Università Roma Tre

Course title:
Cassiodorus' De anima

Course description:
The module, of a monographic nature, intends first of all to retrace, in broad terms, the developments of a theme - that of the soul - dear to the tradition of Western thought since its beginnings, and capable, as well as incessantly nourishing philosophical and religious reflection, so to speak, of a high level, also having a singular impact on mentalities, on the imagination, on life behaviors, on the self-perception and representation of the human being in Western culture, particularly in the Latin Middle Ages. A work will then be analyzed - Cassiodorus' De anima - which enjoyed widespread success for a long time, and which, due to its eclectic character but not without traits of originality, lends itself well to providing an articulated and problematic status quaestionis on the theme , as it took shape in the early medieval centuries, before the more complete elaborations of Scholasticism. – As part of the module, exercises will also be activated aimed at orienting towards the knowledge and use of the main bibliographic and IT tools for the study and research on Middle Latin authors.

- MAGNI AURELII CASSIODORI De anima, cura et studio J. W. Halporn, Brepols, Turnholti 1973 (Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 96, 533-575).
- M. DI MARCO, Scelta e utilizzazione delle fonti nel "De anima" di Cassiodoro, in Studi e Materiali di Storia delle religioni, n.s. IX,1 (1985) 93-117;
- M. DI MARCO, Note sulla simbologia dei numeri nel "De anima" di Cassiodoro, in Cassiodoro dalla Corte di Ravenna al Vivarium di Squillace. Atti del Convegno Internazionale, Squillace 25-27 ottobre 1990, a cura di S. Leanza, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli-Messina 1993, 199-212.
- M. DI MARCO, Virtus adunationis. Alcuni esempi di innovazione lessicale nel De anima di Cassiodoro, in Varietate delectamur. Multifarious Approaches to Synchronic and Diachronic Variation in Latin. Selected Papers from the 14th International Colloquium on Late and Vulgar Latin (Ghent, 2022), Brepols, Turnhout 2024 (in corso di stampa).
- Anima e corpo nella cultura medievale, a cura di C. Casagrande e S. Vecchio, Ed. SISMEL, Firenze 1999 (Millennio medievale, 15).