32544 - Latin Literary and Theatrical Civilization

Learning outcomes

The course is aimed at offering an outline of Roman culture, through an approach - in Italian translation - to the main literary genres and texts of latin culture. The course will pay particular attention to the relationship beween culture and society and persistence of themes in European culture.

Course contents

This course is the first part of the integrated course Civiltà latina (12 cfu): the second part - with the title of Drammaturgia del mondo romano is hold by prof. Mariapaola Funaioli. At the end of the course the student can sit for only one exam, or split the exam in two different sessions.

Rewriting myth: Orpheus, Phaedra, Cupid and Psyche
Analysis of Orpheus, Phaedra and Cupid and Psyche myths will permit to make some journeys in the latin literature and culture and verify their influence on modern and contemporary culture. 

A. Authors and texts: the course is splitted into three parts:
1) Phaedra: Seneca's Phaedra will be examinated, in particular with reference to its Greek models, and modern variations. The following texts will be considered: Sophocles, Euripides (Hippolytus), Ovidius (Heroides, 4), Apuleius (Metamorphoses, 10,1-12), Racine, d'Annunzio.
2) Orpheus: variations of Orpheus theme in Vergil, Ovid, Poliziano, Rilke, Cocteau, Pavese, Bufalini will be considered.
3) Cupid and Psyche: the apuleian novel and its literarian and iconographic permanence (seminarial course by dott. ssa Lucia Pasetti).
B. Literary history: further to the periodization and a general historical background, students will have to know the main authors of Latin literature (Augustine of Hippo, Ammianus Marcellinus, Apuleius, Catullus, Caesar, Cicero, Cornelius Nepo, Ennius, Historia Augusta, Juvenal, Jerome, Livius, Livius Andronicus, Lucanus, Lucilius Gaius, Lucretius, Martial, Horace, Ovidius, Petronius, Plautus, Pliny the Elder, Propertius, Quintilian, Sallustius, Seneca, Suetonius, Tacitus, Terentius, Varro Marco Terentius, Virgil). Literary profiles presented during lessons will have to be integrated with a textbook

Readings/Bibliography

A. Authors and texts: the complete listing of passages requested for the exam will be available at the end of the course on the site above, where texts circulated during lessons will also be available.
A. 1. Phaedra: it is suggested to refer to Fedra. Variazioni sul mito, a cura di M.G. Ciani, Venezia, Marsilio 2003 (the introduction is recommended): in addition to Seneca, Racine and d'Annunzio texts, selected passages of Euripides will be examinated. Texts of Sophocles, Ovidius, Apuleius will be supllied at lesson.
A. 2. Orfeo: texts of Ovidio, Virgilio, Poliziano, Rilke, Cocteau, Pavese, Bufalini. Compresi nel volume Orfeo.Variazioni sul mito, a cura di M.G. Ciani e A. Rodighiero, Venezia, Marsilio 2004 (si consiglia la lettura del saggio introduttivo).
A. 3. : Apuleius, Metamorphoses, libb. IV,28-VI,24, from Apuleio, Le metamorfosi, a c. di L. Nicolini, Rizzoli BUR, Milano, 2005. Further texts will be supplied during the course.
Bibliography: students not attending the lectures will have to refer to the following texts:: R. Uglione (a cura di), Atti delle Giornate di studio su Fedra. Torino, 7-8-9 maggio 1984, Torino, Regione Piemonte 1985 (pp. 33-77; 113-131); M. Di Simone, Amore e morte in uno sguardo, Firenze, Libriliberi 2003; S. Cavicchioli, Le metamorfosi di Psiche. L'iconografia della favola di Apuleio, Venezia, Marsilio, 2002.
B. Literary history: it is suggested to refer to: M. Bettini, Storia della letteratura, 2 voll., Firenze, Le Monnier, 2002, or  V. Citti - C. Casali - C. Neri, Gli autori nella letteratura latina. Disegno storico. Dalle origini alla tarda latinità, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2005, or G.B. Conte, Letteratura latina, 2 voll., Firenze, Le Monnier, 2002.

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons;
Interactive lessons; amending  exercises and students' works (above all for seminars);
Laboratory (for learning the use of informatic tools for classical languages).

Assessment methods

An oral exam will verify:
- knowledge of literary history;
- knowledge of texts read in Italian translation;
- skill to see them in their historical and literary context;
- skill to critically discuss the essays in the programme.

Teaching tools

1. Online teaching materials: (see above for the address: http://www2.classics.unibo.it/Didattica/LatBC/latbc.htm); the same material will be available also in printed form and will be circulated during lessons;
2. Seminars (at the end of the course) will focus on informatic resouces for bibliographic research and text analysis.

Links to further information

http://www2.classics.unibo.it/Didattica/LatBC/latbc.htm

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Citti