90567 - Classical Philology II (1) (LM)

Academic Year 2020/2021

  • Docente: Lucia Floridi
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: L-FIL-LET/05
  • Language: Italian
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Philology, Literature and Classical Tradition (cod. 9070)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will have improved her/his skills and specialist knowledges in the field of Classical Philology; (s)he will be able to discuss and assess specific cases involving the main concepts, tools and methods of stemmatics, history of tradition, textual criticism; (s)he will have developed a full historical awareness of the dynamics that underlie the formation and transformation of texts in a long-term perspective

Course contents

The teaching of Classical Philology is divided into two courses: Classical Philology 1 (Federico Condello), and Classical Philology 2 (Lucia Floridi). The two courses can be chosen as autonomous and independent, or they can be attended both, in an ideal continuity: Classical Philology 1 will deal especially with the main problems concerning the principles of recensio, stemmatology, examinatio, and emendatio. Classical Philology 2 will deal with case-studies concerning the history of Greek and Roman textual tradition, chosen to test the main principles of the discipline.

Classical Philology 2

While Classical Philology 1 is mainly concerned with stemmatics and textual criticism, Classical Philology 2 is focused on the History of Tradition (Textgeschichte). The course's main topics are:

1) production and circulation of texts in the Ancient world, from the Hellenistic age to medieval scriptoria;

2) variants introduced by authors, from the Greek theater to late-antique Latin poetry;

3) censorship and errores Christiani.

Readings/Bibliography

Required readings:

1) P. Maas, Critica del testo, translation by Nello Martinelli, presentazione di Giorgio Pasquali, con lo Sguardo retrospettivo 1956 e una nota di Luciano Canfora. – 3a ed., 2a rist., Firenze, Le Monnier, 1980.

2) G. Pasquali, Storia della tradizione e critica del testo, premessa di D. Pieraccioni, Firenze, Le Lettere, 1988 (ed. or. Firenze, Le Monnier, 1952), pp. 1-108, 185-247, 395-465. 

One of the following books:

G.B. Alberti, Problemi di critica testuale, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1979.

L. Canfora, Conservazione e perdita dei classici, Rende (CS), Stilo, 2016, 2a ed.

G.B. Conte, Ope ingenii. Esperienze di critica testuale, Pisa, Edizioni della Normale, 2013.

T. Dorandi, Nell'officina dei classici. Come lavoravano gli autori antichi, Roma, Carocci, 2007.

H. Fränkel, Testo critico e critica del testo, a c. di C.F. Russo, trad. di L. Canfora, 2a ed. ampliata, Firenze, Le Monnier, 1983.

L.D. Reynolds-N.G. Wilson, Copisti e filologi. La tradizione dei classici dall'antichità ai tempi moderni, Roma-Padova, Editrice Antenore, 2016.

R. Tarrant, Texts, Editors, and Readers. Methods and Problems in Latin Textual Criticism, Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 2016.

S. Timpanaro, La genesi del metodo del Lachmann, con una presentazione e una postilla di E. Montanari, Torino, UTET, 2003;

M.L. West, Critica del testo e tecnica dell'edizione, trad. di G. Di Maria, Palermo, L'Epos, 1998.

Further readings on specific topics will be suggested during the course.

Non-attending students are requested to contact the teacher in due advance so as to define a specific programme.

Teaching methods

Lectures in class; Seminars.

Assessment methods

A viva voce examination will test the ability of (a) understanding, translating and discuss in a philological perspective the case studies analyzed during the course; (b) discussing and evaluating the critical readings proposed in the bibliography of the course

Assessment guidelines:
Failing grades: lack of basic linguistic knowledge and inability to produce a correct interpretation of the text.
Passing grades: linguistic and philological proficiency at an intermediate level; interpretation of the texts mostly correct, but inaccurate and lacking autonomy.
Excellent grades: linguistic and philological proficiency at an upper-mid level; interpretation of the texts not only correct, but performed with autonomy and precision.

Students are required to preparare a specimen of critical edition, on a text chosen in agreement with the teacher.

Teaching tools

During the class we will make use of all the traditional or digital tools for the Classical Philology.

Online teaching materials: Pdf files of texts, slides, images of manuscripts and additional bibliography will be uploaded to the website of the course at the link "Materiali didattici".

Office hours

See the website of Lucia Floridi