Classics

ROBERTO NICOLAI MASTROFRANCESCO

At the end of the course the student: will acquire an adequate knowledge of ancient Greek literature of the classical, Hellenistic and Roman age (Dublin descriptor n. 1); will be able both to place the main literary genres of these periods in context and will consolidate his skills through analysis and interpretation of some selected texts of both these periods (Dublin descriptor n. 2); will be capable to form a personal opinion of the course’s main arguments (Dublin descriptor n. 3); will be capable to speak about the course’s main arguments with specialists and non-specialists and will look for problems’ solution (Dublin descriptor n. 4); will able to study the main aspects of Greek literature and language in depth and independently (Dublin descriptor n. 5).

The course aims to improve students' knowledge, skills, and critical text-analysis abilities by proposing a cross-cutting theme that involves different literary genres and authors from the 5th–4th centuries BCE. Another expected outcome is progress in the technique of translating texts.

Good foundational knowledge of the Greek language and literature, as well as of Greek history.

The course aims to bring students closer to the problem of time created by every literary work, through references to a remote past (for example, that of the heroic sagas that are the subject of many tragedies) and to present-day institutions and realities. This in-between time, which lives in the realm of tragic representation, can be compared with the excursuses related to past events in the works of historians and also with the narrationes of forensic oratory, through which the orator creates a story and a world in order to convince the jurors that his reconstruction of events is the correct one. In the bibliography, in addition to some modern studies, are listed the scientific commentaries of reference for the texts to be analyzed.

Greek texts
Aesch. Pers. (selezione); Aesch. suppl. (selezione); Soph. Phil. (selezione); Eur. suppl. (selezione); Eur. Heraclid. (selezione); Hdt. 5. 92; Hdt. 5. 55-66; Antiph. or. I, Thuc. 6. 53-60

P. Burian, Euripides' Heraclidae: An Interpretation, “CPh” 72, 1977, pp. 1-21
P. E. Easterling, Anachronism in Greek Tragedy, “JHS” 105, 1985, pp. 1-10
M. Gagarin (ed.), Antiphon. The speeches, Cambridge 1997
A.F. Garvie, Aeschylus. Persae, Oxford 2009
S. Hornblower, A Commentary on Thucydides, III, Books 5. 25 – 8. 109, Oxford 2008
C. Miralles – V. Citti – L. Lomiento (a cura di), Eschilo. Supplici, Roma 2019
J. Morwood, Euripides. Suppliant women, Oxford 2007
G. Nenci (a cura di), Erodoto. Le storie, I, Libro V, La rivolta della Ionia, Milano 1994
R. Nicolai, L’emozione che insegna. Parola persuasiva e paradigma mitico in tragedia, “Sandalion”, 26-28, 2003-2005, pp. 1-44
R. Nicolai, Ai confini del paradigma: παραδείγματα οἰκεῖα e antefatti paradigmatici, “SemRom” 12, 2009, pp. 1-19
R. Nicolai, Prima del processo: logiche giudiziarie nell’Orestea, “Sandalion” 32-33, 2009-2010, pp. 5-31
R. Nicolai, Le emozioni a teatro: da Gorgia alle neuroscienze, “Critica del testo” 13. 3, 2010, pp. 153-170
R. Nicolai, La crisi del paradigma: funzioni degli exempla mitici nei cori di Sofocle, in A. Rodighiero e P. Scattolin (a cura di), «… un enorme individuo, dotato di polmoni soprannaturali». Funzioni, interpretazioni e rinascite del coro drammatico greco, Verona, Edizioni Fiorini, 2011, pp. 1-36 (Katoptron, 3)
R. Nicolai, Mythical Paradigms in Euripides: the Crisis of Myth, in A. Markantonatos, B. Zimmermann (eds.), Crisis on Stage. Tragedy and Comedy in Late Fifth-Century Athens, Berlin-Boston 2012, pp. 103-120
M. Nouhaud, L’utilisation de l’histoire par les orateurs attiques, Paris 1982
P. Pucci, Sofocle. Filottete, Intr. e comm. di P. P., testo critico a cura di G. Avezzù, tr. di G. Cerri, Milano 2003
S. L. Schein, Sophocles. Philoctetes, Cambridge 2013
J. Wilkins (ed.), Euripides. Heraclidae, Oxford 1995

Traditional lessons that involve active student participation.

As the course covers topics that span multiple literary genres and authors, students are expected to attend regularly.

The written exam, whose result does not affect the final grade, aims to verify the competencies attained in the field of translation from Greek. Passing the written exam is a prerequisite for the verbalization of the exam.
The oral exam is conducted on the texts studied during the course and includes translation, commentary, and contextualization of the texts, as well as verification of linguistic and historical-literary competencies.

The student is invited to translate and comment on one of the texts studied during the course and to place it within its historical-literary context.