Università Roma Tre

The course ‘Latin language and literature’ is aimed at giving a thorough and integral knowledge of some important Latin authors and literary works, read in original and explicated as regards both the language and the contents. It consists of:
(1) A number of lectures about the so-called ‘Literary Space’ of ancient Rome, minded in particular (a) to underline the links between literature and politics (and between men of letters and society) in Rome, (b) to illustrate tipology and development of the literary genres in Rome, (c) to understand the range of different levels and functions of the latin written texts. Problems of preservation and transmission of the corpus of the latin classics will be envisaged also, even as regards their medieval and modern heritage.

(2) Some lectures about main features of latin language.

(3) Setting, reading, italian translation and commentary of:
- (a) Lucretius, De rerum natura, book I;
- (b) Tacitus, De origine et situ Germanorum;
- (c) Virgilius, Aeneis, book VI.

As for (1):
- G. B. Conte, Letteratura latina, Firenze (ed. Le Monnier, 2002 and reprints), parts I-IV (from the Beginnings to the II sec. C.E.).
- E. Norden, La letteratura romana, Bari (Laterza, 1958): only the appendix titled «Le fonti antiche», available on line at the url of the course (Teams).
- An hand-out for the lectures (“Profilo di storia della letteratura latina. Testi di supporto: dalle Origini alla morte di Silla. Edited by Mario De Nonno”), available on line at the url of the course (Teams).

As for (2):
- R. Oniga, Latin. A Linguistic Introduction. Edited & Translated by N. Schifano (Oxford University Press, 2014).

As for (3):
- Lucrezio, Le leggi dell’Universo (La natura, Libro I), a cura di L. Piazzi, con testo a fronte (ed. Marsilio, 2011). – For those who want to have a complete text of the Lucretian poem (books I-VI), among the editions available on the market (with insufficient commentary for the purposes of preparing for the exam), the one edited by G.B. Conte-I. Dionigi (Milano, BUR), the ones by E. Narducci-G. Milanese (Milano, Oscar Classici Mondadori) and by F. Giancotti (Milano, Garzanti).
- Tacito, Germania. Saggio introduttivo, nuova traduzione e note, a cura di S. Audano, Sant’Arcangelo di Romagna, Rusconi Libri (“Collana Classici greci e latini”), 2020.
- Publio Virgilio Marone, Eneide, Traduzione a cura di A. Fo. Note di F. Giannotti, Torino (ed. Einaudi), 2010, only book VI (in Teams will be available the “.pdf” of Vergil’s Book VI, edited by R. Sabbadini - C. Marchesi, Loescher, 1967).