GREEK LITERATURE AND CIVILIZATION

1) Knowledge and understanding: knowledge of the literary genres and of main authors; understanding of the relevant topics and of formal aspects that are proper of each author/genre.

2) Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: ability to translate texts fluently and to analyze them from a content and formal point of view in their grammatical, syntactic, stylistic and possibly metric aspects, and to recognize the ground elements of Greek culture.

3) Autonomy of judgment: gradual development of the aptitude for critical reflection through continuous comparison with sources in the original language.

4) Communication skills: acquisition of a specific technical vocabulary relating to the formal aspects of the text.

5) Learning ability: ability to select relevant information in a manual and organize it in a system; acquisition of an effective translation method.

A – Literary history (3 ECTS)

History of Greek Literature from the beginnings to the IV century AD.

B - Reading of texts in original language (2 ECTS)

1) Hesiod, Theogony or Homer, Odyssey XI;

2) A selection from Greek lyric poetry (numbers refer to Degani and Burzacchini): Archilochus: 2, 3, 6, 8; Hipponax: 7, 8, 19, 20; Tyrtaeus: 1-2; Mimnermus: 1, 2; Solon: 1; Xenophanes: 1, 2; Sappho: 1, 2, 3, 11; Alcaeus: 2, 7, 8, 15; Anacreon: 3, 9; Alcman: 1, 3, 5; Stesichorus: 1, 2; Ibycus: 1, 2; Simonides: 1-2; Pindar, Olympian I.

C – Special course: medical terminology in Greek tragedy (1 ECTS)

1)      Sophocles, Electra 76–309

2)      Sophocles, Philoctetes 676–962

In addition to thorough study of the selected passages in Greek, full reading in translation of both tragedies is required.

Rhythmical reading is required for poetic texts of modules B-C in spoken verse (dactylic hexameter, elegiac distich, iambic trimeter, trochaic tetrameter)

A – Literary history (3 ECTS)

D. Del Corno, Letteratura Greca, Milano, Principato 1995, pp. 37-58, 63-77 (epic poetry), 90-118, 120-142, 144-147 (lyric poetry), 165-179 (introduction to tragedy), 183-196 (Aeschylus), 199-214 (Sophocles), 217-239 (Euripides), 255-268 (introduction to comedy), 275-290 (Aristophanes), 317-329 (historiography. Herodotus), 331-342 (Thucydides), 345-350 (beginnings of rhetoric. Lysias), 359-364 (Xenophon), 369-376 (IV century orators. Demosthenes, Aeschines, Isocrates, Hyperides), 412-432 (Middle and New Comedy. Menander), 437-449, 452-457 (Hellenism. Callimachus, Apollonius of Rhodes), 459-469 (Theocritus), 469-471 (Herodas), 472-481 (Epigram), 485-490 (Polybius), 529-535 (Plutarch), 538-546 (Novel). A different texbook may be chosen in accordance with the teacher.

B - Reading of texts in original language (3 ECTS)

1) Esiodo, Teogonia, a cura di G. Arrighetti, Milano 1984, part. pp. 64-127, or: Omero, Odissea, vol. III (libri IX-XII), introduzione, testo e commento a cura di A. Heubeck. Traduzione di G.A. Privitera, Milano, Fondazione “Lorenzo Valla”, 1988, pp. 95-143.

2) E. Degani - G. Burzacchini (a cura di), Lirici Greci. Antologia. Aggiornamento bibliografico a cura di M. Magnani, Bologna, Pàtron editore, 2005, pp. 23-24, 26-27, 30-31, 36-42, 54-58, 70, 72-74, 86-94, 96-103, 107-113, 115-119, 125-146, 157-163, 195-197, 214-222, 232-233, 248-250, 258-260, 283-284, 290-291, 294-296, 299-302, 305-312, 318-322, 324-329, 332-348.

C – Special course: medical terminology in Greek tragedy (1 ECTS)

1) Sofocle, Elettra, a cura di F. Dunn e L. Lomiento. Traduzione di B. Gentili, Milano, Fondazione “Lorenzo Valla”, 2019, pp. 18-37.

2) Sofocle, Filottete, a cura di G. Avezzù e P. Pucci. Traduzione di G. Cerri, Milano, Fondazione “Lorenzo Valla”, 2003, pp. 72-103.

Recommended text for metrical analysis and reading: P.B. Cipolla, ρ. ῥυθμός. La musica, in Greco. Lingua storia e cultura di una grande civiltà, a cura di M. Centanni e P.B. Cipolla, vol. 21, “I manuali del Corriere della Sera”, Milano, RCS 2023, pp. 1-44.

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