ID:
501177
Duration (hours):
36
CFU:
6
SSD:
LINGUA E LETTERATURA GRECA
Year:
2025
Overview
Date/time interval
Primo Semestre (22/09/2025 - 19/12/2025)
Syllabus
Course Objectives
At the end of the course, the student:
1. knows in depth the essential stages of the Greek language in its diachrony, from the archaic age to the formation of the koiné;
2. knows the fundamental concepts for historically situating a Greek literary or documentary product;
3. possesses the methodological skills to analyse a Greek literary or documentary product from a historical-linguistic point of view;
4. knows the main bibliographical tools (dialectology and language history manuals, etymological dictionaries) and the main electronic tools (databases and online dictionaries).
1. knows in depth the essential stages of the Greek language in its diachrony, from the archaic age to the formation of the koiné;
2. knows the fundamental concepts for historically situating a Greek literary or documentary product;
3. possesses the methodological skills to analyse a Greek literary or documentary product from a historical-linguistic point of view;
4. knows the main bibliographical tools (dialectology and language history manuals, etymological dictionaries) and the main electronic tools (databases and online dictionaries).
Course Prerequisites
Good knowledge of the Greek language.
Teaching Methods
The institutional part of the course, (a), will be conducted as frontal lessons by the lecturer.
The readings in part (b) may be carried out in the form of a presentation (Referat) by the students themselves, who will have the opportunity in this way to verify the skills they have acquired and to present, individually or in small groups, one of the texts from the anthology of selected passages.
The readings in part (b) may be carried out in the form of a presentation (Referat) by the students themselves, who will have the opportunity in this way to verify the skills they have acquired and to present, individually or in small groups, one of the texts from the anthology of selected passages.
Assessment Methods
The examination is oral and consists of an interview in which the lecturer, by means of a series of questions, will verify the theoretical knowledge and the theoretical-practical methodologies presented in class.
Those who have attended the lectures and given a presentation may bring to the examination, in addition to the institutional part (a), only two texts from the anthology (b) to be translated and commented on, from among those covered in the lecture (a choice to be agreed in advance with the lecturer).
On the other hand, those who attended the lectures but did not give the presentation will have to prepare all the texts of the anthology (b) to be translated and linguistically analysed; the examination will focus on one or two of them.
Those who wish to take the examination as non-attendees will prepare all the texts from anthology (b) and are also requested to contact the lecturer for the assignment of additional readings.
Those who have attended the lectures and given a presentation may bring to the examination, in addition to the institutional part (a), only two texts from the anthology (b) to be translated and commented on, from among those covered in the lecture (a choice to be agreed in advance with the lecturer).
On the other hand, those who attended the lectures but did not give the presentation will have to prepare all the texts of the anthology (b) to be translated and linguistically analysed; the examination will focus on one or two of them.
Those who wish to take the examination as non-attendees will prepare all the texts from anthology (b) and are also requested to contact the lecturer for the assignment of additional readings.
Texts
(a) General Part: A. C. Cassio (ed.), Storia delle lingue letterarie greche, Milan, Mondadori, 2016 (second edition). (b) Texts: The texts on which the course will focus will be provided in the form of handouts or materials uploaded on Kiro. Further reading (optional, but useful, especially for those who wish to try their hand at Referat): For the history of language: S. Colvin A brief history of ancient Greek. Chichester, Wiley-Blackwell, 2014; G. Horrocks, Greek: A History of the Language and its Speakers, 2 nd edn. Malden, Mass./Oxford, Wiley- Blackwell, 2010; A. Meillet, Lineamenti di storia della lingua greca, Turin, Einaudi, 1981 (second Italian edition); L. R. Palmer, The Greek Language, London, Faber, 1980; O. Hoffmann - A. Debrunner - A. Scherer, Storia della lingua greca, Napoli, Macchiaroli, 1969. For phonology: M. Lejeune, Phonétique historique du mycénien et du grec ancien, Paris, Klincksieck, 1972. For morphology: P. Chantraine, Morphologie historique du grec, Paris, Klincksieck, 1961; D. Pieraccioni, Morphologia storica della lingua greca, Messina - Firenze, D'Anna, 1975 (3rd edition), V. Garulli – C. Neri, Morfologia e storia del greco antico, Roma, Carocci, 2024. . For historical linguistics: H. Rix, Historische Grammatik des Griechischen. Laut- und Formenlehre, Darmstadt 1992 (second edition); O. Szemerényi, Introduction to Indo-European Linguistics. Edited by G. Boccali - V. Brugnatelli - M. Negri, Milan, Unicopli, 1985. S. Luraghi, Introduzione alla linguistica storica, Roma, Carocci 2016 (second edition). For Greek dialectology: Y. Duhoux, Introduction to ancient Greek dialectology, Bari, Levante, 1986; C. D. Buck, The Greek Dialects, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1955; S. Colvin, A Historical Greek Reader, Oxford, OUP, 2007.
Contents
a) Institutional part: general elements of the history of the Greek language.
b) Reading/seminar: anthology of ten excerpts illustrating the main literary languages from archaic and classical Greek to the koiné:
1. Homer, Il. 22.93-125: language of the epic;
2. Hesiod, Erg. 663-77: language of the epic;
3. The epigram of the 'cup of Nestor' (CEG 454): language of the Ionian epigram;
4. The epigram of the Dipylon oinochoe (CEG 432): language of the Attic area epigram;
5. Tyrtheus, fr. 4 West: language of the elegy;
6. Sappho, fr. 31 Voigt = Neri: language of Aeolian lyric poetry;
7. Pindar, Ol. 1.36-85: the language of epinicium;
8. A passage from an Attic tragedy or comedy (to be agreed with the students);
9. Theocritus, Id. 5.55-71: the language of Hellenistic poetry;
10. Polybius, 2.15.2-9: the koiné.
b) Reading/seminar: anthology of ten excerpts illustrating the main literary languages from archaic and classical Greek to the koiné:
1. Homer, Il. 22.93-125: language of the epic;
2. Hesiod, Erg. 663-77: language of the epic;
3. The epigram of the 'cup of Nestor' (CEG 454): language of the Ionian epigram;
4. The epigram of the Dipylon oinochoe (CEG 432): language of the Attic area epigram;
5. Tyrtheus, fr. 4 West: language of the elegy;
6. Sappho, fr. 31 Voigt = Neri: language of Aeolian lyric poetry;
7. Pindar, Ol. 1.36-85: the language of epinicium;
8. A passage from an Attic tragedy or comedy (to be agreed with the students);
9. Theocritus, Id. 5.55-71: the language of Hellenistic poetry;
10. Polybius, 2.15.2-9: the koiné.
Course Language
Italian
Degrees
Degrees (3)
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