75957 - Greek and Roman Theatre

Learning outcomes

The course will teach the main features of classical literary civilisation. The student will learn the main features of classical literary civilisation, will be able to read in translation and to contextualise the main ancient literary works, esp. theatrical plays, and will hold the critical tools to interpret the literary, visual and performative European culture, as well as its reception.

Course contents

The course focuses on the main classical dramatic genres, tragedy and comedy, as well as on their persistence in modern and contemporary culture. No prerequisite knowledges (not even of classical languages and literature) are required to access the course

After a general introduction to Greek and Latin drama (origins, functions, production, performance, themes), the course will read and analyse selected plays (tragedies and comedies).

The course will deal with (minor adjustments as required might occur):

1) General Part

1. The origins of Greek theatre; the dramatic festivals at Athens
2. The main developments of the Greek drama
3. Greek comedy from Aristophanes to Menande
4. Introduction to Latin theatre: origins, the palliata from Plautus to Terentius, the Seneca's tragedies.

2) Monographical section

This section of the course is focused on reading of greek and latin tragedies and on analsys of their reception in moderna and contemporary literature, theatre, art and cinema.

1. The Trojan Woman: reading in translation of Euripides, Trojan Women and Seneca, Trojan Women.
2. Euripides, Helena.

Readings/Bibliography

(1) General Part

(1.1) Greek and Latin theatre: the student must study both: G. Mastromarco - P. Totaro, Storia del teatro greco, Milano: Mondadori Education, 2008 e G. Chiarini - F. Mosetti Casaretto, Introduzione al teatro latino, Milano: Mondadori Università, 2004. It is highly recommended to read at least one between G. Ieranò, La tragedia greca: origini, storia, rinascite, Roma, Salerno, 2010 and A. Rodighiero, La tragedia greca, Bologna; Il Mulino, 2013.

(1.2) Texts of classical dramas and other teaching material will be available from the course website.

(2) Monographic part

(2.1) It is required to read in full Euripides, Troiane in the edition Euripide, Troiane, edited by  E. Cerbo, Milano: Bur, 1998;  it is also required to read at least one critical essay among this list:

• M.L. Chirico, ‘La ῥῆσις trenetica di Ecuba nelle « Troiane » di Euripide (vv. 1167-1206)’, in Le parole dopo la morte: forme e funzioni della retorica funeraria nella tradizione greca e romana, ed. by C. Pepe and G. Moretti, Trento: Università degli Studi di Trento, 2015, pp. 15-35.
• A. Ledesma Pascal, ‘La experiencia trágica : historia, política y tragedia en la Atenas del siglo V a. C. (a propósito de « Las Troyanas » de Eurípides)’, in « Ianua classicorum »: temas y formas del mundo clásico: Actas del XIII Congreso Español de Estudios Clásicos, ed. by J. de la Villa Polo, P. Cañizares Ferriz and E. Falque Rey, Madrid: Sociedad Española de Estudios Clásicos, 2015, pp. 197-205.
• A. Rodighiero, « Sail with your fortune »: wisdom and defeat in Euripides’ « Trojan women »’, in Wisdom and folly in Euripides, ed. by Poulheria Kyriakou and Antonios Rengakos, Berlin: de Gruyter, 2016, pp. 177-193.
• D. Munteanu, ‘The tragic Muse and the anti-epic glory of women in Euripides' « Troades »’, The Classical Journal, 106, 2 (2011 2010) 129-147.

(2.2) It is required to read in full Euripide, Elena, edited by M. Fusillo, Milano: Bur, 1997; it is also required to read at least one critical essay among this list:

• C. Brillante, ‘L'« Elena » euripidea: le ambiguità di un racconto’, Dioniso , 6 (2007) 140-155.
• J. O. de Graft-Hanson, ‘Euripides' Helena and justice’, Museum Africum, II (1973) 11-23.
• V. Luppi, ‘La doppia identità di Elena nell'omonima tragedia di Euripide’, Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica, N. S., 98 (2011) 11-20.
• V. Melis, ‘Eur. Hel. 255-305 e l’«Encomio di Elena» di Gorgia: un dialogo intertestuale’, Lexis, 34 (2016) 130-143.
• P. Pucci, ‘Helen's many faces: Euripides in the cultural crisis at the end of the Vth century’, Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica, N. S., 100 (2012) 49-65.

4) For the reception and persistence of classical drama it is required to study one between: G. Guastella (a cura di), Le rinascite della tragedia. Origini classiche e tradizioni europee, Roma: Carocci, 2006; Troiane classiche e contemporanee, a cura di F. Citti, A. Iannucci, A. Ziosi, Hildesheim-New York: Georg Olms, 2017; M. Bettini – C. Brillante, Il mito di Elena. Immagini e racconti dalla Grecia a oggi, Torino: Einaudi, 2013.

Teaching methods

Class lectures. In addition to the critical discussion of the course themes and the reading of literary works, the course will feature screening of modern theatre plays and movies of ancient drama, as well as a series of conferences held by researchers from other universities.

Assessment methods

Oral examination of the base and critical knowledge of the course topics, related to Greek and Latin dramatic civilisation and its reception in contemporary culture. The examination will focus on:

(a) base knowledge of themes, genres, authors and performance of classical dramatic literature;

(b) knowledge of the plays discussed during the lectures, as well as of the relevant critical skills;

(c) critical skill and discussion of the selected essays.

In the first part of the examination, the student will be allowed the choice of a specific topic of classical dramatic culture from which to begin (the origins of Greek or Latin theatre, production and performance, evolution of a specific genre, etc.).

In the second part, the student will be allowed to choose one of the three plays, present it and discuss its critical features (also on the basis of the selected essays), focusing on its relations with the other two plays according to the thematic perspective of the course (‘war and peace’).

The third and last part focus on a brief discussion on the reception and persistence of classical drama in the Renaissance or in 20th-century theatre.

Marking will be based on the following criteria:

• Fail: insufficient knowledge in all 3 sections.
• Pass: adequate knowledge in at least 2 out of 3 sections (mark between 18/30 and 23/30).
• Merit: adequate knowledge in all 3 sections (mark between 24/30 and 27/30).
• Distinction: excellent knowledge in all 3 sections, and evidence of remarkable skills in the critical evaluation of the course contents (mark between 28/30 and 30/30).

Teaching tools

On the course web site will be available texts of tragedies, essays and other teaching material.
The course will be supported by a educational travel to Siracusa in May, to attend the classical theater performances organized by the INDA

Office hours

See the website of Alessandro Iannucci