Study of the outlines of the history of Latin literature, with a close examination of the works of some of the main authors. Philological analysis and close reading of Latin texts in the original, and study of their Greek models.
Excellent knowledge of the Latin language and literature; ability to interpret Latin texts of crucial literary importance. Ability to understand a critical apparatus and to perform metrical analyses.
Prerequisites
Good knowledge of Latin. Good knowledge of Latin prosody and metrics.
Teaching Methods
Frontal lessons.
Type of Assessment
Oral exam. Through translation and commentary of the texts included in the syllabus will be tested the language skills, the ability to understand how the texts are related to their historical and literary context, as well as the knowledge of Latin prosody and metrics, and the ability to interpret a critical apparatus. There will be also questions about the history of Latin literature from the Flavian age to Cassiodorus.
Course program
"Kulturgeschichte and phenomenology of love in Lucretius: readings from the fourth and fifth book of De rerum natura".
Sections of De rerum natura on love and the development of mankind will be text-critically and exegetically analysed. Special attention will be devoted to the study of the literary and philosophical sources of Lucretius' passages, as well as their Fortleben.
Besides the passages by Lucretius and other authors dealt with in the lessons, the students are required to read and translate:
Virgil, Aeneid, IV
Ovid, Metamorphoses, XV
Tibullus, Elegies, I
Cicero, De natura deorum, II
Study of the outlines of the history of Latin literature from the Flavian age to Cassiodorus is moreover requested.
Recommended handbook: G.B.Conte, Letteratura latina, Le Monnier.