Archaeology

The course offers an in-depth exploration of Greek literary culture under the Roman Empire, with particular emphasis on the defining features of the Second Sophistic: discursive strategies, the valorisation of performative speech, and the centrality of cultural memory. Special attention will be devoted to ekphrasis as a privileged form of sophistic discourse, a means of constructing an aesthetic and imaginative space in which the literary text reworks, reinvents, and translates into language the Greek figurative universe. Within this framework, the course will undertake a close and critical reading of the two collections of the Imagines, attributed respectively to Philostratus the Elder and Philostratus the Younger, with a particular focus on their cultural context, compositional aims, and rhetorical structures. The close analogy between visual art and literary tradition provides the foundation of the textual aesthetics that underpins both collections, in which the interplay between fiction and reality raises central issues for understanding the culture of the Second Sophistic: the relationship with Greek iconographic tradition; the construction of a literary picture gallery; the educational and identity-building function of engaging with images through words; the performative dimension of descriptive discourse as an exercise in interpretation and cultural transmission. Ample space will also be devoted to a methodological reflection on rhetorical description and its theoretical implications: the relation between word and image; the role of subjectivity in the reception and narration of works of art; the tension between mimesis and invention; and the specifically aesthetic dimension of Philostratean textuality, conceived as a site of convergence between sensory experience, cultural memory, and the interpretation of myth. The Imagines will be read in dialogue with other ecphrastic examples of the neosophistic tradition (above all Lucian’s descriptions of works of art), compared with later descriptions by Callistratus, and discussed also in light of iconographic sources and modern reception. By placing at the centre of inquiry the relationship between text and image, between description and interpretation, the course takes on a strongly interdisciplinary character. In addition to the textual materials and assigned bibliography, students will have the opportunity to identify further references suited to the in-depth study of themes of particular personal interest.

The course is intended for students with a solid background in Classics, in particular in Greek literature and art history, as well as an adequate knowledge of the morphology and syntax of the ancient Greek language.

Main texts that will be studied in selection: Filostrato Major, Εἰκόνες; Filostrato Minor, Εἰκόνες; Callistrato, ᾽Εκφράσεις (transl. A. Fairbanks. Loeb Classical Library 256) Luciano, Περὶ τοῦ μὴ ρᾳδίως πιστεύειν διαβολῇ; ῾Ερακλῆς; Περὶ τοῦ ᾽Ενυπνίου ἤτοι βίος Λουκιανοῦ; Εἰκόνες, ᾽Ανάχαρσις (traduz. di Harmon, Loeb Classical Library 14, 130, 162) Ζεῦξις ἢ ᾽Αντίοχος; ῾Ηρόδοτος ἢ ᾽Αετίων (traduz. di Kilburn, Loeb Classical Library 430). The texts studied during the course will be gradually indicated, and the final list of texts will be provided at the end of the course.

Students are expected to attend the course; participatory and active learning will be a consistent element throughout the course. The course program does not entail substantial differences between attending and non-attending students. Non-attending students are, however, encouraged to contact the instructor, who will be available to provide clarifications and support through periodic meetings scheduled during the academic year. For the course start date, lecture schedule, and classroom location, please consult the "News" section on the instructor’s webpage. A virtual classroom (Google Classroom) will be set up for rapid communications and distribution of materials, and students will be invited to join. Relevant information will be published in advance on the instructor’s webpage.

The final assessment will consist of an oral examination, to be held at the end of the course on dates established in the Academic Calendar. The oral examination is designed to assess: The ability to apply linguistic knowledge in the appropriate context: on the basis of the documents and materials examined during the course, students will be required to translate and analyze texts from the grammatical point of view (morphology and syntax), subsequently situating them within their literary framework; Critical competence and argumentative effectiveness: knowledge of the topics and of the relevant bibliography must be employed in a constructive manner, developing coherent arguments, demonstrating mastery of the specific terminology, interpreting historical and cultural phenomena correctly, and establishing effective connections; Autonomy, analytical skills, and capacity for elaboration and in-depth study: students will be invited to carry out independent investigations on a selection of topics, demonstrating the ability to formulate and present a thesis while making effective use of primary sources and relevant scholarly documentation.

Main bibliographical references and teaching resources: - A.L. Carbone (a cura di, con un saggio di A. Carbone), Filostrato. Immagini, Palermo 2008 - G. Pucci (a cura di, traduzione di G. Lombardo), Filostrato Maggiore. La Pinacoteca, Palermo 2010 - F. Ghedini, I. Colpo, M. Novello, E. Avezzù, Le Immagini di Filostrato Minore. La prospettiva dello storico dell’arte, Roma 2004 - S. Maffei, “La Σοφία del Pittore e del poeta nel proemio delle "Imagines" di Filostrato Maggiore”, Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, classe di Lettere e Filosofia, 1991, serie III, 21. 2 (1991), 591-621 - S. Maffei, Luciano di Samosata. Descrizioni di opere d’arte, Torino 1994 - R. Nicolai, “L’ekphrasis: una tipologia compositiva dimenticata dalla critica antica e dalla moderna”, AION 31 (2009), 29-45 - A. Manieri, “Colori, suoni e profumi nelle Imagines: principi dell’estetica filostratea”, Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica, 63. 3 (1999), 111-121 - A. Manieri, Il mito di Pelope in Pindaro e in Filostrato esegeta di Pindaro, in G. B. D’Alessio, L. Lomiento, C. Meliadò, G. Ucciardello, Il potere della parola. Studi di letteratura greca per Maria Cannatà Fera, Alessandria 2020, (Hellenica 91), 197-214 - M.R. Cannatà, “Tra letteratura e arti figurative: le Imagines dei due Filostrati”, in L. Belloni – A. Bonandini – G. Ieranò – G. Moretti (curr.), Le Immagini nel Testo, il Testo nelle Immagini. Rapporti fra parola e visualità nella tradizione greco-latina, Trento 2010 - D. Castaldo, Temi musicali nelle Imagines di Filostrato Maggiore, in V. Cazzato, M. Rossi (a cura di), La “Galleria” di Palazzo nel Regno di Napoli in età barocca, Galatina (Lecce), Congedo Editore, 2018, pp. 2-11 - D.P. Fowler, “Narrate and describe, the problem of ekphrasis”, JHS 81 (1991), 25-35. Additional bibliographical references will be suggested throughout the course.

The course will combine lectures with critical learning strategies (including optional readings and selected sources), cooperative learning, learning by doing, and heuristic learning workshops. Activities will include the reading, translation, and textual analysis of the literary and epigraphic dossier of the course, together with the examination of the cultural and historical phenomena reflected in the texts under consideration. Students will be encouraged to engage critically with the topics discussed and to pursue further investigations, in order to develop an autonomous research pathway grounded in literary and epigraphic texts and supported by additional bibliography.

The course offers an in-depth exploration of Greek literary culture under the Roman Empire, with particular emphasis on the defining features of the Second Sophistic: discursive strategies, the valorisation of performative speech, and the centrality of cultural memory. Special attention will be devoted to ekphrasis as a privileged form of sophistic discourse, a means of constructing an aesthetic and imaginative space in which the literary text reworks, reinvents, and translates into language the Greek figurative universe. Within this framework, the course will undertake a close and critical reading of the two collections of the Imagines, attributed respectively to Philostratus the Elder and Philostratus the Younger, with a particular focus on their cultural context, compositional aims, and rhetorical structures. The close analogy between visual art and literary tradition provides the foundation of the textual aesthetics that underpins both collections, in which the interplay between fiction and reality raises central issues for understanding the culture of the Second Sophistic: the relationship with Greek iconographic tradition; the construction of a literary picture gallery; the educational and identity-building function of engaging with images through words; the performative dimension of descriptive discourse as an exercise in interpretation and cultural transmission. Ample space will also be devoted to a methodological reflection on rhetorical description and its theoretical implications: the relation between word and image; the role of subjectivity in the reception and narration of works of art; the tension between mimesis and invention; and the specifically aesthetic dimension of Philostratean textuality, conceived as a site of convergence between sensory experience, cultural memory, and the interpretation of myth. The Imagines will be read in dialogue with other ecphrastic examples of the neosophistic tradition (above all Lucian’s descriptions of works of art), compared with later descriptions by Callistratus, and discussed also in light of iconographic sources and modern reception. By placing at the centre of inquiry the relationship between text and image, between description and interpretation, the course takes on a strongly interdisciplinary character. In addition to the textual materials and assigned bibliography, students will have the opportunity to identify further references suited to the in-depth study of themes of particular personal interest.

The course is intended for students with a solid background in Classics, in particular in Greek literature and art history, as well as an adequate knowledge of the morphology and syntax of the ancient Greek language.

Main texts that will be studied in selection: Filostrato Major, Εἰκόνες; Filostrato Minor, Εἰκόνες; Callistrato, ᾽Εκφράσεις (transl. A. Fairbanks. Loeb Classical Library 256) Luciano, Περὶ τοῦ μὴ ρᾳδίως πιστεύειν διαβολῇ; ῾Ερακλῆς; Περὶ τοῦ ᾽Ενυπνίου ἤτοι βίος Λουκιανοῦ; Εἰκόνες, ᾽Ανάχαρσις (traduz. di Harmon, Loeb Classical Library 14, 130, 162) Ζεῦξις ἢ ᾽Αντίοχος; ῾Ηρόδοτος ἢ ᾽Αετίων (traduz. di Kilburn, Loeb Classical Library 430). The texts studied during the course will be gradually indicated, and the final list of texts will be provided at the end of the course.

Students are expected to attend the course; participatory and active learning will be a consistent element throughout the course. The course program does not entail substantial differences between attending and non-attending students. Non-attending students are, however, encouraged to contact the instructor, who will be available to provide clarifications and support through periodic meetings scheduled during the academic year. For the course start date, lecture schedule, and classroom location, please consult the "News" section on the instructor’s webpage. A virtual classroom (Google Classroom) will be set up for rapid communications and distribution of materials, and students will be invited to join. Relevant information will be published in advance on the instructor’s webpage.

The final assessment will consist of an oral examination, to be held at the end of the course on dates established in the Academic Calendar. The oral examination is designed to assess: The ability to apply linguistic knowledge in the appropriate context: on the basis of the documents and materials examined during the course, students will be required to translate and analyze texts from the grammatical point of view (morphology and syntax), subsequently situating them within their literary framework; Critical competence and argumentative effectiveness: knowledge of the topics and of the relevant bibliography must be employed in a constructive manner, developing coherent arguments, demonstrating mastery of the specific terminology, interpreting historical and cultural phenomena correctly, and establishing effective connections; Autonomy, analytical skills, and capacity for elaboration and in-depth study: students will be invited to carry out independent investigations on a selection of topics, demonstrating the ability to formulate and present a thesis while making effective use of primary sources and relevant scholarly documentation.

Main bibliographical references and teaching resources: - A.L. Carbone (a cura di, con un saggio di A. Carbone), Filostrato. Immagini, Palermo 2008 - G. Pucci (a cura di, traduzione di G. Lombardo), Filostrato Maggiore. La Pinacoteca, Palermo 2010 - F. Ghedini, I. Colpo, M. Novello, E. Avezzù, Le Immagini di Filostrato Minore. La prospettiva dello storico dell’arte, Roma 2004 - S. Maffei, “La Σοφία del Pittore e del poeta nel proemio delle "Imagines" di Filostrato Maggiore”, Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, classe di Lettere e Filosofia, 1991, serie III, 21. 2 (1991), 591-621 - S. Maffei, Luciano di Samosata. Descrizioni di opere d’arte, Torino 1994 - R. Nicolai, “L’ekphrasis: una tipologia compositiva dimenticata dalla critica antica e dalla moderna”, AION 31 (2009), 29-45 - A. Manieri, “Colori, suoni e profumi nelle Imagines: principi dell’estetica filostratea”, Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica, 63. 3 (1999), 111-121 - A. Manieri, Il mito di Pelope in Pindaro e in Filostrato esegeta di Pindaro, in G. B. D’Alessio, L. Lomiento, C. Meliadò, G. Ucciardello, Il potere della parola. Studi di letteratura greca per Maria Cannatà Fera, Alessandria 2020, (Hellenica 91), 197-214 - M.R. Cannatà, “Tra letteratura e arti figurative: le Imagines dei due Filostrati”, in L. Belloni – A. Bonandini – G. Ieranò – G. Moretti (curr.), Le Immagini nel Testo, il Testo nelle Immagini. Rapporti fra parola e visualità nella tradizione greco-latina, Trento 2010 - D. Castaldo, Temi musicali nelle Imagines di Filostrato Maggiore, in V. Cazzato, M. Rossi (a cura di), La “Galleria” di Palazzo nel Regno di Napoli in età barocca, Galatina (Lecce), Congedo Editore, 2018, pp. 2-11 - D.P. Fowler, “Narrate and describe, the problem of ekphrasis”, JHS 81 (1991), 25-35. Additional bibliographical references will be suggested throughout the course.

The course will combine lectures with critical learning strategies (including optional readings and selected sources), cooperative learning, learning by doing, and heuristic learning workshops. Activities will include the reading, translation, and textual analysis of the literary and epigraphic dossier of the course, together with the examination of the cultural and historical phenomena reflected in the texts under consideration. Students will be encouraged to engage critically with the topics discussed and to pursue further investigations, in order to develop an autonomous research pathway grounded in literary and epigraphic texts and supported by additional bibliography.