The course aims to provide students with the history of the spaces and the forms of the spectacle in Rome and Pompei from the end of the Republic to the Imperial Age through a historical-philological global perspective. Special attention will be paid to the decisive Augustian period.
2) ESSAYS:
- Gioachino CHIARINI, Introduzione al teatro latino, Milano, Mondadori Università, 2004, pp. 1-61.
- Stefano MAZZONI, Panorama di Pompei: storia dello spettacolo e mondo antico, in «Annali del Dipartimento di Storia delle Arti e dello Spettacolo dell’Università di Firenze», n.s., IX (2008), pp. 9-76; or, on line, in «Annali Online della Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia dell’Università degli Studi di Ferrara», (2008), vol. 2, pp. 186-243 (http://annali.unife.it/lettere/article/view/168).
- Stefano MAZZONI, Teatri romani: immagini d’impero e d’attori e altre questioni in Studi di Storia dello spettacolo. Omaggio a Siro Ferrone, edited by S. Mazzoni, Firenze, Le Lettere, 2011, pp. 15-35.
- Stefano MAZZONI, Studiare i teatri 2. Istruzioni per l’uso, «Dionysus ex machina», VII (2016), pp. 145-161 (http://dionysusexmachina.it/?cmd=articolo&id=220).
3) TEXTS: - LUCIANO, La danza (edited by Simone Beta, Venezia, Marsilio, 1992).
- SVETONIO, Augusto (for example in the edition of "Vite dei Cesari", with an introduction to the text of Settimio Lanciotti, translated by Felice Dessì, Milano, Rizzoli, 1982, vol. I).
Learning Objectives
The course aims to provide students with an advanced historical-philological knowledge of spectacle in Augustian Age and of its context. This is achieved via manifold tools. The lessons aim to develop the key transferable skills required student’s understanding of the plural sources (literary, iconographic, epigraphic, archaeological sites, websites). The main objective is to achieve individual analytical skills related to the history of Roman spectacle in the Augustian Age. The course includes learning exercises.
KNOWLEDGE:
Knowledge of the Roman History between the End of the Republic and the Augustinian Age.
COMPETENCES:
Improvement of the critical judgement of the sources.
SKILLS:
Reconstruct and interpret –according to a contextual view- the spectacle system of the ancient Rome. Develop the learning skills, which are essential, in order to carry on the studies critically and autonomously.
Prerequisites
Bachelor. Good knowledge of the Italian language.
Teaching Methods
Face-to-face lectures: 36 hours. History of culture and history of spectacle by means of a comparative analysis of plural sources and multiple historiographical approaches. Contextual and multilinear approach to the topics studied. Pictures and videos will integrate the course. The course includes learning exercises. The website Moodle will be used.
Further information
Course attendance is strongly recommended. There will be oral and/or written tests ‘in itinere’ and a final oral test. If necessary, foreign students could agree upon a special program.
Type of Assessment
Oral test. The student will be examined on the course contents and on the required
readings.
At the exam, students should be able to:
1) Know the contents of the topics of the face-to-face lessons;
2) Understand the main theoretical categories of the Western performing arts;
3) Express properly their own opinions;
4) Discuss and judge critically the topics and the bibliography of the course.
Course program
Title of the course:
AUGUSTO AND THE THEATERS OF HIS TIME
Topics: 1. The conception of time in Rome: the calendars and the festivals. 2. The "ludi": matters and methods. 3. Cicerone and the inauguration of the Theatre of Pompeo Magno. 4. Augusto and the idea of Empire. 5. The city of the Prince: Roma and Pompei. 6. The spectacle in the "Res gestae Divi Augusti" and Svetonio's "Vite dei Cesari". 7. The "ludi" and the theatrical space in Augustian Age.