CLASSICAL TRADITION AND PALEOGRAPHY
cod. 1008124

Academic year 2021/22
1° year of course - Second semester
Professor responsible for the course unit
Gualtiero ROTA
integrated course unit
12 credits
hub: PARMA
course unit
in ITALIAN

Course unit structured in the following modules:

Learning objectives

Knowledge and understanding
Students will develop advanced knowledgment and understanding about the tradition and survival of classical texts and about paleography both by reading related texts and thanks to the use of different sources (manuals, books and scientific articles, lectures etc.),
Applying knowledge and understanding
Students will be able to apply knowledge and comprehension skills within multidisciplinary context, showing a good competence in placing classical authors in their historical and cultural context, also in a research context, and by recognizing, reading and describing the various kinds of writing of Latin manuscripts, from the origins to 15th century. Comprehension and problem solving skills will be reinforced and applied to new or unfamiliar topics, belonging to wider or interdisciplinary contexts related to their field of study.
Making judgments: Students will be able to collect and interpret data to determine autonomous judgements on the survival of classical tradition and on paleography also by oral referees on proposed themes, including cross-cultural and interdisciplinary thinking on cultural and intercultural, scientific and ethical topics connected to the judgements expressed. Students will be able to integrate their knowledge, manage complexity and make judgements based on limited or incomplete data.
Communication skills
Thanks to the specific focus on communication competences about classical tradition and paleography, students will be able to convey , with clear and proper language, information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialists and non-specialists. Students can make conclusions clearly and through the support of their knowledge. They will also be able to explain the reasons for their conclusions
Learning skills
Thanks to the general scaffolding of the course which puts processes related to acquiring a critical and historical attitude at the centre, students will develop learning skills useful to continue studying autonomously and in a self-directed way in lifelong learning education or to begin with critical attitude a working activity

Prerequisites

None

Course unit content

Unit 1
History of Classical Tradition.

- The first part of the course will focus on the introduction to History of Classical tradition, institutions and critical methodology, with particular reference to intertextuality and hypertextuality.

- The second part of the course will focus on the analysis of peculiar examples of tradition of classical and anticlassical texts.


Paleography. Historical “excursus” about the Latin writings of manuscripts from the ancient times to invention of printing. References to codicology and diplomatics. Reading and analysis of various writing with the help of traditional facsimiles and of digital reproductions of manuscripts now available on-line.

Full programme

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Bibliography

History of Classical Tradition.
1) S. Tatti, Classico: storia di una parola, Roma 2015;
2) Selection of papers (assigned during class).

Non-attending students must get in contact the the teacher for information on bibliography

Paleography
1. Manual
Giulio BATTELLI, “Lezioni di paleografia”, 4th ed., Città del Vaticano, Libreria editrice Vaticana, 1999, and following reprints (at head of title page: Scuola Vaticana di Paleografia, Diplomatica e Archivistica).

2. Further readings (at least one book among the following)

Armando PETRUCCI, “Prima lezione di paleografia”, Roma-Bari, GLF editori Laterza, 2002, and following reprints (Universale Laterza, 811; Prime lezioni).

or

Giorgio COSTAMAGNA, “Perché scriviamo così. [Invito alla paleografia latina]”, Roma, Il centro di ricerca, 1987 (Fonti e studi del Corpus membranarum Italicarum. 1a ser., Studi e ricerche, 26). Disponibile in linea al seg. indirizzo: .

3. Materials distributed during the course.

4. A list of supplementary and optional (but not compulsory) readings will be supplied during the course.

Teaching methods

Unit 1
History of Classical tradition.

The course consists of classroom lectures supplemented by weekly tutorials (live lectures to be recorded and uploaded on Elly).
Through classroom lectures students will be guided to a first methodological approach for the study of different text according to the specific features of literary genres and authors.
Classroom lectures will be supplemented by practice sessions and tutorials to support students in gaining the resources and skills needed to properly read and translate texts. Tutorial activities will be scaled up and down according to students’ abilities and needs.

Paleography. Frontal lessons, exercises, seminars, conducted tours.
All the teaching material (facsimiles, slides, etc.) used during the course will be loaded on platform “Elly”, http://elly.dusic.unipr.it/2017/.

Assessment methods and criteria

The exam consists of an oral interview covering syllabus topics. For Classical Tradition students will show their deep competence about the tradition and survival of classical texts, placing authors in their historical and cultural context. For Paleography they will show their deep competence about the knowledge of Latin writing’s history and the ability to recognize, read and describe the various kinds of Latin manuscripts’ writing, from the origins to 15th century. The examination consists in one or more questions about Latin writing’s history and in reading and analysis of one or more facsimiles chosen by the teacher
Students will be assessed on:written and oral proficiency; language property; working out contents; ability to make inter-disciplinary connections; proper use of specialist language; ability to give proper answers to given questions. Students will have to score a minimum of 60 percent or better of the given questions to get a pass grade. The evaluation is on 30-point scale. The final score will be calculated by the arithmetic mean of the partial scores of the two courses.

Other information

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2030 agenda goals for sustainable development

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