28951 - History of Performing Arts in the Ancient World (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

Upon a successful completion of this course students will know the Greek and Roman theatre as a whole (places of performance, festivals and dramatic competitions, poets and preserved works; directors, chorus, players; relationship with public and institutions; the different dramatic genres and their history) and will develop a critical attitude towards the main issues concerning the Greek and Roman theatre. Furthermore, they are expected to know the examined pieces thoroughly.

Course contents

1. Dramatic performances in the ancient world, with a special regard to Athenian tragedy and its importance for the modern theatre.

2. Euripides, Medea.

Readings/Bibliography

1) For attending students, the class notes and all the documents online (texts, slides, etc.) are the basis for the final exam.

Required readings:

• A. Pickard-Cambridge, Le feste drammatiche di Atene, trad. it., Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1996 (chapters I, IV and V excluded); or five between the scientific papers at your disposal at "Virtuale.unibo.it" (at the end of the course).
• two books among the following, one for tragedy and the other for comedy, chosen by the student: G. Ieranò, La tragedia greca: origini, storia, rinascite, Roma, Salerno, 2010; A. Rodighiero, La tragedia greca, Bologna, il Mulino, 2013; M. Di Marco, La tragedia greca. Forma, gioco scenico, tecniche drammatiche, Roma, Carocci 2009 (seconda edizione); B. Zimmermann, La commedia greca: dalle origini all'età ellenistica, ed. it. a c. di Sotera Fornaro, Roma, Carocci, 2016; G. Mastromarco, P. Totaro, B. Zimmermann (a c. di), La commedia attica antica: forme e contenuti, Lecce, Pensa, 2017. For English-speaking students, alternative readings are possible: please, write to me for further suggestions.

2. Euripides, Medea. Students in classics are required to read the following passages of the tragedy in Greek: Eur. Med. 1-48, 214-266, 292-334, 465-519, 690-730, 1038-1080.

Suggested italian editions;

• Euripide, Medea, introduzione e premessa al testo di V. Di Benedetto, traduzione e appendice metrica di E. Cerbo, note di E. Cerbo e V. Di Benedetto, Milano, Bur-Rizzoli, 1997;
• Euripide, Medea, saggio introduttivo e note a c. di G. Sandrolini, trad. di M.C. Brizzi, Milano, Rusconi, 2018.

For non-attending students:

In addition to the texts at points 1 and 2, the following two books should be read:

• V. Di Benedetto-E. Medda, La tragedia sulla scena. La tragedia greca in quanto spettacolo teatrale, Torino, Einaudi, 2002
• G. Guastella (a c. di), Le rinascite della tragedia. Origini classiche e tradizioni europee, Roma, Carocci, 2006.

Further bibliographic information (for optional in-depth studies) will be provided in class.

Teaching methods

Lectures in class; seminars and discussion of the texts analysed in class.

Assessment methods

The oral examination will be an interview in which the teacher, through a series of questions, will test the theoretical knowledge as explained during the lectures. Students in Classics will be also required to read, translate and comment a passage from Euripides, Medea. The evaluation ranges from 18 to 30 cum laude depending on how sure, well-founded, precise, and rigorous the answers of the candidate will be.

Teaching tools

PC, projector, slides.

Office hours

See the website of Lucia Floridi