LIKOT03 Ancient Greek and Roman Literature

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
0/0/0. 15 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Mgr. Irena Radová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Irena Radová, Ph.D.
Department of Slavonic Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: doc. Mgr. Irena Radová, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Classical Studies – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites (in Czech)
LIKOT01 Comparative Literature & Genre
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course involves a survey of genres of Latin literature from its beginning to the so-called Crisis of the Roman Imperium. The aim of the course is to introduce the theoretical bases of the literary-historical research, as well as the ambivalent relationship of the Latin literature to the Ancient Greek literature (imitation versus emancipation efforts).
Learning outcomes
At the end of this course, students should be able
- to describe the development of the Greek literature together with the historical context;
- to characterize relevant genres of Greek prose and poetry and describe their particularities;
- to name the prominent figures of the genres in question and characterize their works;
- to characterize particular periods of Roman literature;
- to nominate the most important Latin authors and their writings;
- to classify them according to their genre characteristics.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction; periods of the Ancient Greek literature;
  • 2. The beginnings of epic poetry; Homeric question;
  • 3. Didactic epos; Lyric poetry: elegy; iamb; epigram; monodic and choral lyric;
  • 4. The beginnings of drama (tragedy); Aischylos; Sophocles; Euripides; Attic comedy ("the Old Comedy");
  • 5. Highlights of the Greek historiography (Herodotus; Thucydides; Polybius); Attic oratory and rhetoric;
  • 6. Hellenistic poetry I: Alexandrian poetry; new genres; "New Comedy";
  • 7. Main periods of the Roman literature; scholarly literature to the Roman literature; theoretical background of the research;
  • 8. Oral tradition: oracles, songs and stories in the Pre-literary Period; Epic poetry; drama of the Archaic Period (esp. Plautus a Terentius); Prose of the Archaic Period;
  • 9. The origin of poetic satire (Lucilius); neoterics; Philosophical epic poetry (Lucretius); Cicero; Historiography of the Cicero's and Augustean Period (esp. Caesar and Sallustius, Livy);
  • 10. Two generation of poets of the Augustean Period (Vergil, Horace); Elegiac poets (Tibullus and Propertius, Ovidius);
  • 11. Prose in the Early Roman Empire Period (Seneca, Petronius, Apuleius, Quintilian, Tacitus, Pliny);
  • 12. Poetry of the Nero's Reign, Flavian Poetry (Persius, Iuvenal, Seneca, Lucan, Statius, Valerius Flaccus, Italicus);
  • 13. Prose and poetry of the final period of Roman Empire (Symmachus, Historia Augusta, Ammianus Marcellinus, Augustin, Boethius, Prudentius, Claudius Claudianus).
Literature
  • CANFORA, Luciano. Dějiny řecké literatury. Translated by Dagmar Bartoňková. 1. vyd. Praha: KLP-Koniasch Latin Press, 2001, 893 s. ISBN 8085917696. info
  • CONTE, Gian Biagio. Dějiny římské literatury. Translated by Dagmar Bartoňková. Vyd. 1. Praha: KLP-Koniasch Latin Press, 2003, 790 s. ISBN 8085917874. info
  • CANFORA, Luciano. Storia della letteratura greca. 1. ed. Roma: GLF editori Laterza, 2001, xix, 867. ISBN 8842064289. info
  • ALBRECHT, Michael von. Römische Poesie : Texte und Interpretationen. Edited by Homéros. 2., erg. Aufl. Tübingen: Francke Verlag, 1995, 398 s. ISBN 3772022405. info
  • ALBRECHT, Michael von. Geschichte der römischen Literatur von Andronicus bis Boëthius : mit Berücksichtigung ihrer Bedeutung für die Neuzeit. 2, verb. u. erw. Aufl. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 1994, xiv, s. ISBN 342304618X. info
  • FEDELI, Paolo. Letteratura latina: civilta letteraria e vita sociale in Roma antica. Napoli: Il tripode, 1993, 491 pp. info
  • DEL CORNO, D. Letteratura greca. Milano, 1988. info
  • The Cambridge history of classical literature. Edited by P. E. Easterling - Bernard MacGregor Walker Knox. 1. pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985, xv, 936. ISBN 0521210429. info
  • LESKY, A. Geschichte der griechischen Literatur. Bern, 1971. info
  • STIEBITZ, Ferdinand. Stručné dějiny řecké literatury. Vyd. 1. Praha: Státní pedagogické nakladatelství, 1967, 247 s. info
  • STIEBITZ, Ferdinand. Stručné dějiny římské literatury. 1. vyd. Praha: Státní pedagogické nakladatelství, 1967, 394 s. info
  • SCHMID, Wilhelm and Otto STÄHLIN. Geschichte der griechischen Literatur. München: Beck, 1961. info
Teaching methods
Individual tutorials, discussions, completing a seminar paper, reading specialist literature.
Assessment methods
Independent reading of recommended specialist literature and individual tutorials. The presupposition of the oral exam is the completion of a seminar paper.
Language of instruction
Czech
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2025/LIKOT03