INTRODUCTION TO CLASSICAL CULTURE - I

This class aims at introducing the audience into the main literary trends and cultural and literary aspects of the ancient Greek world from the archaic age (VIII century BC) to the imperial age, with a special focus on the archaic and classical period (VIII-IV cent. BC), on the origins and classification of the poetic genres attested as early as the Homeric poems, and the main texts embodying the very essence of the Greek way of producing literature in its manifold aspects. A special focus will also be devoted to the transmission of texts and the creation and organization of libraries, which marks an epoch-making transition from the oral age to the age of writing, reading, and of scholarship. The contexts and the manyfold occasions which formed the essential background of all literary activity will also be taken into account, along with the relation with the more ancient Nearestern civilizations and the influence they exerted on early Greek poetry and mythology. An attempt will also be made at sketching the influence of Greek literature and culture not only on Latin literature, but also on the medieval, modern and contemporary world.

The range of topics and centuries dealt with (with a brief sketch also of the Minoan and Mycenean civilizations ), will necessarily entail that only a limited number of texts can be read (in translation) and interpreted in class, but seminal texts for the history of western civilization will be presented to the students, with the aim of stressing the influence of Greek civilization on our culture, as well as its still enormous presence in the contemporary world.

This class aims at providing students with the primary critical tools and awareness so as to understand the main literary, cultural and social trends and phenomena of Greek civilization. They will be helped by a dossier of (mainly poetic ) texts (to be read in translation) form the archaic, classical and Hellenistic age. After preparing for the exam students will have acquired a clear view of the implications and characteristics of an oral culture vs the written culture of our times; they will also be definitely familiar with the poetical, mythical, and political imagination and mentality which has dominated western civilization from antiquity to the present world. The importance of Greek civilization as the primary source which has influenced all the aspects and perspectives of the human mind will thereby become clear; this also applies to the world of literature, where all the genres still practiced to date (tragedy, comedy, satire, lyric and epic poetry and so on) originate from Greek antiquity. The written exams aims in stimulating in the students a critical narrative providing the main data of Greek civilization in different fields.

No competence in Greek or Latin language is required for this class.
NOTA BENE. Students who are enrolled for the 'corso di laurea in Lettere' specializing in Classical Antiquity are NOT supposed to attend this class: they are required to take up the classes of Greek literature and language.

The starting point will be a historical and chronological introduction to the Greek world, in order to familiarize the students with a periodization of Greek literature that will help in understanding the differences and development of the various periods and genres. A particular focus will be represented by the analysis of what a myth is, by a reading of various myths and thy entering the world of mythology, which constantly permeates the majority of Greek literary genres and the interpretation of the world in Greek culture. The relation/opposition between orality and the emergence of writing, and between myth, memory and tradition will also be clarified, in order to describe the transition from the archaic world to the Hellenistic age and beyond, and from oral discourse to a bookish culture. Much attention will also be dedicated a) to the very beginning of Greek literature, namely to the epic poetry of Homer and Hesiod and the importance it acquired through the centuries down to modern times, b) to the following period characterized as the age of lyric with its manifold genres, many of them still alive today, c) to the classical age when Athens became the melting pot of Greece and the central stage of most genres, such as tragedy, comedy, philosophy, historical inquiry, rhetoric, oratory etc. In the Hellenistic age the focus will be on the combination of poetry and scholarship and on the formation of libraries.

The major figures of Greek myth (Heracles, Achilles, Thetis, Theseus, Oedipus, Antigone, Medea, Jason, Odysseus, Prometheus, Pandora) who still inhabit our imagination and form the cultural background of modern thinkers (such as Freud) will be dealt with in detail, with the aim to also investigate the function of the myth and contextualize the presence of variants and modifications in the course of time and in different contexts.

Survey: epic poetry and the ancient Near East; the function and meaning of myth; orality vs writing; early poetic genres and the space of communication: cities, festivals, cults, contests and symposia; poet and patron from the archaic to the Hellenistic age; the birth of tragedy and comedy and the role of Athens; the birth of historiography; libraries, poets, scholars and the organization of learning in the ancient world; the imperial age.

Mandatory reading for all students:
A1) A. Beltrametti, La letteratura greca, Roma, Carocci 2005.

A2) S. Saïd, Introduzione alla mitologia greca, Roma, Editori Riuniti 2012 (I primi 3 capitoli).

A3) F. Graf, Il mito in Grecia, Laterza 1987, pp. 43-75.

A4) L. Canfora, 'La Biblioteca e il museo', in Lo spazio letterario della Grecia antica I 2, Salerno Editrice 1993, 1-29.

Students unable to attend my class are required to read the following bilbiography (strongly recommended, although not mandatory, also to students attending the class):

B1) W. Burkert, Da Omero ai Magi, Marsilio 1999, 'Tratti orientalizzanti in Omero', 3-34;
B2) E. Cingano, 'La cultura poetica: forme, contesti, dimensione pragmatica', in M. Giangiulio (a cura di), Il Mondo antico II 3. Grecia e Mediterraneo dall'VIII sec. a.C. all'età delle guerre persiane, Roma 2007, 691-720;
B3) O. Murray, 'La Grecia degli «eroi»: mito, storia, archeologia', in I Greci 2 I, a cura di S. Settis, Einaudi 1996, 173-188;
B4) F. Bertolini, 'Società di trasmissione orale: mito e folclore', in Lo spazio letterario della Grecia antica I 1, Salerno Editrice 1992, 47-75;
B5) E. Cingano, ‘La tragedia in Grecia’, in G. Guastella (a cura di), Le rinascite della tragedia. Origini classiche e tradizioni europee, Carocci 2006, 31-66.

S. Settis, Il futuro del classico, Torino, Einaudi 2004.

Further reading strongly recommended to those not attending my class (as well as to those attending):
1) F. Graf, Il mito in Grecia, Laterza 1987, 76-91; 2) W. Rösler, 'Trasmissione culturale tra oralità e scrittura', in I Greci 2 II, a cura di S. Settis, Einaudi 1997, 707-723; 3) L.E. Rossi, 'L' ideologia dell' oralità fino a Platone', in Lo spazio letterario della Grecia antica I 1, Salerno Editrice 1992, 77-103; 4) G. Cerri, 'La tragedia', in Lo spazio letterario della Grecia antica I 1, Salerno Editrice 1992, 301-329; 5) L. Canfora, 'La Biblioteca e il museo', in Lo spazio letterario della Grecia antica I 2, Salerno Editrice 1993, 1-29.

The students' competence in 'Introduzione alla culture classica I' will be tested with a written examination (of 2 hours) consisting in a series of questions, 14 in all: 4 questions have to be met by a detailed, articulate answer, whereas for the remaining 10 a short reply can suffice, if proved correct. Students are expected to answer 10 questions out of 14, and have to choose 2 detailed questions out of 4, and 8 short questions out of 10. A correct reply to more than the 10 questions required entails a bonus for a higher mark.

Traditional teacher-led classes will be enlivened by the use of powerpoint in order to illustrate in particular the iconography of myths and the permanence of icons and symbols of Greek culture in modern and contemporary European civilization.

NOTA BENE 1. This class can be also attended as a 6 credit class, independently from the second module of Introduzione alla cultura classica II, taught by prof. A. Camerotto, totalling 12 credits.

NOTA BENE 2. Students are to take the two exams totalling 12 credits within the span of one Academic year.

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