Corso di laurea magistrale in Filologia,
Letterature e Storia dell'antichità

The course allows the students to acquire a full mastery of the philological and critical method: it aims at refining the students' ability in the scientific analysis of texts, and, when seminar papers are given, at deepening the knowledge of the research tools and improving the, oral or written, presentation of the results of individual work.

Through the translation, the commentary and the critical framing of a passage, the oral examination aims at verifying the acquisition of complex skills by the students: the knowledge of the Latin language and literary tradition, the critical analysis of a text and the consciousness of different methodological approaches, the mastery of philological tools, the clarity, correctness and maturity of expression. The seminar work allows to test such abilities before the exam and to improve them with the help of the teacher; the classroom discussion, moreover, develops the critical reflection skills and the ability to make personal remarks on the proposed issues, while the production of an essay is an exercise in argumentative writing useful for verifying the full scientific maturity of a student.

The course (36 hours, 6 cfu) consists of lectures followed by students' seminars. No registration and no streaming are foreseen. In the event of health restrictions that prevent attendance in the classroom, forms of distance learning will be adopted.

The expected knowledge and skills will be tested through seminar papers and, at the end of the course, through an oral exam, which consists of at least two questions on the institutional part (translation of a Latin prose text; literary history or critical essays) and at least two questions on the monographic part.

The course will make use of the support of the SERICA project collaborators who will intervene in some lessons.

Students are warmly invited to contribute to the course through a seminar. Its topic will be discussed with the professor. At least two days before presenting the paper, the student must send his written report via email to the teacher; it must be at least 6000 characters long, spaces excluded. For the comment (philological, linguistic and above all content), the student can use the texts present in the online material and the bibliography published on the course page or even additional texts. Students preparing a seminar report are invited to use the teacher's guide; texts, bibliography, critical apparatus useful for presentation and discussion in the classroom can be presented in a handout, which the teacher will make available in the teaching material before each seminar.

The bibliography presented is very limited because it aims to facilitate the retrieval of texts; students who wish can decide other readings with the professor.

For individual additions to the contents of the course (review of Latin syntax; elements of prosody and metric) we recommend the following texts

A. Traina, G. Bernardi Perini, Propedeutica al latino universitario, sesta edizione riveduta e aggiornata a cura di C. Marangoni, Bologna, Pàtron, 1998⁶, capitoli I-VII;

A. Traina, T. Bertotti, Sintassi normativa della lingua latina, Bologna, Cappelli, 1965 and later editions, oppure: G.B. Conte, R. Ferri, Corso di latino. Lingua e civiltà, vol. 1: Grammatica, Firenze, Le Monnier, 2005;

S. Boldrini, Fondamenti di prosodia e metrica latina, Roma, Carocci, 2004, oppure: S. Boldrini, La prosodia e la metrica dei Romani, Roma, La Nuova Italia Scientifica, 1992. 

The professor holds a rhetoric seminar every two weeks dedicated to the analysis of texts and the persuasive modality between ancient and modern. Its value is completely cultural, attendance is absolutely free and does not offer discounts for the exam: the first meetings will be held on the Webex platform: https://unito.webex.com/meet/andrea.balbo. Interested students can contact the professor.