DRAMATURGY AND ANCIENT THEATRE

By providing methodological coordinates for studying primary and secondary sources and for interpretation and analysis of textual and iconographic sources, the class prepares the student to deal with the reading of texts of ancient theatre.

The class is divided into two parts:

1st part (general section: module A): literary, archaeological and iconographic sources

- From myth to drama: the origins of Tragedy and Comedy

- The theatre building

- Theatral texts and iconography (V/IV century BC)

- Aristotle's theories on Tragedy

- The tradition of theatrical texts

2nd part – monographic section (module B): Aeschylus' drama

- Aeschylus: the political invention of Athenian drama

- Prometheus: a dramaturgical analysis

A Methodology (4 CFU)

CLASSICAL SOURCES

– Aristoteles, Poetica, with original text and translation; recommended edition: Aristotele, Poetica, edited by D. Lanza, BUR, Milano 1987, pp. 115-223.

BOOKS

– G. Mastromarco, P. Totaro, Storia del teatro greco, Le Monnier Università/Mondadori Education, Milano 2008, pp.1-294.

CHAPTERS

– Giulia Bordignon (ed. by), Scene dal mito, Guaraldi, Rimini, 2015, pp.7-144 (methodological essays); pp. 163-228 (case studies: allegories; Niobe; Laocoön) or, alternatively, pp. 229-312 (case studies: Philoctetes, Medea).

B Dramaturgical analysis of Prometheus by Aeschylus (2 CFU)

TEXT and COMMENTARY

– Eschilo, Prometeo, in Eschilo, Le tragedie, edited by Monica Centanni, Mondadori, Milano 2003: pp. 289-293 (Introduction to Prometheus); pp. 295-375 (text and translation); pp. 903-960 (commentary)

CHAPTERS

– M. Centanni, Rappresentare Atene, in Eschilo. Le tragedie, Mondadori, Milano 2003, pp. I-LXXXII.

– M. Centanni, La drammaturgia di Eschilo, in Eschilo, Le tragedie, Mondadori, Milano 2003, pp. 1137-1172.