-R. Pretagostini, Storia della letteratura greca, Torino (Einaudi) 1997; L.E. Rossi, Letteratura greca, Firenze (Le Monnier) 1995.

 

B (module 1): notes from the lessons and texts provided during the course and uploaded to the course website at the link "Materiali didattici". In addition, it is compulsory to read one of the following essays:

- G. Arrighetti, Poeti, eruditi e biografi, Pisa (Giardini) 1987 [part I].

- G. Arrighetti, Poesia, poetiche e storia nella riflessione dei Greci. Studi, Pisa (Giardini) 2016 [part I].

- C. Calame, Il racconto in Grecia. Enunciazioni e rappresentazioni di poeti, Roma-Bari (Laterza) 1988 [chapters 1-3].

- G. Cerri, La poetica di Platone, Lecce (Argo) 2004.

- M. Detienne, I maestri della verità nella Grecia arcaica, Roma-Bari (Laterza) 1983, re-issued over and over again.

- E. Gabba, Storia e letteratura antica, Bologna (Il Mulino) 2001.

- B. Gentili, Poesia e pubblico nella Grecia antica, Milano (Feltrinelli) 20064 [chapters. 1-6, 8].

- E. Havelock, Preface to Plato, Cambridge, Mass. (Harvard University Press) 1963, re-issued over and over again [part I].

- R. Vattuone, Historie, Bologna (Pàtron) 2006.

- M. Vetta, La civiltà dei Greci. Forme, luoghi, contesti, Roma (Carocci) 2011 [three chapters at student's choosing].

Students can also choose among further bibliographical references that will be suggested during the course.

 

C (moduloe 2): notes from the lessons and texts provided during the course and uploaded to the course website at the link "Materiali didattici". In addition, it is compulsory to read one of the following books or three of the following articles:

- W.D. Anderson, Ethos and education in Greek music. The evidence of poetry and philosophy, Cambridge, Mass. (Harvard University Press) 1966.

- A. Barbone, Musica e filosofia nel pitagorismo, pref. di B. Centrone, Napoli (La Scuola di Pitagora) 2012.

- A. Barker, Psicomusicologia nella Grecia antica, Napoli (Guida) 2005.

- F. Pelosi, Plato on music, sould and body, Cambridge-New York (Cambridge University Press) 2010.

- A. Provenza, La medicina delle Muse. La musica come cura nella Greci antica, Roma (Carocci) 2016.

- A. Kramarz, Is the Idea of ‘Musical Emotion’ Present in Classical Antiquity?, «Greek and Roman Musical Studies» VIII (2017) 1-17.

- A. Pagliara, Musica e politica nella speculazione platonica: considerazioni intorno all’ethos del modo frigio (Resp. III 10, 399a-c). in A.C. Cassio-D. Musti-L.E. Rossi (edd.), Synaulía. Cultura musicale in Grecia e contatti mediterranei, Napoli (Istituto Univ. Orientale) 2000, 157-216.

- E. Rocconi, Il ‘canto’ magico nel mondo greco: sulle origini magiche del potere psicagogico della musica, «Seminari romani di cultura greca» IV (2001) 279-287.

- E. Rocconi, Aristoxenus and musical ēthos, in C.A- Huffman (ed.), Aristoxenus of Tarentum: Discussion, New Brunswick (Routledge) 2017, 65-90.

- E. Rocconi, La dottrina aristossenica dell'ethos musicale nel De musica dello Ps.-Plutarco, «Seminari Romani di cultura greca» II (2005) 291-297.

- L.E. Rossi, Musica e psicologia nel mondo antico e nel mondo moderno: la teoria antica dell'ethos musicale e la moderna teoria degli affetti, in A.C. Cassio-D. Musti-L.E. Rossi (edd.), Synaulía. Cultura musicale in Grecia e contatti mediterranei, Napoli (Istituto Univ. Orientale) 2000, 57-96.

- C. Tartaglini, Ethos ekousion e paideia musicale nella ‘Repubblica’ di Platone, «Seminari romani di cultura greca» II (2001) 289-311.

- C. Tartaglini, Ethos del lamento e ethos simposiale nella paideia musicale dei guardiani nella Repubblica di Platone, in R. Nicolai (ed.), ΡΥΣΜΟΣ. «Studi di poesia, metrica e musica greca offerti dagli allievi a Luigi Enrico Rossi per i suoi settant’anni», Roma 2003, 319-345.

- T.J. Mathiesen, Harmonia and Ethos in Ancient Greek Music, «Journal of Musicology» III (1984) 264-279.

Students can also choose among further bibliographical references that will be suggested during the course.

 

Students of the Bachelor in History will follow only one module and are requested to study the bibliography pertaining to points A (general part, mandatory for all) and B or C.

Students who cannot attend the course are invited to talk with the teacher in order to substitute the notes from the lessons with a text, according to their interest.

Teaching methods

Lectures and seminars.

Assessment methods

The conclusive examination is an oral interview. It is required a close, critical investigation of the texts examined during the course. The students who will prove to achieve a thorough and complete knowledge of the topics discussed during the lessons will gain excellent marks; the students who will show an incomplete knowledge of the topics and will not be able to contextualize the main authors of Greek literature will gain lower marks or even a fail, depending on the importance of the subject.

Teaching tools

Texts and photocopis, e-learning documents.

Office hours: see the website of Marco Ercoles [https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/marco.ercoles/en]

Links to further information

https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/marco.ercoles

Office hours

See the website of Marco Ercoles

SDGs

Quality education

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.