75828 - Classical Literature and Traditions

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide a knowledge of the main literary models that Greek culture, in many cases through Roman mediation, has furnished to its modern and contemporary imitators; the students will achieve a basic knowledge of the main authors, genres and characters of the classical literature and will be able to adopt historically grounded methods in describing the most relevant phenomena of classical reception in modern and contemporary literatures.

Course contents

The aims of course are: to give a general overview of Greek and Roman literature and of its modern and contemporary reception to the students who approach its study for the first time; to offer a more problematic approach to Greek and Roman literature and to its modern and contemporary reception to more advanced students. The course will thus not focus on a monographic theme, but on a variety of subjects; in particular, it will be centered around exemplary figures of the classical Greek literature and of its Roman, Byzantine, and contemporary reception. Knowledge of ancient Greek is not required. The texts will be read in translation, but the original text will be introduced to students when necessary.

The course aims to analyze a selection of texts from Greek and Latin literature that reflect on the theme of primitive humanity, beginning with the Homeric tradition. The question of the nature of early humankind represented a central issue in ancient thought and was approached from often contrasting perspectives: on the one hand, a portrayal of primitive humanity as marked by harsh, unstable living conditions close to a feral state; on the other, the idealization of an archaic age characterized by innocence, abundance, and harmony, corresponding to the myth of the Golden Age. Particular attention will be devoted to two fundamental mythological themes — the myth of the Golden Age and the myth of Prometheus. Through the analysis of these myths and their various retellings, the course will explore how Greek and Roman literary traditions represented the earliest age of humankind and will trace the most significant moments in the reception of these myths up to the modern era.

 

Readings/Bibliography

1) Attending students are required to study the teacher lectures notes and the didactic materials available online. All the ancient texts will be provided during the course.

Students in the classical curriculum are required to prepare at least three passages in the original language, chosen from the list of passages covered in class, which will be provided at the end of the course.

2) Selected chapters from the following handbooks: A. Lesky, Storia della letteratura greca, trad. it. Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2016; L. Canfora, Storia della letteratura greca, nuova ed. ampliata, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2013; M. von Albrecht, Storia della letteratura latina da Livio Andronico a Boezio, trad. it. Torino, Einaudi, 1995; G.B. Conte, Profilo storico della letteratura latina dalle origini alla tarda età imperiale, II ed., Firenze, Le Monnier, 2019.

For Greek Literature, the compulsory subjects are the following:

Homer, Iliad and Odyssey (pp. 36-105); The Homeric Cycle (pp. 106-111)

Tragedy and comedy (pp. 274-292); Aischylos and Sophocles (pp. 295-362); Euripides (pp. 432-485); Comedy: Aristophanes (pp. 495-534)

Plato and the Academy (pp. 593-634)

Aristoteles and the Peripathetic School (pp. 635-668)

Hellinistic poetry: Callimachus, Theocritus, Apollonius (pp. 798-842)

Imperial Literature, poetry: Quintus of Smyrne and Nonnus of Panopolis (pp. 915-928); prose: Plutarchus, The Second Sophistic and Lucian, Philostratus the Elder and Philostratus the Younger, Pausanias, Apollodorus of Athens (pp. 929-965)

The number of pages refers to A. Lesky, Storia della letteratura greca, trad. it. Milano, Il Saggiatore, 2016. Further recommended texts: L. Canfora, Storia della letteratura greca, nuova ed. ampliata, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2013; A. Porro-W. Lapini, Letteratura Greca, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2017; A. Rodighiero-S. Mazzoldi, D. Piovan, Civiltà letteraria della Grecia antica, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2025. Alternative handbooks may be used, provided they are approved by the instructors.

For Latin Literature, the compulsory subjects are the following:

Catullus and neoteric poetry

Lucretius

Vergil

Horace

Augustan Love Elegy: Propertius, Tibullus, Ovid

Seneca

3) At least 10 chapters from the following books: G. Cambiano, L. Canfora, D. Lanza (a c. di), Lo spazio letterario della Grecia antica, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 1992-1996 e da G. Cavallo, P. Fedeli, A. Giardina (a c. di), Lo spazio letterario di Roma antica, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 1989-1993.

4) A minimum of 5 articles/contributions from the list below is required:

Arrighetti G., Esiodo. Opere, Torino, Einaudi Gallimard, 1988, 299-307 (introd. Teogonia) e 382-390 (introd. Opere e giorni).

Arrighetti, G., Il «Protagora» platonico: Esiodo e la genesi dell'uomo, «Athenaeum», 101, 2013, 25-52.

Baldry H.C., Who invented the Golden Age?, «СQ» 1952, 83-92

Bonazzi M., Il mito di Prometeo nel Protagora: una variazione sul tema delle origini, in F. Calabi, S. Gastaldi (ed.), Immagini delle origini. La nascita della civiltà e della cultura nel pensiero greco e romano, Sankt Augustin, Academia Verlag, 2012, 41-57.

Condello F., «Molte migliaia d’anni io soffrirò», in Prometeo. Variazioni sul mito, Torino, Marsilio 2022, 7-33.

De Sanctis, D., Ai tempi di Crono: il duplice volto dell’umanità primitiva in Omero e in Esiodo in F. Calabi, S. Gastaldi (ed.), Immagini delle origini. La nascita della civiltà e della cultura nel pensiero greco e romano, Sankt Augustin, Academia Verlag 2012, pp. 17-40.

Gargiulo T., Rileggendo il Prometheus di Luciano, «Aevum Antiquum» N.S.12-13 (2012-2013), 113-140.

Gastaldi S., La «semplicità» dei primi uomini: l’immagine delle origini nel libro III delle Leggi di Platone, in F. Calabi, S. Gastaldi (ed.), Immagini delle origini. La nascita della civiltà e della cultura nel pensiero greco e romano, Sankt Augustin 2012, 105-120

Kany-Turpin J., Projection dans le passé. La «prehistoire» selon Lucrèce, De rerum natura V, 925-1457, in F. Calabi, S. Gastaldi (ed.), Immagini delle origini. La nascita della civiltà e della cultura nel pensiero greco e romano, Sankt Augustin 2012, 155-172.

Konstan D., Lucrezio e la psicologia epicurea, Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 105-153.

Moro C., Le nobili spoglie di un mito: Prometeo nella poesia latina da Cicerone a Claudiano, «Aevum Antiquum» N.S.12-13 (2012-2013), 141-215.

Pattoni M.P., Manipolazioni di un mito: Prometeo tra antichi e moderni, «Rhesis» 11, 2020, 153, 2020

Pianezzola E., Ovidio. Modelli retorici e forma narrativa, Bologna, Patron, 1999, 43-61

Williams M.F, The Sidus Iulium, the divinity of men, and the Golden Age in Virgil’s Aeneid, «LICS» II 2003, 2-29.

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

For non-attending students:

In addition to the texts listed under point 2, students are required to read at least 15 chapters from the works listed under point 3, and 10 articles or contributions from those listed under point 4.

Teaching methods

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

Assessment methods

The exam is oral and consists of an interview in which the instructor, through a series of questions, will assess the student’s knowledge of the topics covered in class and of the assigned critical readings.

Grades range from 18 to 30 with honors (cum laude), based on the level of confidence, accuracy, depth, and rigor demonstrated in the student's understanding of ancient Greek and Latin literary production in general, and in particular of the tradition of the Golden Age myth and the myth of Prometheus.

The grading scale is as follows:

30 with honors – excellent knowledge in all areas; 28–30 – very good knowledge and skills; 25–27 – overall good performance, with minor uncertainties; 22–24 – fair level, with some gaps; 18–21 – sufficient, but with significant deficiencies.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is necessary to contact the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) with ample time in advance: the office will propose some adjustments, which must in any case be submitted 15 days in advance to the lecturer, who will assess the appropriateness of these in relation to the teaching objectives.

Teaching tools

PC, projector, slides.

Office hours

See the website of Margherita Erbì