00607 - Latin Language and Literature II

Learning outcomes

This course is meant to provide the students with a basic knowledge of the Latin language and literature through the analysis of texts and documents.  At the end of the course students will have the skills to place a text in its historical and cultural context, with particular regard to material culture, myths, rites and institutions.

Course contents

Rome and the myth of Troy: through the reading of passages in translation and in Latin (especially from Virgil, Ovid, Seneca, Petronius, Pliny), the course aims to provide the students with the basic skills for the interpretation of the texts of the Latin cultural tradition. The course is divided into two modules: the first is taught by Dr. A. Ziosi, the second by Prof. F. Citti.

1. The Fall of Troy in the Aeneid: Laocoon and Andromache. The Virgilian narrative, in Book II of the Aeneid, is the fundamental text for the modern tradition (literary and iconographic) of the theme of the destruction of Troy. Trojan history is then taken up again in the Andromache episode in Buthrotum, in the third book. We shall therefore analyse Virgil, Aeneid II, 1-249, 268-317; 437-558 in the original Latin (the entire Book II has to be read in translation) and Aeneid III, 289-355.  The iconographic tradition of the Laocoon theme will be examined (starting from the marble group in the Vatican Museums) along with the literary one, from classical texts (Petronius, Pliny) to modern ones (Lessing).

2. The Trojan Women:  the course will focus on Seneca, Troades (lines 1-202; 371-523; 594-813 will be examined in class; the reading of the entire tragedy in translation is required). The text of Seneca will be compared with its Euripedean model and with Ovid, Metamorphoses, XIII, 399-575. Some significant moments in the modern tradition of the drama will also be touched upon (from Garnier to Brecht).

The texts examined  in class (except Virgil and Seneca ) will be ​​available online, in the educational materials. A detailed list of the texts examined in class, and required for the exam, will be provided at the end of the course.

3. Literature and Language: in addition to the topics analysed in class, students should study Latin literary history  (the main authors of Latin Literature) and should know the basics of the Latin language (see Readings / References).

Readings/Bibliography

1. The fall of Troy in the Aeneid.  Texts:  Virgilio,  Eneide , a c. di R. Calzecchi Onesti, Torino, Einaudi, 1967 (varie rist.), or Virgilio,  Eneide, traduzione di M. Ramous, introduzione di G.B. Conte, commento di G. Baldo, Venezia, Marsilio, 1998. Essays:  F. Piccirillo,  Laocoonte, in Enciclopedia Virgiliana, Roma, IEI, 1996, vol. III, pp.113-118; S. Settis, Laocoonte. Fama e stile, Roma, Donzelli, 1999 .

2. The Trojan Women.  Texts: Seneca,  Le Troiane, introduzione, traduzione e note di F. Stok, Milano, Rizzoli BUR, 1999. Essays: F. Citti,  Spes dulce malum. Seneca e la speranza, in  Cura sui. Studi sul lessico filosofico di Seneca , Amsterdam, Hakkert, 2012, pp. 25-51.

The texts analysed in class (except Virgil and Seneca) will be ​​available online, in the educational material.

3.1. History of Literature:  is required - in addition to periodization and a general historical framework - the knowledge of the main authors of Latin literature (Augostin, Ammianus Marcellinus, Apuleius, Catullus, Caesar, Cicero, Cornelius Nepo, Ennius, Juvenal, Hierolamus, Historia Augusta, Livy, Livius Andronicus, Lucan, Lucilius, Lucretius, Martialis, Horace, Ovid, Petronius, Plautus, Pliny the Elder, Propertius, Quintilian, Sallustius, Seneca, Suetonius, Tacitus, Terentius, Varro, Virgil). We recommend the following manuals V. Citti - C. Casali - C. Neri,  Gli autori nella letteratura latina. Disegno storico. Dalle origini alla tarda latinità , Bologna, Zanichelli, 2005 (e nuove edd.), or G.B. Conte, Letteratura latina , 2 voll., Firenze, Le Monnier, 2002 (e nuove edd.).

3.2. Latin Language:  for the reading of texts is necessary bases of language (phonetics, morphology, syntax and lexicon), you can employ a manual of high school (e.g. I. Dionigi - E. Riganti - L. Morisi,  Il latino , Bari, Laterza 2011, or Verba et res. Morfosintassi e lessico del latino , Laterza, Bari, 1997, ripubblicato con il titolo  Il latino. Grammatica ed esercizi , Laterza, Bari, 2012). It is suggested to read A.Traina - G. Bernardi Perini,  Propedeutica al latino universitario , Pàtron, Bologna 19986, capitoli I-VI.

Teaching methods

Lectures in class;
Seminars, where individual research will be discussed and essays and tests corrected (in particular for the language workshop).

Assessment methods

In a viva voce examination the students will be tested on Latin phonetics, morphology, syntax and literature through the reading and translation of the Latin texts analysed in class and listed in the programme.

Teaching tools

The teaching will be supplemented by a workshop meant to provide the basic skills to understand Latin. The texts analysed in class will be available online in the educational materials.

Office hours

See the website of Francesco Citti

See the website of Antonio Ziosi