Cultures and Religions | Course catalogue

GREEK LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE I

Course objectives

The course - provides the student with knowledge and understanding of the methodological and critical-problematic aspects of the Discipline as well as application issues; proposes area and sectoral perspectives in which research projects relating to the Discipline are active or can be activated; shows the variability of the fields of interest within which disciplinary skills can be applied (descriptor 1); - develops the student's autonomous ability to relate what has been learned with other SSDs: historical, literary, artistic, cultural, economic, political, historical-religious disciplines, etc. (descriptor 2); - enables the student to use the acquired knowledge and the specific learned language in view of the so-called "transversal skills" (autonomy of judgment, communication skills, descriptors 3-5).

Channel 1

MAURIZIO SONNINO Lecturers' profile

Channel 2

ILARIA ANDOLFI Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program

Odisseus among the Phaeacians: After a cycle of introductory classes aimed at providing the guidelines of the development of Greek language and its dialects, the phonetic and morphological phenomena will be further illustrated thorough the reading of literary texts. More specifically, the course will deal with the language of the epics, of the elegy and iambus, of Aeolic lyric and choral lyric. For the epics, it is required the full reading of Odyssey VIII; for lyric poets, an anthology of texts; for prose, the reading of the first book of Herodotus' Histories. During the course, a written exam, consisting in a translation from Greek, will take place.

Prerequisites

Students who wish to attend this course must already know the grammar of ancient Greek (morphology and syntax) - in other words, at the same level as students of the Italian "Liceo Classico" after the first two years of school.

Books

Texts: Omero, Odissea Libro VIII Erodoto Storie, Libro I. Recommended edition: D. Asheri, Erodoto, I: La Lidia e La Persia. Milano (Fondazione Lorenzo Valla - Mondadori) 2012. An anthology of Greek lyric (texts will be provided in class) A handbook of Greek literature of the archaic age. Recommended: L.E. Rossi - R. Nicolai, Storia e testi della letteratura greca. Vol. I: L’età arcaica, Firenze (Le Monnier) 2003

Frequency

Attendance is warmly recommended. Non attending students are invited to get in touch.

Exam mode

Assessment consists in an oral examination, where the students are asked questions about the linguistic issues and the texts discussed in class and to study individually. Finally, there will be some questions on the history of Archaic Greek literature. During the course, it will be scheduled a written text, consisting in a translation from Greek, that, however, has no influence on the final grade of the exam.

Bibliography

*** Students are kindly asked to wait the beginning of the classes before purchasing books *** Further bibliography: D. Pieraccioni, Morfologia storica della lingua greca, Messina - Firenze (D'Anna) 1954 V. Garulli, C. Neri, Morfologia e Storia del Greco Antico, Carocci 2024. R. Cantarella - G. Scarpat, Breve Introduzione ad Omero, Città di Castello (Dante Alighieri) 1989, pp. 201-248. S. Colvin, A historical Greek reader, Oxford, OUP, 2007. Chapters I, II and IV of Storia delle lingue letterarie greche, a c. di A. C. Cassio, Milano, Mondadori Università 2016, seconda edizione (I: pp. 3-31; II: pp. 32-72; IV: pp. 107-129). M.C. Martinelli, Gli strumenti del poeta, Bologna (Cappelli) 1995.

Lesson mode

Standard lecture