Book Reviews by giorgio piras
«Sileno» 45, 337-339, 2019
Papers by giorgio piras
Rosso Medioevo. Per ricordare Francesca Rizzo Nervo, a cura di Paolo Garbini e Luigi Silvano, pp. 153-174, 2023
L’articolo affronta il ruolo e l’importanza della figura di Lucia in Dante, contestualizzandone l... more L’articolo affronta il ruolo e l’importanza della figura di Lucia in Dante, contestualizzandone la stratificata interpretazione nel quadro dell’eredità classica, quindi della tradizione medievale. In particolare, l’immagine letteraria di Lucia nel Purgatorio dantesco appare in relazione a tre diversi sogni che svolgono una funzione cruciale e strutturale nella Cantica, acquisendo un valore profetico che riecheggia l’eredità precristiana, la quale credeva fermamente nei sogni predittivi che si verificavano all’alba. Il ruolo assegnato a Lucia da Dante sembra essere dovuto alla sua connessione etimologica con la parola lux e il lume della divina Grazia. Nei passi danteschi riguardanti Lucia si riscontra un consistente numero di riferimenti classici, al punto che i suoi lineamenti si sovrappongono parzialmente a quelli di alcune divinità pagane. In questo modo, nella Lucia dantesca si fondono elementi greco-romani con suggestioni cristiane.
Codex, 3, pp. 243-258, 2022
The seminar organised by the Professor of Roman Law at the University of Turin Giovanni Pacchioni... more The seminar organised by the Professor of Roman Law at the University of Turin Giovanni Pacchioni (1867-1946) in the academic year 1911/12 concerned the authenticity (or possible falsehood) of the XII Tables and marked the first meeting between Palmiro Togliatti, then Law student, and Antonio Gramsci, student of Humanities. The seminar indeed acted as the starting point of the lasting and complex relation between the two scholars and politicians. Through a detailed reconstruction of the Turin academic environment, with particular reference to the Classical studies, as well as an in-depth analysis of the university careers of the two young intellectuals, an episode of the philological discussion on the XII Tables is explored. The latter turns out to be a part of a wider historical debate on the first centuries of Rome and results in an overall reflection on the impact of the professors of the University of Turin on the formation of both
Gramsci and Togliatti.
Ritmo, parole e musica: Ettore Romagnoli traduttore dei poeti. Atti del seminario di studi Rovereto, 9 aprile 2019, a cura di P. Salomoni, Rovereto 2021, 45-71, 2021
The classical scholar Ettore Romagnoli (1871-1938), well-known for his translations of Greek poem... more The classical scholar Ettore Romagnoli (1871-1938), well-known for his translations of Greek poems, also distinguished himself in Latin versions. Particularly, he translated Horace (“Letters”, 1928; “Satires”, 1929; “Odes”, 1933), the “Aulularia” and the “Miles gloriosus” by Plautus (1929) and “De bello civili” by Caesar (1931). All these works were issued in the “Collezione romana” series which he founded and directed, alias the “Romanorum scriptorum corpus Italicum” printed by the publisher Umberto Notari (Bologna 1878 - Perledo Varsina 1950). The series was inaugurated in 1926 and consisted of editions of Latin texts with italian translations. The numerous volumes were assigned to famous coeval intellectuals and meant to produce a collection designed to disseminate Classical culture, attempting – also with ideological goals – to claim Roman literature’s legacy to Italy, asserting its continuity with Italian language and literature.
In this contribution, a detailed analysis of the translation of the “Miles gloriosus” by Romagnoli is provided. Such a translation was intended for the theatre performance that occurred in 1928 and was republished in the subsequent year after a textual revision based on the most recent critical editions. The translation, coherent with the general principles usually applied by Romagnoli, is marked by a high degree of originality and aims to ensure the full enjoyment of the work by the contemporary audience, with linguistic and lexical solutions trying to reproduce in Italian the expressiveness and the creative verve of Plautus. The contribution also gives account of the handwritten notes preserved in Romagnoli's copy of the 1928 translation preserved in the Civic Library of Rovereto.
Almum Studium Papiense. Storia dell’Università di Pavia. Volume 3. Il Ventesimo secolo, ed. by D. Mantovani, Pavia, pp. 343-346, 2020
The greek literature scholar Ettore Romagnoli (1871-1938) spent his longest time as a university ... more The greek literature scholar Ettore Romagnoli (1871-1938) spent his longest time as a university professor at the University of Pavia (1918-1935), although he was engaged in public activities that partly diverted him from actual teaching
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 99 on-line, 2020
Biography of the classical philologist Piero Vettori (1499-1585), central figure of the Italian a... more Biography of the classical philologist Piero Vettori (1499-1585), central figure of the Italian and European classical philology of the sixteenth century. Heir of the great fifteenth-century humanistic tradition (in particular of Politian), he carried out his teaching of Greek and Latin and his research activity in Florence, in contact with all the greatest European classicists
Oltre “Roma Medio Repubblicana”. Il Lazio fra i Galli e la battaglia di Zama. Atti del Convegno Internazionale, Roma, 7-8-9 giugno 2017, Rome 2019, ed. by Cifarelli, Francesco Maria; Gatti, Sandra; Palombi, Domenico. pp. 441-451 , 2019
The relationship with Latium always carried a strong symbolic value for the Romans, although the ... more The relationship with Latium always carried a strong symbolic value for the Romans, although the words 'Roma' and 'Latium' are scarcely mentioned together in the preserved Latin literature. A renowned fragment of the Annals of Ennius (465 s. Vahlen2 = 494 s. Skutsch), whose pertinence and interpretation are uncertain, correlates the success of Rome with Latium. The verses are quoted by Varro in the Menippean Testamentum (fr. 542) and mocked by Horace in the Satires (1, 2, 37 s.). They are echoed in the Carmen saeculare as well as in Livy's work; and Virgil possibly bore them in mind in Aen. 12, 147 s., remarkably in Juno’s speech to Iuturna, when the goddess announces the approaching end of Turnus and the defeat of the inhabitants of Latium who are hostile towards Aeneas and the Trojans, necessary precondition for the future glory of Rome.
Bollettino di Studi Latini 49, 158-165, 2019
It is illustrated and discussed the critical edition of Plautus’ Pseudolus edited by Cesare Quest... more It is illustrated and discussed the critical edition of Plautus’ Pseudolus edited by Cesare Questa and published posthumously in the Editio Plautina Sarsinatis (Sarsina-Urbino 2017) . The text, moderately conservative, is the result of decades of research on the tradition of plautine comedies and is accompanied by extensive and
detailed documentation on every aspect of the manuscripts that transmit it, even on the most minute material elements.
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 95 (2019), 692-695
Biography of the italian scholar Sebastiano Timpanaro (1923-2000). He studied classics with the i... more Biography of the italian scholar Sebastiano Timpanaro (1923-2000). He studied classics with the italian philologist Giorgio Pasquali and - though non academic - he was one of the most wide ranginng intellectuals in the second half of the XX century not only in Italy.
C. Mussini, S. Rocchi und G. Cascio (hrsg. von), Storie di libri e tradizioni manoscritte dall’Antichità all’Umanesimo. In memoria di Alessandro Daneloni, München, 323-370, 2018
The paper detects the events of the collation of the famous codex “Bembinus” of Terence (now Vat.... more The paper detects the events of the collation of the famous codex “Bembinus” of Terence (now Vat. lat. 3226) made by Angelo Poliziano in 1491 on the margins of an incunabulum conserved in Florence (BNC, BR 97) and acquired by Pier Vettori after his death. The use of this collation by Vettori to recover variants of the ancient ms. emerges clearly in his printed works and in the margins of his books now in Munich. In particular, further evidence of the interest of Vettori has been identified in his unpublished notes (now BSB, Clm 805), which are illustrated in detail. The study contributes to shed light on the fortune of Bembine in the sixteenth century and on the history of Terentian textual criticism.
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani 94, 234-236, 2019
Biography of humanist from Pescia Stefano Sterponi, known as “Filoponus”, who died in 1536, who t... more Biography of humanist from Pescia Stefano Sterponi, known as “Filoponus”, who died in 1536, who taught in the Florentine Studio and at the University of Bologna. We possess some of Latin translations of Isocrates, as well as other minor works, some of them unpublished.
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani 94, 20-22, 2019
Biography of the italian classical scholar Ettore Stampini 1855-1930), professor of latin at Turi... more Biography of the italian classical scholar Ettore Stampini 1855-1930), professor of latin at Turin University and editor of the outstanding journal "Rivista di filologia e di istruzione classica" from 1897 to 1922
Cicerone oratore. Atti dell’VIII Simposio Ciceroniano (Arpino, 6 maggio 2016), a cura di P. De Paolis, Cassino 2017, 63-100, 2017
The analysis of the prosopopoeia of Appius Claudius Caecus contained in Cicero's 'Pro Caelio' (33... more The analysis of the prosopopoeia of Appius Claudius Caecus contained in Cicero's 'Pro Caelio' (33-34) allows to connect it with the famous speech of Appius Claudius against peace with Pyrrhus testified by Ennius and Cicero himself. The speech is also part of the long controversy of Cicero against the tribune Clodius and can be linked to other Cicero's speeches and be related it to the literary and historical-political tradition of the Clodii
BICS-60-2 2017, 2017
Varro's approach to his subjects is usually systematic and synchronic, but there are frequent dia... more Varro's approach to his subjects is usually systematic and synchronic, but there are frequent diachronic digressions and observations on time and the past, often divided into three stages (remote past, near past, and present). I discuss Rust. 2.1, with a progressive concept of three successive stages in human history from Dicaearchus, and a fragment from Censorinus, where Varro distinguishes tria discrimina temporum. A significant affinity emerges between etymological research and the study of origins: both involve the study of antiquitas or the origo, and both use the genealogical-reconstructive method. The same image of gradus descendere indicates the sequence of logical and chronological steps in describing human history (Rust. 2.1.3–5) and etymological research (Ling. 5.7–9). Varro is fully aware of the difficulties in reconstructing the ancient past and the origins of language, because uncertainty is a characteristic of the origo of human history and of words.
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani 88, 189-194 , 2017
Biography of the italian classical scholar Ettore Romagnoli (1871-1938)
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani 88, 795-797, 2017
Biography of the italian classical scholar Augusto Rostagni (1892-1961)
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani 89, 411-414, 2017
Biography of the italian classical scholar Remigio Sabbadini (1850-1934), professor of latin at M... more Biography of the italian classical scholar Remigio Sabbadini (1850-1934), professor of latin at Milan University and outstanding expert of italian Humanism and Renaissance literature
Uploads
Book Reviews by giorgio piras
Papers by giorgio piras
Gramsci and Togliatti.
In this contribution, a detailed analysis of the translation of the “Miles gloriosus” by Romagnoli is provided. Such a translation was intended for the theatre performance that occurred in 1928 and was republished in the subsequent year after a textual revision based on the most recent critical editions. The translation, coherent with the general principles usually applied by Romagnoli, is marked by a high degree of originality and aims to ensure the full enjoyment of the work by the contemporary audience, with linguistic and lexical solutions trying to reproduce in Italian the expressiveness and the creative verve of Plautus. The contribution also gives account of the handwritten notes preserved in Romagnoli's copy of the 1928 translation preserved in the Civic Library of Rovereto.
detailed documentation on every aspect of the manuscripts that transmit it, even on the most minute material elements.
Gramsci and Togliatti.
In this contribution, a detailed analysis of the translation of the “Miles gloriosus” by Romagnoli is provided. Such a translation was intended for the theatre performance that occurred in 1928 and was republished in the subsequent year after a textual revision based on the most recent critical editions. The translation, coherent with the general principles usually applied by Romagnoli, is marked by a high degree of originality and aims to ensure the full enjoyment of the work by the contemporary audience, with linguistic and lexical solutions trying to reproduce in Italian the expressiveness and the creative verve of Plautus. The contribution also gives account of the handwritten notes preserved in Romagnoli's copy of the 1928 translation preserved in the Civic Library of Rovereto.
detailed documentation on every aspect of the manuscripts that transmit it, even on the most minute material elements.
Antiquitates. Nevertheless, his direct knowledge of Varro’s texts is only proven for the first book of
the De re rustica and perhaps part of the Antiquitates rerum humanarum. Nonius’ interest in
Varro has also most likely influenced his reading of Gellius, although in his opinion he was not to be
counted among the most authoritative representatives of the language of the ancients. The analysis of
Varronian citations and the comparison with the direct tradition of the De re rustica, confirm the
solidity of Lindsay’s reconstruction of the compositional methods in the De compendiosa doctrina.
Widespread traces of the adopted systematic reading and rewriting can be identified, as shown particularly
by the preference for the exemplification taken from the initial sections of the work under consideration.
The intention of "Comparing Greek Colonies" is to bring geographically and culturally distant regions such as Southern Italy/Sicily and the Black Sea, closer together, not merely to find "similarities and differences", but to broaden the scholars’ perspective and overcome existing, generalizing, and biased models, that are often rooted in local scientific traditions.
Con saggi su Catullo, Gellio, Francesco Petrarca, Giovanni Dondi dall’Orologio, Bartolomeo Sachella, Lorenzo Lippi, Angelo Poliziano, Pier Vettori, Tilman Rasche, Conrad Celtis e Nostradamus.
In the systematic treatment of linguistic phenomena in the De lingua latina, the comprehensive study of etymologies, organized according to the aforementioned partition, focuses on the past, since the impositio verborum is a historically determined development and since, moreover, language changes with time and with speaking habits. Varro endeavors to reconstruct the earlier forms of words, but his research, which retraces the linguistic history of Rome, is fraught with obstacles. The vetustas in particular, and the passing of time with its accompanying changes in general, present a serious difficulty for the reconstruction of the past. Varro must often settle for a result that, although partial, may nonetheless be significant. The method is illustrated by metaphors that point to a genealogical-reconstructive model.
The De re rustica is a synchronic treatment of agriculture and livestock farming. In the book introductions, however, there are extensive excursus on human history (especially in that of book II), viewed from the perspective of the development from a natural state to the more advanced one of pastoralism and agriculture. Varro seems to have a progressive conception of human history, at least as regards the advancement of technical knowledge. Moral decadence increases, on the other hand, if one compares the recent past with the present.
A chronological view of human history seems to have been present in the De gente populi Romani, in which the history of Rome is placed within the more general context of world history, perhaps derived from Dicaearchus of Messina. But this type of reconstruction is also unable of shedding light on the most distant origins and must be content with, at most, mythical accounts that may be to some extent reliable even if fictitious.
2
Varro seems to have tried to recover the past, which he viewed as a continuous and progressive development, by means of a genealogical-reconstructive method that proceeded backwards in time. His objective was to reconstruct the antiquitas, understood as origo and identified with the distant past, as opposed to the present, and to arrange it systematically and according to philosophical categories. As in etymology, so also in history the recovery of origines comes upon insuperable barriers.
I Grandi Scavi rappresentano da quarant’anni una delle più rilevanti prospettive di ricerca della Sapienza. Nati per iniziativa del Rettore Antonio Ruberti, che ne intuì le rilevanti potenzialità sul piano culturale a livello nazionale ed internazionale, i Grandi Scavi, costituiti inizialmente da un numero limitato di ricerche di eccezionale importanza, sono nel tempo aumentati e oggi comprendono un elevato numero di missioni scientifiche (24), coinvolgendo un alto numero di docenti, ricercatori e studenti.
Gli scavi coprono un ambito geografico molto esteso (Italia, Vicino e Medio Oriente, Africa orientale e sahariana) e interessano un arco cronologico amplissimo, dal paleolitico al medioevo, costituendo un patrimonio eccezionale di conoscenze e pongono La Sapienza in una posizione di eccellenza nel campo dell’Archeologia, come tra l’altro confermato da ripetuti riconoscimenti internazionali, quali la costante ottima posizione nel ranking QS World University.
Alcune di queste ricerche hanno assunto una rilevante notorietà internazionale: basterebbe citare gli scavi di Arslantepe in Anatolia, di Ebla in Siria, di Mozia, di Pyrgi presso Caere, del Palatino e del Foro Romano, di Pratica di Mare, per richiamare alla mente di tutti eccezionali scoperte che hanno contribuito largamente all’affermazione della ricerca archeologica italiana. L’articolazione delle tematiche storiche ed archeologiche coinvolte nei Grandi Scavi della Sapienza è però nel suo complesso molto più ampia e riguarda tutte le grandi tappe della storia dell’umanità, delle prime forme di aggregazione sociale, alla nascita delle prime comunità agricole e delle prime società dotate di tecnologie fusorie del metallo, dalla origini delle più antiche società urbane e statali, ai grandi imperi del mondo classico e orientale, fino all’affermazione delle città comunali e dell’Europa medievale. Negli ultimi anni inoltre hanno trovato spazio anche alcune ricerche di ambito paleontologico e antropologico che ne hanno ulteriormente ampliato l’articolazione.
L’Archeologia è oramai una disciplina plurale che coinvolge anche molti altri ambiti scientifici e che dunque consente di creare sinergie ad ampio spettro all’interno e all’esterno della stessa comunità Sapienza, come dimostrano le molte collaborazioni già avviate e gli ottimi risultati raggiunti. Da questo punto di vista si auspica un rafforzamento di queste cooperazioni, con il fine di incrementare la rete di relazioni scientifiche e costituire un nucleo coeso all’interno dell’Ateneo, collocato nell’ambito di una vasta trama di relazioni con altre istituzioni di ricerca e dallo spiccato carattere interdisciplinare.
Sul piano didattico i Grandi Scavi hanno da sempre costituito una palestra insostituibile per formare sul campo generazioni di archeologi pronti ad affrontare le sfide di un mestiere tanto affascinante quanto complesso. L’ampio ventaglio dei Grandi Scavi infatti offre annualmente a centinaia di studenti un’opportunità unica nel panorama accademico nazionale ed internazionale per acquisire una professionalità di elevato livello.
Il successo ottenuto dalla Sapienza sul fronte della ricerca archeologica è stato raggiunto anche grazie alla collaborazione con il Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali e per il Turismo e al proficuo dialogo con le specifiche Soprintendenza territoriali, ma altrettanto prezioso e imprescindibile è stato il supporto del Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale per gli scavi all’Estero.
Nella prospettiva della Terza Missione la realizzazione di una pubblicazione e la sua presentazione pubblica vuole essere la testimonianza del ruolo che La Sapienza ha assunto e che intende ulteriormente incrementare, quale Università inclusiva e attenta alla ricaduta socio-culturale delle sue attività di ricerca in Italia e all’Estero, nonché degli aspetti socio-economici che tali attività assumono nei molti territori in cui opera.