INTRODUCTION TO CLASSICAL CULTURE

The class, which is mandatory for the Cultural Heritage curriculum, aims at illustrating some of the main topics related to Latin culture and literature, from the 3rd century BC to the Late Imperial Age, with a special focus on the late republican and Augustan era, and on the often complex relation entertained by Latin works with their Greek models or antecedents. Hints will also be given towards a first approach to the reception of Classical texts in the medieval, modern and contemporary world.
No direct reading of Latin works will be required, although several of them will be quoted or commented on during the course. The main goal of the class is to promote an interest, to stimulate students to read Classical texts on their own, and to enable them to situate the texts in the appropriate chronological and historical frame.

Knowledge and comprehension
- know the main issues of Greek and Latin literary communication from the Hellenistic age through the imperial age
- know the main Greek and Latin myths
- know the main itineraries of the relationship between Latin culture and the surrounding ones
- know the main genres of poetry and prose
- know the most significant moments of reception of Greek and Latin culture in Western art and literature.
Skills to apply knowledge and comprehension
- be able to situate correctly ancient authors and literary phenomena in both time and space
- be able to recognise some myths and their multiple versions
- be able to discuss about the contact between the Greek and the Latin world, with all the historical implications
- be able to trace back the genres of poetry and prose in our literatures to their ancient prototypes
- be able to recognise and quote some important moments of the Nachleben of ancient art and literature
Judgment skills
- be able to recognise the historical depth of a concept, a myth, or an element of the Western cultural heritage
- be able to judge more profoundly the roots of Western culture
Communication skills
- be able to write short texts reelaborating the notions about important and long-standing phenomena in a personal perspective
Learning skills
- be able to blend the notions acquired during frontal lessons (also with the help of images) with the appropriate study of handbooks.

No knowledge of Greek (or Latin) language is required.

The general background of the course is described in the 1st part (= Introduction to Classical Culture I A).
This second part of the course will consist of a bird's-eye presentation of the main moments and protagonists of Hellenistic literature and then chiefly of Latin literature, considered above all in their relationship with the Greek models, and then in the light of the complex system of genres, from the Republican age (special focus on theatre and epic poetry, down to the poetae novi) to the Augustan (bucolic, epic, lyric and elegiac poetry) and imperial age (satyra, epigram, novel).

This bibliography is intended as supplementary to that of the 1st part of the course (= Introduction to Classical culture I A).

For students attending the course:

A3) A. Cavarzere, A. De Vivo, P. Mastandrea, Letteratura latina. Una sintesi storica, Roma, Carocci, 2003.

A4) A. La Penna, La cultura letteraria a Roma, Roma-Bari, Laterza 2006, 2a ed.

Students who do not attend the course will also read (on top of the supplementary readings listed in part 1 of this course):

B6) A. Perutelli, Epica, in F. Montanari (ed.), La poesia latina. Forme, autori, problemi, Roma, Carocci 1998, pp. 11-60.

B7) P. Fedeli, Bucolica lirica elegia, ivi, pp. 77-127.

B8) M. Citroni, Satira epigramma favola, ivi, pp. 133-94.

B9) A. Barchiesi, Romanzo, 229-45, in: F. Montanari (ed.), La prosa latina. Forme, autori, problemi, Roma, Carocci 1991.

The exam (75 min.) will consist of a written test with:
- 2 open questions requiring a long answer, amongst which the candidate will choose 1
- 5 open questions requiring a more synthetic answer, amongst which the candidate will choose 4.

There will be no automatic calculation of the final mark, but "long" questions will of course have a different weight from "short" questions. It is possible (though by no means easy) to pass the exam without answering all the questions required: much depends from the quality of the answers.
The questions will assess the student's familiarity with the main phenomena of the literary and cultural history of the Greek and Latin world from the Hellenistic through the imperial age, as well as his ability to rework critically these notions in an original discourse.

Among the didactic materials (Moodle) you will find a particular file listing the topics tackled in class: questions will only refer to the authors, subjects and periods that have been discussed in class.

This exam will stand only for students seeking (for whatever reason) 12 cfu (exam code: FT0288): the latter will pass this partial exam (sessions: January 1, January 2, May, September) after passing the exam concerning the first part of the course (Introduction to classical culture I).

Frontal teaching, with occasional projection of illustrations

See the info (in italian) appended to the course of Introduzione alla cultura classica I.

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