00567 - Latin Literature (A-L)

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to present authors and genres of the literature of Rome in their historical development and the basic tools for interpreting Latin texts and documents.
The following knowledge and skills will be requested:
1. knowledge of the literary history, which includes the ability to outline profiles of the main genres, authors (listed in the programme) and their works and set them in their historical and literary environment;
2. the ability to translate the texts in Latin listed in the programme;
3. knowledge of phonetics, morphology and basic syntax, as appearing in the mentioned texts;
4. the ablity of carrying out a literary analysis of the studied texts (both in Latin and in Italian).

Course contents

I. SPECIAL FOCUS COURSE
1. St Ambrose, Letters 17 and 18 ; Symmachus, Third Relatio (Prof. Ivano Dionigi);
2. Juvenal, Satire 11 (Prof. ssa Rita Cuccioli Melloni);
3. Cornelius Nepos, Life of Hannibal (Prof. ssa Claudia Facchini)

II. CORE COURSE
Latin Language (syntax), Latin Literature, Textual criticism

III. AUTHORS
Catullus: Carmen 63;
Virgil, Aeneid book 4.

Readings/Bibliography

I. SPECIAL FOCUS COURSE
a) La maschera della tolleranza: Ambrogio, Epistole 17e 18; Simmaco, Terza Relazione, Introduzione di I. Dionigi. traduzione di A. Traina, con un saggio di M. Cacciari, Milano, Rizzoli (BUR) 2006.
b) Giovenale, Satire, introduzione di L. Canali, traduzione e note di E. Barelli, Rizzoli (BUR), 2000.c) Cornelio Nepote, Vite dei massimi condottieri, introduzione di E. Narducci, traduzione di C.Vitali, Milano, Rizzoli (BUR), 1986.

II. CORE COURSE
Latin Language:
I. Dionigi – E. Riganti – L. Morisi, Verba et res. Morfosintassi e lessico del latino, 2 voll., Bari, Laterza 1997; or A. Traina, Sintassi normativa della lingua latina, Bologna, Cappelli, 1993.

Latin Literature:
I. Mariotti, Letteratura latina. Storia e testi, Bologna, Zanichelli, 1993; or G.B. Conte, Letteratura latina, Firenze, Le Monnier 2002, 2 voll.; or M. Bettini, Storia della letteratura latina. Antropologia e cultura romana, Firenze, La Nuova Italia 1996.

Textual Criticism:
A. Traina – G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna, Pàtron 1995, chapters I-VIII.

III. AUTHORS
Catullus: I Canti (Carmina), Introduzione di A. Traina, traduzione di E. Mandruzzato, Milano, Rizzoli (BUR) 1982; or Catullo, Le poesie, a cura di F. Della Corte, Milano, Oscar Mondadori 1992.
Virgil: Virgilio, Eneide, introduzione, traduzione di R. Calzecchi Onesti, Torino, Einaudi, 1989, or Virgilio, Eneide, traduzione di L. Canali, Milano, Oscar Mondadori 1991 (for the commentary see PublioVirgilio Marone. Eneide, Libri I-XII, Mondadori - Fondazione Lorenzo Valla, Milano, 1982).

IV. FURTHER READING
I. Dionigi (Ed.) Di fronte ai classici, Milano, Rizzoli (BUR), 2002.

Teaching methods

Lectures in class;
Seminars  (where individual research will be discussed and essays and tests corrected).

Assessment methods

Viva voce examination, which will test:
- the knowledge of the literary history,
- the ability of understanding and set the studied texts in their historical and literary environment
- the main linguistic (phonetics, morphology and syntax), trough reading and translating from the Latin texts dealt with in class and listed in the program.

Teaching tools

1. Online teaching materials: (see webpage above); handouts with the same content will be distributed in class
2. Seminars (cf. course content) devoted to the introduction to the bases of the Latin language (phonetics, morphology and syntax)

Office hours

See the website of Ivano Dionigi

See the website of Rita Cuccioli

See the website of Claudia Facchini