Catalogo dei Corsi di studio

The course of Arabic Language and Literature requires both the grammatical skills and the vocabulary knowledge acquired during the B.A. years or a good level of knowledge of the Arabic language.

The course is an introduction to classical Arabic literature. Texts of the classical Arabic literature, both in verses and prose, will be presented and commented from a historical and cultural point of view, and analysed from a literary point of view. Special attention will be given to a tale belonging to the non-standard cycle of the 1001 Nights and to its influence in other medieval and renaissance literatures.

It is required to pass a written test prepared by the mother tongue readers - Dr. alRaies and Mediouni - in order to be allowed to be given an oral examination.
The oral exam consists in a presentation of a topic among those illustrated at lesson - previously agreed with the professor - and an oral exam with the mother readers. The oral examination is scored on 30/30. 

Text books:

Daniela Amaldi, Storia della letteratura araba classica, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2004.
Heidi Toelle e Katia Zakharia, Alla scoperta della letteratura araba: dal VI secolo ai nostri giorni, Lecce, Argo, 2010.
Pierre Cachia, Arabic Literature: An Overview, London, Routledge, 2002.

Bibliographical references:

A. D'Ottone Rambach, L’omosessualità femminile in al-Andalus attraverso una fonte letteraria: la Storia di Bayād e Riyād in LVII Convegno storico internazionale: La sessualità nel Basso Medio Evo (Todi, 11-13 ottobre 2020), Todi, Centro Italiano di Studi sul Basso Medioevo – Accademia Tudertina, 2021, 459-469.

Further bibliographical references will be pointed out during lessons.

Lessons in class.
The course of Arabic Language and Literature comprehends exercises (reading, writing, speaking) with a mother reader - Dr. A. Al-Raies and Dr. R. Mediouni.

Attending lessons is not mandatory but warmly recommended 

The course of Arabic Language and Translation 3 requires both the grammatical skills and the vocabulary knowledge acquired during the two previous years or an average level of the Arabic language.

The course is focused on the techniques of translation and aims at enabling the students to be comfortable at translating texts of different nature: literary texts as well as specialized texts linked to the humanities in the broadest sense.
Through the translation of selected texts, students will get acquainted with the vocabulary employed both in journals and literary prose. The majority of the texts that will be read, translated and analysed during lessons, are in modern standard Arabic and they are taken from collections dealing with Arabic art and culture (with a particular focus on the role of Arab women artists and leaders), from the press and from the contemporary literary production. Moreover, a few chosen texts from the Classical Arabic literature will be read, translated and analysed. 
Besides this, famous Arab songs will also be considered in order to enlarge the vocabulary and the knowledge of the Arabic culture. 
At the end of the year students will be thus able to translate and comprehend texts not only linguistically but also from a cultural and historical point of view. All this, in order to realize a correct translation, as elegant as possible, and linguistically refined.

A choice of texts selected from the following books will be provided during lessons in electronic format:

Ossama B., Musiqa al-Kalimat. Modern Standard Arabic through Popular Songs, Cairo-New York, The American University in Cairo Press, 2017.
Al-Bassām Kh., Niswān zamān: fann - thaqāfa, Bayrūt, al-Mu’assasa al-‘arabiyya li-l-dirāsāt wa-l-nashr, 2002.

Attending lesson is not mandatory but warmly recommended

For attending the course, a good command of Arabic is required. During lessons manuscripts, coins, graffiti, gems and papyri will be read and discussed.

The course of Arabic Palaeography 2024 will be divided in two main parts. Firstly an introduction to the fields of Codicology and Numismatics and their scientific literature. Lessons will include the reading and handling of manuscripts and coins both in picture and for real. Afterwards, a special focus will be given on Arabic pseud-script. In this section of the course unpublished material linked to Arabic pseudo-script in Rome will be presented and discussed. 

An oral exam focused on the topics and the material evidence analysed during lesson.
A a specific program will be designed for those who take twice the course. 

Text books:

Kratchkovsky I. Y., Among Arabic Manuscripts. Memories of libraries and Men. Translated from the Russian by Tatiana Minorsky, Leiden, Brill, 1953.

Petrucci A., Prima lezione di paleografia, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2002 (Universale Laterza 811).

Hirschler, K., The Written Word in the Medieval Arabic Lands: A Social and Cultural History of Reading Practices, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2012 (traduzione italiana: Leggere e scrivere nell’Islam medievale, Roma, Carocci, 2017).

Bibliographical references:

Palaeography Between East & West. Proceedings of the Seminars on Arabic Palaeography at Sapienza University of Rome, edited by A. D'Ottone Rambach, Pisa-Roma, F. Serra Editore, 2018.

Grierson Ph., Introduzione alla numismatica, Roma, Jouvence, 1984.

Broome M., A Handbook of Islamic Coins, London, Spink, 1985.

Scribbling through History. Graffiti, Places and People from Antiquity to Modernity, edited by Ch. Ragazzoli et al., London- New York, Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.

Further bibliographical references will be pointed out during lessons.

Lessons in class.
The course of Arabic Palaeography 2023-24 will include some lessons at the Alessandrina Library (Sapienza) in order to deal with some manuscripts and printed material.

Attending lessons is not mandatory but warmly recommended 

The program includes the general principles of the Arabic grammar, as well as hints about the history of literature in Arabic. In particular, the following topics of Arabic grammar and syntax will be dealt with during the course: alphabet and script; roots and schemes of words; indefinite and definite state; case, number, gender and grammatical agreement of nouns and adjectives; various pronouns; the construct state; main particles and prepositions;  the nominal sentence and the verbal sentence; verbal moods, tenses and agreement; scholarly transliteration.

L. Veccia Vaglieri, Grammatica teorico-pratica della lingua araba, Roma, Istituto Per l’Oriente,  nuova edizione  riveduta e aggiornata da M. Avino, Roma, Istituto Per l’Oriente, 2011.

The 2022-23 course of Arabic Palaeography will be two folded. It will start with an introduction to Codicology and Numismatics following which some Arabic medieval texts, also manuscripts, on ink and coin making will be read. After that, the course will focus on the encrypted texts in the medieval Arab-Islamic world aiming at analysing their links with the sciite context, namely the Ismaili one, and the occult sciences

Kratchkovsky I. Y., Among Arabic Manuscripts. Memories of libraries and Men. Translated from the Russian by Tatiana Minorsky, Leiden, Brill, 1953.

Petrucci A., Prima lezione di paleografia, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2002 (Universale Laterza 811).

Hirschler, K., The Written Word in the Medieval Arabic Lands: A Social and Cultural History of Reading Practices, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 2012 (traduzione italiana: Leggere e scrivere nell’Islam medievale, Roma, Carocci, 2017).

D'Ottone Rambach, A., The Qur'an Encrypted: A Unique Qur'an Manuscript in Cipher, "Journal of Islamic Manuscripts" 11,2 (2020), pp. 133-176.

The course is focused on the techniques of translation and aims at enabling the students to be comfortable at translating texts of different nature: literary texts as well as specialized texts linked to the humanities in the broadest sense.
Through the translation of selected texts, students will get acquainted with the vocabulary employed both in journals and literary prose. The majority of the texts that will be read, translated and analysed during lessons, are in modern standard Arabic and they are taken from collections dealing with Arabic art and culture (with a particular focus on the role of Arab women artists and leaders), from the press and from the contemporary literary production. Moreover, a few chosen texts from the Classical Arabic literature will be read, translated and analysed. 
Besides this, famous Arab songs will also be considered in order to enlarge the vocabulary and the knowledge of the Arabic culture. 
At the end of the year students will be thus able to translate and comprehend texts not only linguistically but also from a cultural and historical point of view. All this, in order to realize a correct translation, as elegant as possible, and linguistically refined.
 

Ossama B., Musiqa al-Kalimat. Modern Standard Arabic through Popular Songs, Cairo-New York, The American University in Cairo Press, 2017.

Hajjar J.N., Dirāsa fī uṣūl al-tarjama/Traité de traduction, Beyrouth, Liban, 1977.

Al-Bassām Kh., Niswān zamān: fann - thaqāfa, Bayrūt, al-Mu’assasa al-‘arabiyya li-l-dirāsāt wa-l-nashr, 2002.

The course is an introduction to classical Arabic literature. Texts of the classical Arabic literature, both in verses and prose, will be presented and commented from a hisrotical and cultural point of view, and analysed from a literary point of view. Special attention will be given to a tale belonging to the non-standard cycle of the 1001 Nights.

Daniela Amaldi, Storia della letteratura araba classica, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2004.
Heidi Toelle e Katia Zakharia, Alla scoperta della letteratura araba: dal VI secolo ai nostri giorni, Lecce, Argo, 2010.
Pierre Cachia, Arabic Literature: An Overview, London, Routledge, 2002.
Aboubakr Chraïbi, Arabic manuscripts of the Thousand and One Nights. Presentation and Critical Edition of Four Noteworthy Texts – Observations on Some Osmanli Translations, Paris, Espaces & Signes, 2016.
Arianna D’Ottone, La storia di Bayad e Riyad (ms Vat.ar. 368): una nuova edizione e traduzione, Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 2013 (Studi e Testi, 479).