The main subjet-matter of this course is Latin prose and specifically the philosophical treatises of Cicero and Seneca.
Α. Introduction: During the introductory lectures of the course, emphasis is given to the spread of Greek philosophy in Rome, the most influential philosophical movements, schools and philosophers, the first philosophical writings and the De Rerum Natura of Lucretius, Cicero’s and Seneca’s philosophical inclinations and works and the philosophical authors after Seneca.
Β. Study of representative passages from the philosophical treatises of Cicero and Seneca: The framework of this course includes a close examination of some selected passages from the philosophical treatises of Cicero (i.e. De Amicitia 1-5, 13-14, 20, 22-24, 33-34, 44, 62, 79-80, 88, De Senectute 77-81, De Natura Deorum 1-4, 6-9, 61-64 and De Divinatione ΙΙ 4-5) and those of Seneca (i.e. De Providentia Ι 1, 5-6, De beata vita ΙΙΙ 3 and De brevitate vitae Ι 3-4 and VΙΙ 3-4). The respective passages are studied from the aspect of language and also with reference to their Greek philosophical influences and the viewpoint from which the main philosophical questions are each time developed in connection with the Roman notions.
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The aim of the course is to offer a general introduction to Roman Tragedy as well as a linguistic, a metrical analysis, and an interpretation of Seneca’s Phaedra.
The course focuses on the following:
1. Seneca’s life and work: Biography, Seneca’ work (prose, tragedies) and his personality.
2. Phaedra. a) Introduction: the Hippolytus and Phaedra myth and its dramatic use, originality, content and structure, the characters (Hippolytus, Phaedra, the Nurse, Theseus), imagery, the philosophy of the tragedy, the role of nature (natura) in Phaedra, the Amazonian origin of Hippolytus, the 'geography' and the anti-racial character of Phaedra, hunters and game, the dating of the Phaedra and its political dimension, the reception of the Phaedra, the manuscript tradition and the history of Phaedra’s text, prosody and scansion, the 'cursed' generation of Phaedra, Hippolytus’ origins, Euripides’ Hippolytus the Bearer, Ovid’ fourth Heroine and its translation by Maximos Planoudes, Racine’s and Yannis Ritsos’ Phaedra.
b) Text, translation, analysis and commentary of the Phaedra (verses for study from the Latin original: 85-273; 423-588; 959-990; 1123-1155. The remaining lines in translation).
In the course of the lectures, emphasis is mainly given to issues of the tragic plot construction, the intertextual delineation of tragic characters, philosophy as a means of producing meaning, Seneca’s dramatic art, the integration of the dramatic narrative in the historical context of the late Neronian period, the study of the evolution of the Latin language in the post-classical period and the metrical recitation of the iambic trimeter.
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Euripides’ Bacchae
Helen Gasti - Undergraduate -
(A-)
Department of Philology, University of Ioannina
The course is intended to examine Euripides’ dramatic technique, his style and his views concerning the gods.
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The poetical, theatrical and critical work of Sikelianos is closely examined, in parallel with the cultural environment of his time, taking into concern the social and historical conditions of the decades in which he lived and wrote.
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Introduction to the ancient historiography, introduction to Herodotus and his work: life and historical work• political, social background, debts to previous literature, relation with contemporary intellectual trends, the author's attitude towards religion and myth, method, language, style. The passages included in the syllabus are studied, discussed and analyzed in a way that the ideas of the text come to the fore.
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Introduction to the ancient historiography, introduction to Herodotus and his work: life and historical work• political, social background, debts to previous literature, relation with contemporary intellectual trends, the author's attitude towards religion and myth, method, language, style. The passages included in the syllabus are studied, discussed and analyzed in a way that the ideas of the text come to the fore.
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Latin Prose
Fotis Polymerakis - Undergraduate -
(A-)
Department of Philology, University of Ioannina
The course includes:
1. A brief account of the usefulness of Latin studies, the birth and the periods of the Latin literature, with emphasis on antiquity periods of literature.
2. Introduction to the Latin Prose from its beginnings (Twelve Tables, Appius Claudius Caecus, Pontifical Chronicles) up to Cicero. The genesis and the basic features of Latin prose.
3. Introduction to the Roman rhetoric. Parts and kinds of the rhetorical speech. A brief overview of the Roman oratory before Cicero. The conquest of Greek rhetoric and a detailed introduction to the works of Cicero, with an emphasis on the rhetorical theoretical treatises and his speeches. A brief overview of the rhetoric during Augustus and the imperial period.
4. Linguistic (vocabulary, grammar, syntax) and interpretative commentary of selected passages from Cicero’s rhetorical treatise De Oratore (I, 3-5, 9-20 • I, 43-45, 191-194, 195-203 • II, 1- 2, 4-8 • II, 12, 51-52 • II, 15, 62-64 • II, 27, 114-117) and his speech: Pro Tito Annio Milone (1-6, 22-31, 47- 64, 78-83, 92-105).
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In this course we examine and analyze a series of Hagiographical texts (martyria and Saints’ Lives) written between the 15th and 19th centuries, both in the vernacular and the learned language of the period. The texts belong to two main categories of Hagiohraphy: A) Collections of Martyria of Neo-martyrs, (that is Christians who suffered martyrdom under Ottoman rule in the areas of the Ottoman Empire), such as the collection of martyria known as “New Anthology of Martyria” by Nikodemos of Mount Athos and B) Lives of earlier Saints (mainly of the Byzantine period, 4th-15th centuries) translated either in the vernacular of the 16th-19th centuries or in the learned language of the Greek- speaking world not under the Ottoman rule, such as the translation of the Hagiographic Novel “Barlaam and Josaphat”, which was carried out in 17th century Crete, which was under Venetian rule. The analysis of the texts covers linguistic particularities owed to \turkish, Italian and Venetian influences, pragmatologic and historical commentary and an effort to place the texts within the tradition of use of early hagiographic topoi lurking back to the Early Christian period and the first martyria (4th century onwards).
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Conciliar Texts
Alexandros Alexakis - Undergraduate -
(A+)
Department of Philology, University of Ioannina
This course examines a number of texts that are included in the published Acts of the Ecumenical Councils of the Christian Church, which took place during the Eraly Byzantine period (5th-8th century). Although these texts are significant for the historical, theological, procedural, and ecclesiological information they provide, their analysis in the present course focuses on their literary traits and their successful application of the rules of rhetoric. Usually, in class the instructor provides a general introduction to the historical circumstances that led to the creation of these particular documents and then the class proceeds with the literary-stylistic and factual analysis.
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Homer – Odyssey
Gerasimoula Zografou - Undergraduate -
(A-)
Department of Philology, University of Ioannina
• Introduction to Homer:
The poet (personality-dating), creation and dissemination of the epics, the Homeric question, language, style, metre.
• Introduction to the Odyssey:
The positioning of the rhapsodies α and ε within the Odyssean corpus, analysis of their themes and structure, commentary on the text.
• Text: TW Allen, Homeri Opera, vol. III, Oxford 1957.
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