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29942 - History of the Ancient Greek Language (1) (LM)

Academic Year 2026/2027

  • Teaching Mode: In-person learning (entirely or partially)
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Data, Methods and Theoretical Models For Linguistics (cod. 6725)

    Also valid for Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Philology, Literature and Classical Tradition (cod. 6690)

Learning outcomes

Upon a successful completion of the course, the students acquire specific skills in the analysis and interpretation of texts selected from the archaic age to the formation of the so-called 'common language' that then developed into Modern Greek. They improve: a) their ability to recognise the proper historical setting of a Greek text or document; b) their methodological skills to analyse a text from a historical and linguistic point of view and to establish its relations with other texts and cultural products.

Course contents

1) Through the reading of various passages drawn from archaic epic poetry, archaic non-epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, Ionic and Attic prose, and koinè, the course will undertake a diachronic study of the lexicon relating to ‘gender’ in the ancient world, focusing in particular on the concepts of man and woman and the different age groups associated with them.

 

2) Following a review of the main Greek dialects, the various literary languages will be studied (Homeric, Melic, Iambic, Elegiac, Tragic, Comic, Ionic-Attic prose and koinè).

Readings/Bibliography

In addition to the notes, the following is required

 

1) reading the texts in the dossier – which will be handed out in class – in Greek, with a metrical analysis for the epic and Aeolic, iambic and elegiac poetry;

 

2) regarding issues of gender and homosexuality, reading

  • M. Mead, Sesso e temperamento, trad. it. Milano 1964, 294-334.
  • J. Peradotto, J. J. Sullivan (edd.), Women in the Ancient World. The Arethusa Papers, Albany 1984, 1-6.
  • K. J. Dover, Il comportamento sessuale dei Greci in età classica, in C. Calame, L'amore in Grecia, Roma-Bari 2006, 5-20.
  • K. J. Dover, L'omosessualità nella Grecia antica, trad. it. 1985, 63-115.
  • M. Foucault, Storia della sessualità, II, L'uso dei piaceri, Milano 2006, 191-226.
  • D. M. Halperin, One Hundred Years of Homosexuality, London-New York 1990, 15-40 (oppure Cents ans d'homosexualité, trad. fr. Paris 2000, 29-63).
  • D. M. Halperin, J.J. Winkler, F.I. Zeitlin (edd.), Before Sexuality, Princeton (New Jersey) 1990, 5-7 (oppure Bien avant la sexualité, Paris 2019, 34-38).
  • S. Boehringer-V. Sebillotte Cuchet, Préambule e Introduction, in Id., Hommes et femmes dan l'antiquité grecque et romaine, Paris 2011, 9-28.

 

3) regarding the history of literary languages, reading

  • the handout that will be distributed in class;
  • A. Meillet, Lineamenti di storia della lingua greca, Italian translation, Torino 20033, 151-407.

 

The following are also useful for preparation

  • O. Hoffmann, A. Debrunner, A. Scherer, Storia della lingua greca, Italian translation, Napoli 1969.
  • L. R. Palmer, Greek Language, London 1980.
  • A. C. Cassio (ed.), Storia delle lingue letterarie greche, Firenze 20162.

For historical morphology, please refer to

  • P. Chantraine, Morphologie historique de la langue grecque, Paris 19612.
  • V. Garulli, C. Neri, Morfologia e storia del greco antico, Roma 2024.

Teaching methods

The lectures will be mainly face-to-face, especially the institutional part of the course on the main characteristics of the literary languages of ancient Greece. More seminar-like will be the section involving the annotated reading of passages related to the rites of passage.

 

The materials indicated in the course of the lectures will be made accessible and downloadable on the web (Virtuale).

 

The course participates in the University's teaching experimentation project.

Assessment methods

The exam will consist of an interview in which, on the one hand, the ability to translate, read metrically (where required) and comment on the dossier of texts covered in class will be assessed; on the other hand, knowledge of the characteristics of the literary languages of ancient Greece and those relating to the subject of the monographic course will be tested.

 

The assessment will take into account the accuracy, completeness and articulation of the answers according to the following scale: excellent answers 30-30L, very good 27-29, good 24-26, fair: 21-23, satisfactory 18-20.

 

Students with learning disabilities or disabilities are advised to contact the relevant university office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it/per-studenti): any adjustments must be submitted at least 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess their appropriateness in relation to the course objectives.

Teaching tools

PC, photocopies, IOL, Power point

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Caciagli