90566 - Classical Philology I (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will have acquired skills and specialist knowledge in the field of Classical Philology; (s)he will know the main concepts, tools and methods of stemmatics, history of tradition, textual criticism, ecdotic technique; (s)he will be able to read and use different kinds of critical editions; (s)he will able to discuss and assess specific textual and exegetic problems as well as to argue for or against competing hypotheses.

Course contents

The aim of the course is to provide studentes with specialist skills, practical tools and critical methods of classical philology, starting from specific textual problems, in order to complete the partial knowledge gained during the first cycle. This is the reason why the course is focused not on a single theme, but on a wide series of passages (both Greek and Latin) useful to check the main rules of stemmatology, textual criticism, emendatio, ecdotic technique.

Programme and contents:

a) a general introduction focused on some concrete examples of a critical apparatus and on some typical forms of a stemma codicum. Students will be provided with a vademecum explaining the main uses of a critical apparatus (acronyms, abbreviations, technical terms, etc.). This guide will be used consistently (and updated) during the course. The last but provisional version is already available online ("Materiali didattici").

b) In a second step, the main phases of the ecdotic process will be illustrated according to the Maasian model and its progressive adjustments and corrections.

c) In a third phase we will analyze some basic concepts of the philological practice (from the lectio difficilior to the usus scribendi, from the notion of "mistake" to that of "parallel"). Our starting point will be a set of borderline case studies prepared by the teacher and offered to the common discussion.

Finally, each student will be invited to prepare - for the final exam, of which this work can be an integral part - the critical edition of a brief text (proposed by the teacher, which will provide for this purpose - where necessary - digital reproductions of the main witnesses).

Readings/Bibliography

Required readings:

1) P. Maas, Critica del testo, traduzione di 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. An useful commentary is E. Montanari, La critica del testo secondo Paul Maas: testo e commento, Firenze, Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2003

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.

3) At least one or two of the following books (one only if marked by the symbol *):

- *AA.VV., La critica testuale greco-latina , oggi. Metodi e problemi, a c. di E. Flores, Roma, Edizioni dell'Ateneo, 1980.

- 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.

- *A. Dain, Les manuscrits, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1964, 2a ed.

- 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.

- *E.J. Kenney, The Classical Text. Aspects of Editing in the Age of the Printed Book, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London, University of California Press, 1974.

- *M.D. Reeve, Manuscripts and Methods. Essays on Editing and Transmission, Roma, Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura, 2011.

- 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.

A short and useful introduction to the basilar concepts of the textual criticism are: T. Braccini, La scienza dei testi antichi: introduzione alla filologia classica, Firenze, Le Monnier Università, 2017

Other suggested readings of general character: AA.VV., Società romana e impero tardo-antico, IV. Tradizione dei classici, trasformazioni della cultura, a c. di A. Giardina, Roma-Bari 1986; L. Lomiento, Da Sparta ad Alessandria. La trasmissione dei testi nella Grecia antica, in M. Vetta (a c. di), La civiltà dei Greci. Forme, luoghi, contesti, Roma, Carocci, 2001, 297-355; H.G. Nesselrath (dir.), Introduzione alla filologia greca, trad. it. Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2004, and especially: T. Dorandi, Trasmissione dei testi nell'antichità: storia del libro, pp. 23-40; H. Hunger, La tradizione manoscritta nel medioevo e nella prima età moderna, pp. 41-64; N. Wilson, La filologia greca nell'antichità, pp. 111-130; La filologia greca a Bisanzio, pp. 131-145; G. Cambiano-L.Canfora-D. Lanza (a c. di ), Lo spazio letterario della Grecia antica, II, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 1995, and especially: L. Canfora, Libri e biblioteche, pp. 11-93; Le collezioni superstiti, pp. 95-234; G. Cavallo, I fondamenti culturali della trasmissione dei testi antichi a Bisanzio, pp. 265-306; A. Pontani, La filologia, pp. 307-351. You can add: J. Irigoin, Les éditions de textes, in F. Montanari (ed.), La philologie grecque à l'époque hellénistique et romaine, Genève, Fondation Hardt, 1994, 39-93; Id., Tradition et critique des textes grecs, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1997; T. Dorandi, Nell'officina dei classici. Come lavoravano gli autori antichi, Roma, Carocci, 2007; N.G. Wilson, Filologi bizantini, trad. it. Napoli, Morano, 1990; L. Canfora, Il copista come autore, Palermo, Sellerio, 2002; H. Blanck, Il libro nel mondo antico, trad. it. Bari, Dedalo, 2008; J. Irigoin, Il libro greco dalle origini al Rinascimento, a c. di A. Magnani, Firenze, Istituto papirologico G. Vitelli, 2009; G. Cavallo (a c. di), Libri, lettori e pubblico nel mondo antico, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1977; Libri e lettori nel Medioevo, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1977; Libri e lettori nel mondo bizantino, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1982; N.G. Wilson, Da Bisanzio all'Italia, trad. it. Alessandria 2000; R. Sabbadini, Le scoperte de' codici latini e greci ne' secoli XIV e XV, rist. Firenze 1967 (edd. orr. 1905 e 1914); L.D. Reynolds-N.G. Wilson, Copisti e filologi: la tradizione dei classici dall'antichità ai tempi moderni, con una premessa di G. Billanovich, Padova, Antenore, 1987, 3a ed.

Teaching methods

Lectures in class (points a and b of the contents). Seminar discussions of the case studies proposed by the teacher (point c of the contents). Personal tutoring for the specimen of critical edition eventually chosen as a principal basis of the final exam.

Assessment methods

A viva voce examination of the average duration of one hour will test the ability of understanding, translating and discuss in philological perspective:

a) the texts analyzed during the class;

or:

b) a text chosen by the student for a specimen of critical edition.

Every ancient text taken into account will offer the occasion both of a linguistic verification and of a philological discussion, with special regard to its transmission and stemma, corrupted passages with relative emendments, parallels that support the editorial choices, methods of editorial presentation (with special attention to the style of the critical apparatus), etc.

Finally, each examination will be concluded by a discussion of the required readings (especially Maas and Pasquali).

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.

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".

Links to further information

https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/federico.condello

Office hours

See the website of Federico Condello