Examination procedure
Seminar presentation
Examination procedure notes
The seminar presentation will focus on a text or a topic, agreed upon with the lecturer, related to the course subject matter.
Prerequisites
The course requires a solid kwoledge of Latin language. The course can be attended by students of all years of study.
Syllabus
The first part of the course will examine Lucan’s poetic career, drawing also on ancient biographical accounts of the poet, and looking at the fragments of his minor works. The course will then focus on the Bellum civile, Lucan’s major work: issues related to its composition, publication, and chronology will be addressed; particular attention will be given to the question of its incompleteness, considering the signals that reveal its current state of incompleteness and lack of revision (analysis of the work’s current ending, the presence of possible authorial variants, the poem’s general structure, etc.); finally, the history of the transmission of the work and its manuscript tradition will be examined.
The last part of the course will be devoted to reading selected passages from the Bellum civile, with particular attention to textual, philological and interpretive issues, while also addressing the literary and ideological aspects of the work.
Bibliographical references
Critical editions
C. Hosius (ed.), M. Annaei Lucani belli civilis libri decem, Lipsiae 1913 (3)
A. E. Housman (ed.), M. Annaei Lucani belli civilis libri decem, Oxonii 1927 (2)
R. Badalì (ed.), Lucani opera, Romae 1992
D. R. Shackleton Bailey, Lucanus, De bello civili, Stutgradiae et Lipsiae 1997 (2)
Other works
P. Asso (ed.), Brill's Companion to Lucan, Leiden 2011
H. C. Gotoff, The Transmission of the Text of Lucan in the 9th Century, Cambridge (Mass.) 1971
G. Luck, Die fehlenden Verse im Lucantext, "Rheinisches Museum" 112, 1969, pp. 254-284
K. F. C. Rose, Problems of Chronology in Lucan's Career, "Transaction of the American Philological Association" 97, 1966, pp. 379-396
A. Russotti, Come lavorava Lucano? Su possibili varianti d'autore nel Bellum civile, "Philologus" 168, 2024, pp. 70-91
C. Walde, Reflexionen zur Debatte um das Ende von Lucans Bellum civile, in C. Scmhitz, J. R. Telg, A. Jone (hrsg.), Anfange und Enden. Narrative Potentiale des antiken und nachantichen Epos, Heidelberg 2017, pp. 169-198
Further and more detailed bibliographic references will be supplied during the course.