00567 - Latin Literature (N-Z)

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to present authors and genres of the literature of Rome in their historical development and to provide the basic tools (phonetics, morphology, syntax, prosody and textual criticism) for interpreting Latin texts and documents.

 

Upon successful completion of the course students will be able to competently demonstrate:

1. knowledge of Roman literature (main genres, authors and works set in their historical and literary context);

2. knowledge of Latin language (phonetics, morphology, syntax), of Latin prosody and of the basic concepts of textual criticism as appearing in the mentioned texts;

3. capacity to translate the Latin texts listed in the programme;

4. capacity to carry out a literary and linguistic analysis of the texts listed in the programme.

Course contents

In order to make the study of the handbook of Latin Literature  more effective, classes will provide an overview of different literary genres. The course will be divided up into three parts: the first one will be held by prof. Francesco Citti and will start on September the 24th; the second one, held by prof.ssa Bruna Pieri, will start as soon as the first one is over; the third one, held by prof. Daniele Pellacani  will start as soon as the second is over. 

Students from Degree Cycle in "Foreign Languages and Literatures" attending Latin Literature (9 ects) are supposed to join the whole course and to prepare a reduced programm (please, see below)

Students from Degree Cycle in "Philosophy" attending Latin Literature (12ects) are supposed to join the whole course

Students from Degree Cycle in History attending Latin Literature (6 ects) are supposed to join only the first part of the course and to prepare a reduced programm (please see below).

I. SPECIAL FOCUS COURSE (lessons in class)
The literary genres in  Roman literature

• module I (F. Citti): Theatre and Lyrics
  (readings from Terence's Adelphoe; Horace's Odes; Seneca's Oedipus)
• module II (B. Pieri): Epic and Elegy
  (readings from Virgil's Aeneid and Ovid's Heroides)
• module III (D. Pellacani): Philosophical Prose and Didactic Poetry (readings from Lucretius' De rerum natura and Seneca's De otio).

II. LATIN LITERATURE (classes; individual study):

The insights on genres and authors, presented during the lessons in class, should be integrated by a general historical framework. In particular, knowledge of the following authors of Latin literature is required:

Augustine, Apuleius, Catullus, Caesar, Cicero, Ennius, Juvenal, Hieronymus, Livy, Livius Andronicus, Lucanus, Lucilius, Lucretius, Martial, Naevius, Horace, Ovid, Petronius, Plautus, Plinius the Elder, Propertius, Quintilian, Sallustius, Seneca, Statius, Suetonius, Tacite, Terentius, Tibullus, Virgil.

 
III. Latin Language (syntax); Textual Criticism, Metres (hexameter and elegiac couplet). Students are in charge of this  part

IV. AUTHORS (in Latin) Students are in charge of this part

1. Cicero: Pro Archia.

2. Vergil: Aeneid, Book 4

Students from Degree Cycle in History attending Latin Literature (6 ects) are supposed to prepare only Cicero, Pro Archia

Students from Degree Cycle in Foreign Languages and Literatures attending Latin Literature (9 ects) are supposed to prepare only Virgil, Aeneid 4.

V. Written text (translation from Latin into Italian)

The written test (a translation from Latin into Italian) is compulsory and must be overcome before the oral exam of Lingua Latina. The written test can be done only twice; a negative mark does not prevent from accessing to the viva voce examination.

 

CLASSES begin Monday, September 24th, 2018.

 

SEMINARS (not compulsory ) will start from October (to be scheduled).

Readings/Bibliography

I. SPECIAL FOCUS COURSE
Slides or pdf containing the Latin texts will be uploaded to the course website at the link "Materiali didattici"; further bibliography will be suggested as well.

In addition to the notes from the lessons, it is compulsory to read the following essays:

• G.B. Conte, Il genere tra empirismo e teoria, in Id., Generi e lettori, Milano 1991, 145-173 (in alternativa S. Harrison, Generic Groundwork, in Id., Generic Enrichment in Vergil & Horace, Oxford 2007, 1-33)
• G. B. Conte-A. Barchiesi, Imitazione e arte allusiva in Lo spazio letterario di Roma antica , I, La produzione del testo, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 1989, 81-114.

Students are also supposed to read one from the following essays:

Lucrezio: I. Dionigi, Modello grammaticale e modello fisico, in Id., Lucrezio, le parole e le cose, Bologna, Pàtron, 2005.

Orazio: A. Traina, Introduzione a Orazio lirico: la poesia della saggezza, rist. in Id., Poeti latini (e neolatini). V, Bologna, Pàtron, 1998, 133-168.

Seneca: A. Traina, Lo stile “drammatico” del filosofo Seneca, Bologna, Pàtron 1995⁴ (e successive ristampe), 9-41.

Virgilio/Ovidio: A. Ziosi (ed.), Didone. La tragedia dell'abbandono. Variazioni sul mito (Virgilio, Ovidio, Boccaccio, Marlowe, Metastasio, Ungaretti, Brodskij), Venezia, Marsilio, 2017, pp. 7-96

NB: Please notice that the essays are compulsory for not attending students as well.

II. LATIN LITERATURE

G.B. Conte, Letteratura latina. Manuale storico dalle origini alla fine dell'impero romano, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2002 [also in Engl. transl.: G.B. Conte, Latin Literature: A History, Baltimore, The John Hopkins UP, 1994].

III. LANGUAGE, TEXTUAL CRITICISM AND LATIN PROSODY

Language: I. Dionigi - E. Riganti - L. Morisi, Il latino, Bari, Laterza 2011 is recommended. As for the syntax: A. Traina, Sintassi normativa della lingua latina, Bologna, Cappelli, 1993. As an alternative, Allen and Greenough's New Latin grammar, Ginn & Company, Boston-NY-Chicago, 1903 (both for syntax and morphology). See also A. Traina - G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna, Pàtron, 2007, chapt. I-VI.

Textual criticsm and Latin prosody: A. Traina - G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna, Pàtron, 2007, chapt. VII-VIII.

IV. AUTHORS

Cicero: Il poeta Archia, a c. di E. Narducci, traduzione di G. Bertonati, Milano, Rizzoli BUR, 2000.

Vergilius: Aeneis, Book 4, from Eneide, introduzione di A. La Penna, traduzione e note di R. Scarcia, Milano, Rizzoli BUR 2002, or Virgilio, Eneide, traduzione di M. Ramous, introduzione di G.B. Conte, commento di G. Baldon, Venezia, Marsilio, 1998.

Teaching methods

Lectures in class on part 1 and on some issues of part 2 (History of Latin literature) and 3 (prosody, textual criticism); students are in charge of part 4 and 5. Seminars (see course contents) devoted to the introduction to the bases of the Latin language (phonetics, morphology and syntax) through the reading of Cicero and Virgil

Assessment methods

Students must take a written Latin Examination (a translation from Latin into Italian of a short passage with the help of bilingual vocabulary); the written examination must be taken before the oral one. The written test can be done only twice; a negative mark does not prevent from accessing to the viva voce examination.

In the viva voce examination the students will be tested Latin phonetics, morphology, syntax and literature through the reading and translation of the Latin texts dealt with in class and listed in the programme.

please note that, as far as the viva voce  examination is concerned, the course can be splitted between core course (parts 2, 3 and 4), to  be completed first, and focus course (part 1 ): two exam sessions at most are allowed between these two parts

assessment guidelines:
failing grades: lack of basic linguistic knowledge and inability to produce a correct translation and interpretation of the text. Lack of knowledge of Latin literature
passing grades: language proficiency at an intermediate level; translation and literary interpretation of the texts mostly correct, but inaccurate and lacking autonomy
excellent grades: language proficiency at an upper-mid level; translation and interpretation of the texts not only correct, but performed with autonomy and precision. Knowledge of Latin prosody and metrics.

Erasmus or foreigner students are allowed to attend the exam - as far as translation from Latin is concerned - in English, French, German or Spanish.

Teaching tools

Pdf files and slides containing texts and / or further bibliography will be uploaded to the course website at the link "Materiali didattici"

Office hours

See the website of Bruna Pieri

See the website of Daniele Pellacani

See the website of Francesco Citti