ANCIENT CHRISTIAN LITERATURE

The course aims to make students acquire knowledge of the basic lines of ancient Christian literature and of the history of ancient Bible translations. The course also aims to provide students with appropriate philological methodologies for the texts analyzed.

The course includes lectures, which will be supplemented by multimedia practical exercises for the application of the main computing resources to the study of Christian literary sources.

The course is based on the study, conducted with the methods of philological and literary research, of the ancient works about Christian subject and it is also aimed at investigating the reception of themes and texts of ancient Christian literature in the later tradition. Particular attention is paid to the ancient and modern translations of the Bible; to the literary forms and genres; to the in-depth study on the Christian poets of the IV-VI centuries; to understanding of problems relating to tradition and to the edition of Christian texts; to the relationship between classical rhetoric and Biblical culture; to the exegetical terminology; to the analysis of symbolic language; to the hermeneutic practice based on the techniques of intertextuality.

A) Principles of ancient Christian literature (5 ECTS)

Texts:

- C. Moreschini – E. Norelli, Manuale di letteratura cristiana antica greca e latina, Morcelliana, Brescia 2006, pp. 15-501.

- M. R. Petringa, La Bibbia e le sue versioni antiche e moderne, pp. 1-19

(the booklet will be presented through slides during the lessons and will be provided in pdf format to the students).

B) Special contents (3 ECTS)

Reading, translation and philological linguistic and literary commentary of excerpts on the Christian poets of the IV-VI centuries. The texts will be provided by the teacher during the lessons.

Texts:

- A. V. Nazzaro, Parafrasi biblica e agiografica, s. v., in A. Di Berardino (ed.), Nuovo dizionario patristico e di antichità cristiane, 3, Genova-Milano, Marietti, 2008, 3909-3916.

- M. R. Petringa, Il poema dell’Heptateuchos. Itinera philologica tra tardoantico e alto medioevo, (Biblioteca di Commentaria Classica, I), Catania, Litterae Press, 2016, pp. 19-82.

Critical readings (at least 4 critical readings should be chosen by the student among the following ones):

- A. V. Nazzaro, Sui Versus ad fratrem corripiendum di papa Damaso, «Koinonia» 1, 1977, pp. 195-203.

- M. R. Petringa, Il De mortibus boum di Endelechio, in «La veterinaria antica e medievale. Testi greci, latini, arabi e romanzi», Atti del II Convegno internazionale (Università di Catania, 3-5 ottobre 2007), a cura di V. Ortoleva e M. R. Petringa, Lugano, Lumières Internationales, 2009, pp. 243-258.

- A.V. Nazzaro, Praefatio ed epilogus degli Evangeliorum libri IV di Giovenco, in «Carminis incentor Christus», a cura di A.V. Nazzaro e R. Scognamiglio (Analecta Nicolaiana, 13), Bari 2012, pp. 11-35.

- M. R. Petringa, Le attestazioni del verbo clepto nel latino tardo e medievale, in «Latin Vulgaire Latin Tardif X», Actes du X^e colloque international sur le latin vulgaire et tardif (Bergamo, 5-9 septembre 2012), Édités par P. Molinelli, P. Cuzzolin et C. Fedriani, II (Sémantique, Lexique, Textes et Contextes), Bergamo, University Press, 2014, pp. 615-626.

- M. R. Petringa, Il paradiso terrestre nella riscrittura del poeta dell’Heptateuchos (gen. 64-133): analisi del lessico delle emozioni, in «Spazi e tempi delle emozioni: dai primi secoli all’età bizantina», Atti delle VI Giornate di studio di Letteratura cristiana antica (Università di Catania, 9-11 novembre 2017), Acireale-Roma, Bonanno editore, 2018, pp. 185-207.

- M. R. Petringa, Un problema testuale in Endelechio, «Commentaria Classica» 7, 2020 (Studi di filologia greca e latina In memoria di Antonio Vincenzo Nazzaro), 81-85.

C) Computer resources for the study of the ancient Christian authors (1 ECTS)

Multimedia presentation of the main computer resources for the study of ancient Christian literary texts.

Texts: at least 30 pages should be chosen from the following studies (the texts will be provided by the teacher during the lessons):

- M. Onorato, Sitografia ragionata di lingua e letteratura latina:

I parte in «Bollettino di Studi Latini» 39, 2009, pp. 195-213;

II parte in «Bollettino di Studi Latini» 40, 2010, pp. 98-168 (spec. pp. 160-168);

III parte in «Bollettino di Studi Latini» 40, 2010, pp. 598-644 (spec. pp. 606-608, pp. 612-613).

Please remember that in compliance with art. 171 L. 22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).

All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.