Unit CULTURE AND LATIN LITERATURE
- Course
- Cultural heritage
- Study-unit Code
- 35990206
- Curriculum
- In all curricula
- Teacher
- Alessandra Di Pilla
- Teachers
-
- Alessandra Di Pilla
- Hours
- 48 ore - Alessandra Di Pilla
- CFU
- 6
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2025
- Offered
- 2025/26
- Learning activities
- Base
- Area
- Civiltà antiche e medievali
- Academic discipline
- L-FIL-LET/04
- Type of study-unit
- Opzionale (Optional)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- Italian.
- Contents
- ATTENDING STUDENTS: a) Lectures (36 hours): Presentation of the main authors of Latin literature (historical and cultural context, biography, works, and reference to literary genres) from the origins to Apuleius (2nd century AD). The authors are listed in the Extended Program (List A). b) Supplementary teaching activities (12 hours): Reading and commentary of selected passages from Latin authors, in Italian translation. c) A reading to be chosen by the student: a short work of Latin literature (or part of a major work), in Italian translation, selected from List B (see Extended Program). WORKING STUDENTS AND NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS: Knowledge of the main authors of Latin literature (historical and cultural context, biography, works, and reference to literary genres) from the origins to Apuleius (2nd century AD). The authors are listed in the Extended Program (List A). A reading to be chosen by the student: two short works of Latin literature (or one major work) in Italian translation, selected from List B (see Extended Program).
- Reference texts
- ATTENDING STUDENTS: Hand-book: Giovanna Garbarino - Lorenza Pasquariello, Vivamus. Cultura e letteratura latina, Single volume, Paravia-Pearson. (in English if necessary: Gian Biagio Conte, Latin literature. A history, Baltimore and London 1999). Collection of author passages read and commented on during the Supplementary Teaching sessions. These texts will be made available progressively on unistudium.unipg.it/unistudium/login/index.php, on the page dedicated to the course CULTURE AND LATIN LITERATURE 2025–26. One short work of Latin literature (or part of a major work), to be read independently by the student in Italian translation, chosen from List B (see Extended Program). WORKING STUDENTS AND NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS: Hand-book: Giovanna Garbarino - Lorenza Pasquariello, Vivamus. Cultura e letteratura latina, Single volume, Paravia-Pearson. (in English if necessary: Gian Biagio Conte, Latin literature. A history, Baltimore and London 1999). Two short works of Latin literature (or a complete major work), to be read independently by the student in Italian translation, chosen from List B (see Extended Program). STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES AND/OR SPECIFIC LEARNING DISORDERS (SLD): Students with disabilities and/or with SLD who, having completed regular accreditation through SOL, have obtained access to University services, can apply for the compensatory tools ensured by law (e.g. textbooks in digital format; teaching materials in accessible formats: presentations, handouts, workbooks, provided if necessary in advance of the lessons), for which consult https://www.unipg.it/disabilita-e-dsa. For the request, students are invited to ask the teacher, who will put them in contact with the Disability and/or DSA Department Coordinator (prof. Alessandra Di Pilla: alessandra.dipilla@unipg.it)
- Educational objectives
- Placed in the first year of the curriculum, the course aims to provide a general overview of Latin literary culture, understood as one of the main generative sources of the European cultural imagination.
Main learning outcomes:
A general knowledge of Latin literature in its historical development up to the 2nd century AD, through the study of the main authors and their works, and in relation to the major literary genres.
Exposure to Latin literary texts, read in Italian translation.
Main skills:
Ability to place authors and their works within the appropriate historical-cultural context and literary genres.
Ability to present the content and key issues of a literary work (or part of it) chosen among the most representative of the Latin literary tradition and read independently in Italian translation. - Prerequisites
- No prerequisites.
- Teaching methods
- Lectures, including the use of multimedia tools (36 hours).
Supplementary teaching delivered in lecture format, possibly with the use of multimedia tools (12 hours). - Other information
- All students are invited to register from the beginning of the course on the course page available at https://unistudium.unipg.it/unistudium/login/index.php (CULTURE AND LATIN LITERATURE 2025/26).
Students with disabilities and/or specific learning disorders (SLD):
for information on the services offered by the University, please consult the page https://www.unipg.it/disabilita-e-dsa and contact the Department's Disability and SLD Coordinator, Prof. Alessandra Di Pilla (alessandra.dipilla@unipg.it). - Learning verification modality
- Number of exam tests: Single oral exam, not divisible. Purpose of the exam: to assess student’s knowledge of the profiles and works of the Latin literature authors included in the syllabus, and the student’s ability — at least at a basic level — to place them within their historical and cultural context and literary genres, also with reference to the passages (in Italian translation) read during the Supplementary Teaching sessions. to assess the reading and understanding of the short work (or part of a major work) chosen by the student (ability to contextualize and summarize it). Evaluation methods: Oral interview with open-ended questions: questions concerning the authors included in the syllabus, also with references to the passages read during the Supplementary Teaching sessions; questions regarding the literary work chosen and read independently by the student. Average duration of the exam: 20 minutes. Final rating: The vote will be expressed in thirtieth (from 18 to 30, with possible praise) and will be based on an average evaluation of all student’s responses. Students with disabilities and / or with SLD: For the purposes of the exam, they may make use of compensatory tools, dispensatory measures, and inclusive technologies as provided by current regulations. These must be requested and agreed upon with the teachers well in advance of the exam date. For further information, please consult the https://www.unipg.it/disabilita-e-dsa and contact the Department's Coordinator for Disability and SLD, Prof. Alessandra Di Pilla (alessandra.dipilla@unipg.it).
- Extended program
- ATTENDING STUDENTS: a) Lectures (36 hours): Presentation of the main authors of Latin literature (historical and cultural context, biography, works, and reference to literary genres) from the origins to Apuleius (2nd century AD). The authors are listed in the following List A. List A- Authors covered during the lectures, to be studied for the exam: REPUBLICAN AGE The archaic age: from the origins to the conquest of the Mediterranean (mid-3rd century – 133 BC) 1. At the origins: archaic epic and tragedy (Livy Andronicus, Nevius, Ennius). 2. The comic theatre: Plautus and Terence. 3. Cato. 4. The birth of satire: Lucilius. From the age of the Gracchi to Caesar (133 - 44 BC) 5. Lucretius. 6. The pre-neoteric poets and Catullus. 7. Cicero. 8. Caesar. 9. Sallust. AUGUSTAN AGE (44 BC - 14 AD) 1. Virgil. 2. Horace. 3. Elegiac poetry: Propertius. 4. Ovid 5. Livy IMPERIAL AGE (until 2nd AD) Julio-Claudian dynasty (14-68) 1. Seneca 2. Petronius 3. Lucan Flavian dynasty (69-96) 4. Quintilian 5. Martial Age of Trajan (98-117) and Hadrian (117-138) 6. Suetonius 7. Juvenal 8. Tacitus Age of the Antonines (138-192) 9. Apuleius b) Supplementary teaching activities (12 hours): Reading and commentary of selected passages from Latin authors, in Italian translation. These texts will be made available progressively on unistudium.unipg.it/unistudium/login/index.php, on the page dedicated to the course CULTURE AND LATIN LITERATURE 2025–26. c) One reading to be chosen by the student: a short work of Latin literature (or part of a major work) in Italian translation, selected from the following List B, in order to frame it and summarise it orally during the exam: List B - Suggestions for the work to be chosen by the student: Epic (choose one): a) historical epic: VIRGIL, Aeneid, book IV or book VI. b) didactic epic: LUCRECE, The Nature, book III; or VIRGIL, Georgics, book IV. c) mythological epic: OVID, Metamorphoses, a book chosen from I; III; IV; VIII; IX; X; XV. Satire: HORACE, Satires, from book I: 1, 2, 6, and from book II: 2, 6; or JUVENAL, Satires, book I, satire 3; Lyrical and elegiac poetry: CATULLUS, Poem 64; or PROPERTIUS, Elegies book I; or OVID, Letters of heroines 1, 7, 20, 21. Oratory: CICERO, Catilinariae, First Oration; or Orations against Verres: Preliminary debate against Caecilius (=Divinatio) and First oration. Historiography: CAESAR, The Gallic War, books I-IV; or SALLUSTIUS, The Conspiracy of Catiline; or LIVIUS, History of Rome from its foundation, books I-V; or TACITUS, Annals, book XIII (beginning of Nero's principate). Biography: SVETONIUS, The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Book VI (Life of Nero); or TACITUS, Life of Agricola; Philosophical Prose: CICERO, Laelius or on friendship; or SENECA, a dialogue chosen between: The brevity of life (De brevitate vitae); Happiness (De vita beata); Tranquility of the soul (De tranquillitate animi). Novel: PETRONIUS, from the Satyricon: chaps. 27-78 (Trimalchio's dinner); or APULEIUS, The Metamorphoses or Golden Ass, books I-VI. The suggested works are available in affordable or pocket editions and can be found at the Biblioteca Umanistica. WORKING STUDENTS AND NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS: The program includes: knowledge of the authors listed in List A; the reading of two short works (or one complete major work) included in List B.
- Obiettivi Agenda 2030 per lo sviluppo sostenibile
- Goal 4: Quality education.