Teaching code

4S01893

Teacher

Paolo Scattolin

Coordinator

Paolo Scattolin

Credits

6

Also offered in courses:

• Greek Literature (i) of the course Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Heritage
• Greek literature - MODULO 1 of the course Bachelor's degree in Philosophy

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-FIL-LET/02 - GREEK LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Period

CuCi 1 A, CuCi 1 B

Courses Single

Authorized

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

The course aims to provide Students with an adequate understanding of the literary institutions of ancient Greece, analyzed in terms both of their history and their structures and placed within the major framework of European cultural tradition. Students will be guided in reading ancient Greek texts – or selections thereof – in the original language. The course will focus on, but will not be limited to, texts from the Archaic and Classical periods. At the end of the course Students will - know the main textual typologies of Greek Literature; - have an adequate knowledge of the history, development, and authors of Greek Literature up to the classical period; - be able to place, in terms both of chronology and literary history, metre, and language, the texts under scrutiny; - be able to introduce and explain in their own words and with appropriate language the texts that the course focuses on; - be able to translate and comment upon both the texts analyzed in class and others forming part of the programme.

Prerequisites and basic notions

Good knowledge of ancient Greek is required.

Program

THE LAST HERO: READING SOPHOCLES' 'AJAX'.
(1) The protagonist is the epic hero of the Trojan war, second in valor only to Achilles whose weapons he considers himself unjustly deprived because of the betrayal of the Achaeans siding with Odysseus. We see him mad, desperate, then suicidal. To the Achaeans, he is guilty of treason against them and of hybris against the gods. Isolated and irreducible to the new values, Ajax chooses suicide as an extreme rejection of all compromise. The age of epic heroes is over: what will replace it?
We will use the critical edition by P. Finglass in the series «Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries» (2011).
(2) Students will independently prepare (a) translation and grammatical commentary of Iliad 23 on the Teubner text by Martin L. West (München-Leipzig 2000). For this purpose they can may make use of any commercially available annotated edition, e.g. Franco Ferrari's Oscar Classici (https://tinyurl.com/yp6pappu); (b) Greek literary history from the Archaic age to the 4th s. B.C.
NB: (1) The text of critical editions and other bibliography will be provided directly by the lecturer via the Moodle platform; (2) attendance at the Greek metrics workshop (16 hours) is recommended. It will be activated in parallel with the beginning of classes.

Bibliography

Didactic methods

(1) teaching will be delivered in-presence; (2) non-attending students must agree on an alternative program.

Learning assessment procedures

The examination is oral for attending and non-attending students and includes (a) translation of one or more excerpts from the texts covered in class and from Iliad 23; (b) commentary on the same passages from a literary-historical, linguistic, metrical point of view; (c) one question on history of Gree literature with regard to the Archaic, Classical, and post-Classical periods.
The duration of the oral examination is approximately one hour.

Evaluation criteria

The examination will aim to assess:
(1) the ability to translate the texts on the syllabus;
(2) awareness of the translation choices adopted and the linguistic-stylistic specificities of the texts;
(3) the ability to reflect critically on these texts within the framework of the literary genres of reference;
(4) knowledge of the history of Greek literature of the archaic, classical, and post-classical.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

---

Exam language

italiano (eventualmente inglese per gli Erasmus).