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

Course contents

Special focus course ('corso monografico')

a) Between μάθος and σοφία: Greek wisdom literature from Homer to Christianity.

Core course ('parte istituzionale')

b) General rudiments of History of the Greek Language

Lectures Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday 15-17, Room II (21.9.2020-28.10.2020).

Start date: 21.9.2020 (1st semester).

Office Hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 9-13 (at Dept.).

Links: http://www.unibo.it/docenti/camillo.neri
http://www2.classics.unibo.it/Didattica/Programs/20192020/Neri/

Readings/Bibliography

a) Notes from the lectures. One book (or three articles) in the following list: G. Lanata, Poetica pre-platonica. Testimonianze e frammenti, Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1963; B. Snell, La cultura greca e le origini del pensiero europeo, trad. it. Torino 1963; B. Gladigow, Sophia und Kosmos. Untersuchungen zur Frühgeschichte von sofos und sofiē, Hildesheim 1965; K. Gaiser, Eine neu erschlossene Menander-Komödie und ihre literaturgeschichtliche Stellung, «Poetica» I (1967) 296-309; J.-P. Vernant, Mito e pensiero presso i Greci, trad. it. Torino 1978²; D. Lanza, Lingua e discorso nell’Atene delle professioni, Napoli, Liguori, 1979; M. Vegetti (ed.), Il sapere degli antichi, Torino 1985; G. Colli, La sapienza greca, Milano 1990-1994²; C. Miralles, Poeta, saggio, sofista, filosofo: l’intellettuale nella Grecia antica, in I Greci. Storia cultura arte società, I. Noi e i Greci, Torino, Einaudi, 1996, 849-883; H. Fränkel, Poesia e filosofia della Grecia arcaica, trad. it. Bologna, Il Mulino, 1997; M.L. West, The East Face of Helicon. West Asiatic Elements in Greek Poetry and Myth, Oxford 1997; W. Burkert, Da Omero ai Magi: la tradizione orientale nella cultura greca, Venezia, Marsilio, 1999; G. Reale, Corpo, anima e salute. Il concetto di uomo da Omero a Platone, Milano 1999; B. Effe-R. Glei, (edd.), Genie und Wahnsinn. Konzepte psychischer "Normalität" und "Abnormalität" im Altertum, Trier 2000; M. Foucault, La cura di sé, trad. it. Milano 2001⁶; R.B. Onians, Le origini del pensiero europeo, trad. it. Milano 2002²; E.R. Dodds, I Greci e l’irrazionale, trad. it. Milano 2003³; L. Bruzzese, Lo ‘Schwerathlet’, Eracle e il parassita nella commedia greca, «Nikephoros» XVII (2004) 139-170; M. Detienne, I maestri di verità nella Grecia arcaica, trad. it. Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2008⁴; A. Lo Schiavo, Platone e le misure della sapienza, Napoli 2008; G. Clark, Body and Gender, Soul and Reason in Late Antiquity, Burlington, VT 2011; P. Brown, The Ransom of the Soul: Afterlife and Wealth in Early Western Christianity, Cambridge, Mass. 2015; A.A. Long, Greek Models of Mind and Self, Cambridge, Mass.-London 2015; D. Susanetti, La via degli dei : sapienza greca, misteri antichi e percorsi di iniziazione, Roma 2017; D. Susanetti, Il simbolo nell’anima. La ricerca di sé e le vie della tradizione platonica, Roma 2020. Further bibliography on the discussed texts will be provided during the lectures.

b) Notes from the lectures. One essay in the following list: O. Hoffmann-A. Debrunner-A. Scherer, Storia della lingua greca, trad. it. Napoli, Macchiaroli, 1969; A. Meillet, Lineamenti di storia della lingua greca, trad. it. Torino, Einaudi, 1981 (2a ed.); L.R. Palmer, Greek Language, London, Faber, 1980; V. Pisani, Storia della lingua greca, Torino, Sei, 1960; L. Heilmann, Grammatica storica della lingua greca, Torino, Sei, 1963; O. Szemerényi, Introduzione alla linguistica indoeuropea, a c. di G. Boccali-V. Brugnatelli-M. Negri, Milano, Unicopli, 1985, F. Villar, Gli indoeuropei e le origini dell'Europa, trad. it. Bologna, il Mulino, 1997; W.P. Lehmann, La linguistica indoeuropea. Storia, problemi e metodi, trad. it. Bologna, il Mulino, 1999; A.C. Cassio (ed.), Storia delle lingue letterarie greche, Firenze, Le Monnier-Mondadori, 2016 (2a ed.).

Students who do not attend the lessons are required to bring the same program as regards the institutional part and to define a personalized program, also in the light of their own interests, for the monographic part.

Teaching methods

After some introductory lectures by the teacher and the specimen analysis of selected texts, the lectures will be carried out by the students themselves as presentations (which will test thus the abilities they have developed through the course); the sessions will have a seminar-like form and meant to be moments of real common research, with the familiarisation and the use of the main philological tools (traditional and data processing).

All the material handed out in the lectures will be available afterwards on line at http://www2.classics.unibo.it/Didattica/Programs/20202021/Neri/

Assessment methods

A first assessment will be carried out to begin with in the individual presentations and in the seminars, where the students will be able auto-assess their learning.
The viva voce examination consists of a conversation in which the teacher, through a series of questions, will test the theoretical knowledge and the theoretical-practical methodologies as explained in the lectures.
The students who will not have given a presentation to the class will be required to carry out a linguistic analysis of some texts in the viva voce.

The maximum grade (30L) requires accurate and complete answers to all questions posed during the oral examination. The exam will be deemed to have been passed (with variable evaluation depending on the quality of the answers) if the candidate has answered in a precise and complete manner to most questions. As for the theoretical knowledge and the translation and exegesis of the texts, the metric is the following: outstanding: 30L; excellent: 28-30; good: 25-27; discrete: 22-24; sufficient: 18-21.

For deeply-rooted didactic conviction, I do not propose links to syllabi of questions, which would inevitably end up impoverishing the general preparation of the students. Since exams take place every fifteen days, students who want to experience the actual performance of an exam can attend - as spectators - the exam sessions, which are public.

Teaching tools

PC, video projector, overhead projector, photocopied handouts.

Links to further information

http://www2.classics.unibo.it/Didattica/Programs/20202021/Neri

Office hours

See the website of Camillo Neri