Learning outcomes

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 (see also 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. 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

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.