B1644 - Greek Literary Culture with Exerciser of Anthropology (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student knows the main literary, historical and socio-anthropological aspects of Greek culture and is able to read and interpret texts of Greek literature from a historical and anthropological perspective.

Course contents

1) General introduction to the Historical Anthropology of Ancient Greece: methodological assumptions, history of the discipline and epistemological issues.

 

2) Anthropological reading of the Homeric Hymn to Apollo and certain passages concerning the Homeric guild: building on the text read in class, we shall analyse various social practices and structures (the ethics of gift-giving, reciprocity, Greek eroticism, hospitality, thehetaireia, the society of shame, aristocratic society, conviviality, kingship, oral society, the notion of the past, the notion of myth, male and female age groups, the condition of women, sacred action, the structure of prayer, oaths, funeral, marriage and initiation rituals, etc.).

Readings/Bibliography

In addition to the notes and materials provided in class, students will be required to

 

1) for an introduction to the anthropology of ancient Greece, read the chapters on Bachofen, Tylor, Morgan, Robertson-Smith, Frazer, Boas, Benedict, Mead, Durkheim, Mauss, Van Gennep, L. Lévy-Bruhl, Polanyi, Malinowski and Lévi-Strauss in U. Fabietti, Storia dell’antropologia, Bologna 2001;

 

2) read in Greek with metrical reading the Homeric Hymn to Apolloand the collection of texts that will be provided in class;

 

3) read

• F. Càssola, Inni omerici, Milano 1975, IX-LXVI.
• L. Sbardella, Cucitori di canti: studi sulla tradizione epico-rapsodica greca e i suoi itinerari nel VI secolo a.C., Roma 2012, 5-63.
• W. Burkert, Kynaithos, Polykrates and the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, in AA.VV., Arktouros. «Studies Presented to B. Knox», Berlin-New York, 53-62.
• M. Detienne, ouverture, cap. I, in Apollo con il coltello in mano, ??? 2002, ???-???.
• L. Gernet, L’antropologia della religione greca, Sagre antiche, La nozione mitica del valore in Grecia, Diritto e prediritto in Grecia antica, Sul simbolismo politico: il focolare comunem, in Id., Antropologia della Grecia antica, Milano 1983, 5-14, 15-48, 75-112, 143-214, 319-336.
• L. Gernet, Gli inizi della civiltà ellenica, in I Greci senza miracolo, 1986, 65-92.
  

 

The relevant sections in R. Di Donato, Per una antropologia storica del mondo antico, Firenze 1990, are useful for understanding the figures of Gernet, Meyerson, Mauss, Vernant and Harrison and M. Bettini (ed.), L'antropologia del mondo antico, Bologna 2025, 118-163 (S. Romani, Greci, Romani e selvaggi about Tylor, Frazer, Cambridge Ritualists), 164-225 (M. Giordano, Un'eredità senza testamento about the so-called School of Paris).

 

See also, for the history of cultural anthropology and sociology, respectively, R. Deliège, Storia dell'antropologia, Bologna 2008 and R. Aron, Les étapes de la pensée sociologique, Paris 1967.

 

Further bibliography will be provided during the course.

Teaching methods

The lessons will be mainly frontal, in particular as to the introduction to the historical and theoretical assumptions of the Anthropology of the ancient Greece. The commented reading of the Homeric text will be more seminar-like.

 

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 and comment on the texts covered in class from a historical-anthropological perspective will be assessed and, on the other hand, knowledge of the theoretical foundations of Ancient Greek Anthropology and the history of the discipline will be tested; the assigned essays will also be discussed.

 

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, satisfactory 21-23, sufficient 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 suitability in relation to the course objectives.

Teaching tools

Texts and photocopis, IOL, Power point

Office hours

See the website of Stefano Caciagli