Classics

GIOVAN BATTISTA D'ALESSIO

In consistency with the educational purposes of the whole teaching course, aim of the teaching unit is to give students a basic knowledge and comprehension skills in the field of Latin Philology, with the help of advanced textbooks. Moreover, it will make the student able to apply the acquired knowledge in an expert and reflective way, making autonomous judgments, communicating ideas, problems and reflections in a clear and correct way, and developing the knowledge required to go further in the studies. In particular, students are expected to be familiar with the problems related to the manuscript tradition of Latin authors as well as with the history of the transmission of texts in Roman antiquity. They will be able to read and understand the critical apparatus to the text of a Roman author.

Students are expected to demonstrate their knowledge and comprehension of the methodologies of Latin philology, and to master the use of primary sources, study tools, and secondary literature. They are expected to be able to explain arguments regarding the history of transmission, textual criticism, philological methods, and to frame their knowledge within a historical perspective, moving from the notions and the theoretical elements met during the course.
Students are expected to demonstrate their ability to place the examined texts within the methodological and theoretical framework outlined during the course, dealing in detail with more practical issues such as textual reconstruction, ecdotic technique, history of tradition, and history of reception.

A good knowledge of Latin (intermediate level) and a basic knowledge of Roman history and literature; a basic knowledge of textual criticism and of the methods of classical philology will be useful.

Classes will deal with the history of the transmission and textual criticism of selected Latin poetic works, with a focus on texts representing a wide variety in the range of textual transmission, involving very different reconstruction problems. Our reading selection will include Lucretius, Catullus, Virgil (Bucolica), Ovid (Metamorphoses and the Epistle of Sappho to Phaon), and Seneca (tragedies). We’ll move from a reading of selected passages from these works, in order to explore the ways they have been handed down to us, and how we can attempt to determine the original text.

Our starting points for the methodological discussion will be R. Tarrant, Texts, editors, and readers. Methods and problems in Latin textual criticism, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2016, and/or M. L. West, Textual Criticism and Editorial Technique applicable to Greek and Latin texts, Stuttgart, Teubner 1973. For a very good (if not always, by now, up to date) survey of the history of transmission of Latin texts our reference point will be found in L.D. Reynolds (ed.), Texts and Transmission: a Survey of Latin Classics, Oxford, Clarendon Press 1983. Selections from the critical editions of the relevant texts and more specific recent bibliography will be provided during the course.

Our starting points for the methodological discussion will be R. Tarrant, Texts, editors, and readers. Methods and problems in Latin textual criticism, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2016, and/or M. L. West, Textual Criticism and Editorial Technique applicable to Greek and Latin texts, Stuttgart, Teubner 1973. For a very good (if not always, by now, up to date) survey of the history of transmission of Latin texts our reference point will be found in L.D. Reynolds (ed.), Texts and Transmission: a Survey of Latin Classics, Oxford, Clarendon Press 1983. Selections from the critical editions of the relevant texts and more specific recent bibliography will be provided during the course.

Lectures; students’ presentations on agreed topics. Students who are unable to attend classes should contact the teacher.

Students who are unable to attend classes should contact the teacher.

There will be an oral test at the end of the course. The test will assess the degree of basic knowledge of the subject and the ability of the students to communicate the knowledge acquired and to use it to make personal judgments. The minimum threshold to pass the exam is 18/30: to achieve this score the student must demonstrate that he has reached a sufficient knowledge of all the topics of the course. To achieve the maximum score (30/30 cum laude), the student must demonstrate that they have acquired an excellent knowledge of all the topics covered during the course and that they are able to present them in appropriate language and to elaborate them in a personal and consistent way.

In the exam I shall ask you to read, translate and comment on the critical apparatus of some passages from the set texts. We shall also focus on some of the topics in the history of the transmission of the texts discussed during the lectures.