GREEK LITERATURE II

Professor

Degree Programmes and curricula

Equivalent courses for other degree programmes

Contents

Educational Goals

The main goal of this class is to translate and comment one Greek tragedy and also to introduce students into the world of tragedy, by dealing with the origins of the genre, its relation to other poetic genres and the context and specificity of tragic performance.

Requirements

The class is open to students of the first three years with a good training in Greek language and some knowledge of meter, to be improved in class. It is mainly intended for students graduating in Classics / Classical antiquity. Metrical reading of the hexameter and of the tragic trimeter is required.
A written test of translation from a Greek text (totalling 2 CFU) is a prerequisite for access to the oral examination.

Contents

The class is devoted to reading, translating, and commenting on Euripides' 'Troades', with an anthology on the Fall of Troy.
A first hand knowledge of the history of Greek literature from the origins of tragedy to Demosthenes is also required.

Recommended Reading List

Text: Euripidis fabulae II, ed. J. Diggle, Oxonii 1984 (Oxford University Press);
Testo e traduzione: Euripide. Troiane, a cura di D. Susanetti (con introd. e note), Milano 2008.


The text of Euripides' 'Troades' will be distributed in class.

Further reading on Greek tragedy: E. Cingano, 'La tragedia in Grecia', in G. Guastella (a cura di), Le rinascite della tragedia. Origini classiche e tradizioni europee, Urbino 2006, 31-84; A. Lesky, La poesia tragica dei Greci, Bologna 1996 (1972), Il Mulino, chapt. VI ('Euripide' : in particular on Hecuba pp. 493-506).
On Troades and Ilioupersis:
V. Andò, «Un bambino buttato giù dalle torri. La morte di Astianatte nelle Troiane di Euripide», Annali Online di Ferrara - Lettere 1, 2009, pp. 255-269.
A. Beltrametti, «Pensare, raccontare e rappresentare la violenza. Anche questo abbiamo imparato dai Greci?», Quaderni di Storia 60, 2004, pp. 5-45.
A. Camerotto, I giorni del sangue. Immagini e codici eroici della violenza per la Ilioupersis, L'immagine riflessa 2012;
Additional readings in Greek:
a) An Anthology on the Ilioupersis (see Materiali didattici online;
b) Thucydides, book I, 1-12, V 84-114; the translations by L. Canfora (Laterza / Einaudi) and M. Moggi (Rusconi) are recommended;

For an introduction to Greek meter see M.C. Martinelli, Gli strumenti del poeta. Elementi di metrica greca, Bologna 1995 (Cappelli).
For the history of Greek literature of the classical age the following books are recommended: D. Del Corno, Letteratura greca (Principato); G. Guidorizzi, Letteratura greca (Mondadori Universita'); L.E. Rossi, Letteratura greca (Le Monnier); other texts may be accepted upon previous agreement.

Assessment

oral

Teaching Methods

Conventional. Metrical reading and interpretation of the text.

Teaching Language

Italian
Ancient Greek

Other information

a) This class is the second part of the course of Greek Literature which is worth 12 CFU. The first part of the course (= 6 CFU) consists in the teaching of Greek metres related to this and other courses, and in the reading and translation of other Greek texts.
b) In the course of the year students can attend the Venitian seminars on Greek literature, a series of initiatives ranging from public lectures delivered by Italian and international scholars, to participation in a seminar dealing with the topic of Andromache or other topics, where students are required to produce their own paper at the end of the year, upon previous agreement with the faculty. An active participation in the seminar will result in credits (2 CFU).