Università Roma Tre

I part of the course of GREEK LITERATURE (Profs. Giuseppetti - Cozzoli): The art of narration in Horodotus and Thucydides

The course of Greek literature consists of two parts

First part: The course aims to present an historical outline of the Greek literature up to the Roman age through a review of the most significant genres and authors. The reading of selected passages of Herodotus and Thucydides will be the starting point to reflect on the art of narration which developed in the Athenian culture at the end of the V century. Historiography offers a special point of view for observing how such authors as Herodotus and Thucydides are related to their social and political contest and how the interpreted the past and tradition. In particular, students will read passages from the books I, II and IV of Herodotus, which allow to consider the relationship between the author and some intellectual trends of his time and, on the other side, between the historian and Homer, the poems of the epic cycle and the archaic poetry in general. As far as Thucydides is concerned, students will read passages from the archaiologia in the first book, in order to analyse the problems of the truthfulness of Homer and of the origins of the Athenian empire.

Bibliography of the first part of the course:
Students are required to acquire the general outiline of Greek literature through the use of an handbook. The passages of Herodotus and Thucydides will be discussed on texts provided by the teacher during the course and avalible on his online page (http://studiumanistici.uniroma3.it/mgiuseppetti/bacheca/).