GREEK SOURCES OF MYTH: LITERATURE AND ICONOGRAPHY

This class is integrated in the disciplines characterizing the course in Ancient Philology, Literatures and History, and in the supplementary and complementary disciplines for the course in Archaeology. It contributes to the fulfilment of the learning objectives of the course(s) insofar as, beyond enabling students to improve their basic competence in the subject matter, it will provide them with the specific tools to face and analyze the heritage from the past. The class will present critical reading of texts and images created by the ancients with the aim to convey not only a narrative or descriptive and/or religious pattern, but also specific messages with a political and ideological meaning.

After attending the class and preparing for the examen students will acquire a broad perspective and the cultural competence which will enable them to comprehend a phenomenon of primary importance for Greek civilization and also for Western civilization in general. Students will acquire skills that will enable them:
- to display a good knowledge of some seminal myths from the archaic to the imperial age
- to grasp the typical elements and the main features in the mythical narrative as well as the innovations, the experimentation and variants both in literature and iconography
- to show familiarity with the use and abuse of myth in Greek literature and iconography
- to become acquainted with the towering figures of scholars who have investigated myth in literature and iconography

As regards the knowledge and comprehension skills, students will be able:
- to understand the literary texts and the value of the mythical variants they offer
- to grasp the significant details in the mythical narrative conveyed by literature an iconography
- to tell the different styles and modes of expression of mythical narrative within both literary genres in poetry and prose, and the various typologies of manufacturing and monuments (vases, friezes and metope of temples , sculptures or other containers such as the Tabulae Iliacae)
- to comment on the literary texts and on the images, and also be aware of their debt towards tradition and of the influence of the context in which they are produced

Regarding their skill in evaluating the texts, students shall be able to prove:
- they can detect the various problems presented by a myth in a specific medium and comment on the various aspects pertaining to the subject
- to grasp the various aims and modes of expression in the written versions and/or in their representation through images such as, for instance the political or religious purpose/function, and the deliberate allusion and intertextuality

Communication skills. At the end of the year students will prove, by means also of a final paper on a specific text and group of images they will present at the end of the year, they can produce a commentary on images and text, present it and discuss it in a public performance.

The class is open to students with an interest in Greek myth and in the manyfold ways it was narrated in various literary genres (such as epic and lyric poetry, tragedy, mythography and descriptions of works of art) and represented in vase painting or in the decoration of temples or other media. Most classical texts will be read in Italian; however, a basic knowledge of Greek is recommended for a better understanding of the texts and of key words still lingering in Italian language. Students are reminded that at Ca' Foscari they have the opportunity to take up Greek from scratch by attending the Laboratorio di greco, taught by prof. O. Tribulato (see her website).

The class will focus on a selection of literary texts such as epic and lyric poetry and tragedy, along with prose treatises such as the library of Apollodorus (a myhtographical treatise) and excerpts from Pausanias' description of Greece. These texts narrate some of the most important myths (Oedipus and the Seven against Thebes, the deeds of Theseus, Medea, Helen and several episodes related to the fall of Troy), with the aim to interpret the meaning of such myths, to compare the variants, style and expression in narrating the same story, and to suggest - where it may looking feasible - a chronological development of various myths. The literary versions will then be confronted with the different representation of the same episodes in Greek art, in particular on vases and in the friezes and metopai of temples, or on other manufacts (such as the ark of Cypselos), with a focus on the different style and purposes, and on the reception of Greek myths in Roman art. In this respect I shall deal with a small corpus of texts of various dating which go under the name of Tabulae Iliacae. They are focused on the key episodes of the war at Troy and of the pillage of the city, and the clarity of some scenes often creates a sharp contrast with the quotation of some sources purported to be behind the images.

A selection of passages from the Library of the mythographer Apollodorus and from the Periegesis of Pausanias; excerpts of epic and lyric poetry and of tragedy. A selection of the Tabulae iliacae and from representations on vases and friezes, metopai and sculptures. Most texts will be provided in class by the faculty. Compulsory reading for the exam will be notified in class, as well as suggested bibliography on specific themes.
Here below students will find a bibliographical support for the class.

Translations, commentaries and editions of ancient authors.
For the Library of Apollodorus: Apollodoro. I Miti Greci. a cura di P. Scarpi. Traduzione di M. G. Ciani, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla-Mondadori 2008, con Introduzione, testo greco, traduzione e commento; Apollodoro. Biblioteca, traduzione di G. Guidorizzi, note di J, G. Frazer, Adelphi 1995 (2.a ed.).
For Pausanias: Pausania. Guida della Grecia, traduzione, introduzione, ampio commento di autori vari, 10 voll., Fondazione Lorenzo Valla-Mondadori 1982-2017; Pausania. Viaggio in Grecia, trad. di S. Rizzo, testo greco a fronte, 9 voll., Rizzoli.
Readings for the study of Greek myths and mythography: E. Pellizer, 'La mitografia', In Lo spazio letterario della Grecia antica. Vol. 1.2. a cura di G. Cambiano et al., Roma 1993: 283–303; T. Gantz, Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, 2 voll., The Johns Hopkins University Press 1993; D. Castriota, Myth, Ethos, and Actuality. Official Art in Fifth- cent. BC Athens, Madison 1992, cap. 2-3; S. Woodford, Images of myths in classical Antiquity, Cambridge 2003, cap. 2, 4.
For the Tabulae Iliacae: A. Sadurska, Les tables iliaques, Varsavia 1964; N. Horsfall, Stesichorus at Bovillae?, «JHS» 99, 1979, 26-48; M. Squire, The Iliad in a Nutshell: Visualizing Epic on the Tabulae Iliacae, Oxford University Press, 2011.; D. Petrain, Homer in Stone: The 'Tabulae Iliacae' in their Roman Context. Greek culture in the Roman world, Cambridge University Press, 2014.

Programme for students unable to attend the class: Pausanias 3.18.6-19.6 (description of the throne at Amyclai; Pausanias 5.17.5 – 19.10 (description of the ark of Kypselos); Pausanias 10.25.5-27.2 (Ilioupersis in the Cnidian lesche at Delphi); Apollodoro, Library 3.4.4-7.7 (Oedipus and the war at Thebes); Apollodorus, Epitome 2-7 (la guerra di Troia). F. Graf, Il mito in Grecia, Roma-Bari 1987: E. Pellizer, 'La mitografia', In Lo spazio letterario della Grecia antica. Vol. 1.2. a cura di G. Cambiano et al., Roma 1993: 283–303; N. Himmelmann, 'Narrative and figure in archaic art', in Reading Greek Art Princeton 1998, 67-90; C. Isler-Kereny, 'Immagini di Medea', in Medea nella letteratura e nell'arte , a cura di B. Gentili - F. Perusino, Venezia 2000, 117-38.

The students' competence in the class of ‘Le fonti greche del mito: letteratura e iconografia’ 'magistrale' will be tested through an oral examination, consisting in a number of questions, such as a) extended knowledge of a myth and of its most famous or significant versions, b) further questions will concern the texts (Pausanias, Apollodorus) to be read in Italian the two essays to be selected from the readings, and to be agreed upon previously with the faculty. All texts will be provided by the faculty. At the end of the year students are requested to present in class a short paper, consisting in the analysis of a myth conveyed both by literary and iconographic sources; as an alternative, they may choose to present a short paper focusing on a topic agreed upon with the faculty, dealing with a myth or with literary or philological or anthropological themes.

A basic knowledge of Greek is strongly recommended for a better understanding of the texts and of the key words still lingering in Italian language. Students are reminded that at Ca' Foscari they have the opportunity to take up Greek from scratch by attending the Laboratorio di greco, taught by prof. O. Tribulato (see her website).

Traditional teacher-led classes, with a seminar oriented approach. At the end of the year students are requested to present in class a short paper, consisting in an analysis of a myth conveyed both by literary and iconographic sources. The topic will be previously agreed upon with the faculty. As an alternative, students may choose to present a short paper expanding on a myth or on literary, philological or anthropological themes dealt with in class, by previous agreement with the faculty.

ELIMINATO DA RECUPERARE

Italian

oral

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