00556 - Greek Literature

Learning outcomes

The student will become acquainted with philological methods applyed to many literary texts , regarded within their historical and social background.

Course contents

Module 1 (30 hours) - Prof. M. Ercoles

Introduction to Greek literature.

The path of aletheia: the development of the notion of truth in archaic and classical Greece.

Module 2 (30 hours)

Anger (and other emotions) in Greek literature: between archaic epic and classical tragedy.

Course timetable: Tuesday 13-15, Thursday and Friday 9-11, Aula B (via Centrotrecento 18).

Beginning: Tuesday 20.9.2022 (Module 1); Tuesday 10.11.2022 (Module 2). The course will last from September to December (first semester).

 

Seminar "πάθη / emotions on the scene: between literature and philosophy" (Friday 16 December, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., Aula II, via Zamboni 32), at the end of Module 2. Speakers will be:

- Davide Susanetti (Università degli studi di Padova), L’alterità di Medea

- Pia Campeggiani (Alma Mater Studiorum - Università di Bologna), Le emozioni per chi non esiste: enargeia, enattivismo e i paradossi dell’immaginazione.

 

Alphabetization to ancient Greek (optional)

The course (100 hours), held by Dott. Margherità Mongiovì and Stella Sacchetti, will start on October at the Department of Classical and Italian Philology and will extend up to the second semester. More informations on  the timetable are provided here.

Readings/Bibliography

A (modules 1 and 2): student are required to know the historical development of Greek literature and its main authors. They can use the handbook they have from previous studies; otherwise they can use one of the following handbooks: A. Porro-W. Lapini, Letteratura greca, Bologna (Il Mulino) 2017; F. Montanari, Storia della letteratura greca, Roma (Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura) 2017; G.A. Privitera-R. Pretagostini, Storia della letteratura greca, Torino (Einaudi) 1997; L.E. Rossi, Letteratura greca, Firenze (Le Monnier) 1995.

B (module 1): notes from the lessons and texts provided during the courses and uploaded to the course website at the link "Materiali didattici". In addition, it is compulsory to choose one book among the following essays:

- G. Arrighetti, Poesia, poetiche e storia nella riflessione dei Greci. Studi, Pisa, Giardini, 2016 [solo parte I].

- E. Baragwanath-M. de Bakker (edd.), Myth, Truth, and Narrative in Herodotus, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2012 [3 capitoli a scelta].

- C. Calame, Il racconto in Grecia. Enunciazioni e rappresentazioni di poeti, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1988.

- C. Calame, Mito e storia nell’antichità greca, Bari, Dedalo, 1999.

- L. Canfora, La storiografia greca, Milano, Mondadori, 1999.

- G. Cerri, La poetica di Platone. Una teoria della comunicazione, Lecce, Argo, 2007⁴.

- J. De Romilly, La costruzione della verità in Tucidide, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1995.

- M. Detienne, I maestri della verità nella Grecia arcaica, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1983.

- F. Ferrari, Platone. I miti, Milano, Rizzoli, 2016.

- B. Gentili, Poesia e pubblico nella Grecia antica, Milano, Feltrinelli, 2006⁴.

- B. Gentili-G. Cerri, Storia e biografia nel pensiero antico, Roma-Bari 1983.

- E. Havelock, Cultura orale e civiltà della scrittura, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1973.

- B. Snell, Il cammino del pensiero e della verità, Ferrara, Gallio, 1991.

- M. Vetta, La civiltà dei Greci. Forme, luoghi, contesti, Roma, Carocci, 2011 (4 chapters at student's choice).

Further bibliographical references will be suggested during the course.

C (module 2): notes from the lessons and texts provided during the course and uploaded to the course website at the link "Materiali didattici". In addition, it is compulsory to read one book OR three articles among the following essays.

- Books:

P. Campeggiani, Le ragioni dell'ira. Potere e riconoscimento nella Grecia antica, Roma 2013.

- Articles or book chapters:

W. Allan, The virtuous emotions of Euripides’ Medea, «Greece and Rome» s. 2 LXVIII/1 (2021) 27-44.

D.L. Cairns, Ethics, ethology, terminology: Iliadic anger and the cross-cultural study of emotion, in S. Braund-G. Most (eds), Ancient Anger. Perspectives from Homer to Galen, Cambridge 2003, 11-49.

D. Konstan, Aristotle on anger and the emotions: the strategies, in S. Braund-G. Most (eds), Ancient Anger. Perspectives from Homer to Galen, Cambridge, CUP, 2003, 99-120.

D. Konstan, Anger, in D. Konstan (ed.), The Emotions of the Ancient Greeks. Studies in Aristotle and Classical Literature, Toronto-Buffalo-London 2006, 41-76.

M.S. Mirto, La penetrazione del dolore: l'etimologia di ὀδύνη tra Omero e Platone, «Hermes. Zeitschrift für Klassische Philologie» CXXXIX (2011) 147-165.

G. Most, Anger and pity in Homer’s Iliad, in S. Braund-G. Most (eds), Ancient Anger. Perspectives from Homer to Galen, Cambridge 2003, 50-75.

F. Nolfo, Impia Medea: per uno studio «contrastivo» delle emozioni alla luce della teoresi aristotelica sull'ὀργή enucleata nella Retorica, «Sileno. Rivista di Studi Classici e Cristiani» XLIV (2018) 295-321.

E. Sanders, Sexual jealousy and Erôs in Euripides’ Medea, in E. Sanders-C. Thumiger-C. Carey-N. Lowe (eds), Erôs in Ancient Greece, Oxford 2013, 41-58.

M. Zubiria, La deposición de la cólera. A propósito de la compsition del canto XIX de la Ilíada, «Myrtia» XXIX (2014) 11-34.

 Further bibliographical references will be suggested during the course.

 

Students of the Bachelor in History will follow only one module and are requested to study the bibliography pertaining to points A (general part, mandatory for all) and B or C.

 

Students who cannot attend the course are invited to talk with the teachers in order to substitute the notes from the lessons with a text, according to their interest.

Teaching methods

Lectures and seminars.

Assessment methods

The conclusive examination is an oral interview. It is required a close, critical investigation of the texts examined during the course. The students who will prove to achieve a thorough and complete knowledge of the topics discussed during the lessons will gain excellent marks; the students who will show an incomplete knowledge of the topics and will not be able to contextualize the main authors of Greek literature will gain lower marks or even a fail, depending on the importance of the subject.

Range of marks: outstanding: 30L; excellent: 28-30; good: 25-27; discrete: 22-24; sufficient: 18-21.

Teaching tools

Texts and photocopis, e-learning documents.

Office hours: see the website of Mattia De Poli and Marco Ercoles.

Links to further information

https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/marco.ercoles

Office hours

See the website of Marco Ercoles

See the website of Mattia De Poli