Learning outcomes

Course aims:
The course proposes an approach to Latin language and literature through the reading of a sample of original texts, selected in order to support a reflection on cultural categories relevant to Roman antiquity; a linguistic and historico-literary analysis of the chosen passages will be integrated by the examination of their references to ancient monumental and iconographic imagery.

Prerequisites: Basic knowledge of the Latin language.

Expected learning outcomes: at the end of the course students will be able to
-know phonetics, morphology and basic syntax of the Latin language;
-know the essential features of Latin literature;
-translate and analyze the texts chosen for the course;
-develop autonomous comprehension and interpretation skills, with regard to the cultural and historico-literary context of the chosen passages, as well as to their figurative and artistic references;
-develop autonomous comprehension and interpretation skills, with regard to the habit of comparing different cultures and cultural categories;
-improve the following communication skills by translating the texts: to practice a metalinguistic reflection; to improve and expand the specialized vocabulary of historico-literary language, as well as the Latin lexicon connected to the semantic fields relevant to the chosen texts;
-develop autonomous learning skills by reflecting on the interaction of the applied methods.

Program

Program:
Ovid’s Fasti: representations of time and myths. Translation and comment of selected passages: vv. 1. 27-60; 1.63-288; 2.533-684; 4. 247-348.
The reading of the chosen passages will be conducted in order to develop the study of the following thematic and methodological features:
-time in ancient Rome, with particular reference to the Augustan era (specific vocabulary, calendar organization, historical data and symbolic values, topographic, epigraphic and iconographic features);
-time in Ovid’s Fasti, in relation to the Augustan cultural policy;
-aspects of the challenge to literary genres in Ovid’s Fasti.

Bibliography:
-P.Ovidio Nasone, I Fasti, Introduzione e traduzione di Luca Canali, note di Marco Fucecchi, Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli, Milano 1998.
-P. Ovidi Nasonis Fastorum libri sex, recensuerunt E.H. Alton, D.E.W. Wormell, E. Courtney, Leipzig 1997 (IV ed.).

-A. Cavarzere-A. De Vivo-P. Mastandrea, Letteratura latina. Una sintesi storica, Roma, Carocci, 2003.
-A. Traina-G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, Bologna, Pàtron, 1998: chapters I-III.

-M. Beard, Gli spazi degli dei, le feste,in Roma antica, a cura di A.Giardina, Roma-Bari, Laterza 2000, pp. 35-56.
-M. Bettini, Dèi e uomini nella Città. Antropologia, religione e cultura nella Roma antica, Roma 2015, pp. 11-55.
-M.Bettini, Tacimi o Diva. La Musa del silenzio nella cultura romana, in I Poeti credevano alle loro muse? a cura di S. Beta, Firenze Cadmo, 2006, pp. 77 – 94.
-Terrantica. Volti, miti e immagini della terra nel mondo antico, a cura di M.Bettini e G.Pucci, Milano, Electa, 2015, pp. 98-111; 172-191.
-E. Merli, I Fasti, l’Eneide, e il Lazio Primitivo: l’esempio di Giano, in: G. La Bua (a cura di), Vates operose dierum: studi sui Fasti di Ovidio, Pisa 2010, pp. 17-35.
-A. Invernizzi, Il calendario, Roma 1994.
--P. Zanker, Augusto e il potere delle immagini, trad. it. Torino, Bollati Boringhieri 2006, pp. 109-147; 179-229.

Teaching methods:
Lectures and exercises.

Examination Methods

Exams:
The exam consists of an oral test aiming to verify the level of achievement of the learning objectives previously indicated; namely, the acquisition of autonomous skills to read, understand and translate the previously specified Latin texts with special regard to
-the basic knowledge of Latin phonetics, morpho-syntactic and lexical structures;
-the knowledge of the essential features of Latin literature;
-the ability to understand the cultural and historico-literary context of the chosen passages;
-argument skills; wealth and appropriateness of vocabulary.

N.B. Non-attending students are requested to contact the teacher in due advance so as to define a specific program.