Book Reviews by Irene Giaquinta
Atti dei Seminari di Ricerche a Confronto 2013 - Dialoghi di Antichità Classiche e Del Vicino Oriente (Università di Bologna e di Cagliari), Edizioni Saecula, Zermeghedo VI, , 2017
Rec. a "Del Tradurre" con contributi di Maurizio Bettini, Ugo Fantasia, Antonino M. Milazzo, Silvia Ronchey, Luigi Spina, Mario Vegetti e con una premessa di Luciano Canfora, Antenore, “Agones” Collezione Studi e Testi 1, Padova, 2011, pp. 131 in 'RPL' XXXIII-XXXIV (2010-2011), pp. 279-284.
Papers by Irene Giaquinta
BStudL, 2020
This paper focuses on Fronto, De fer. Alsiens. 3 fabula de Somno (Van den Hout 231,16- 233,17). S... more This paper focuses on Fronto, De fer. Alsiens. 3 fabula de Somno (Van den Hout 231,16- 233,17). Specifically, it investigates both its Greek and Latin models, with special attention given to Augus- tan epic. Its aim is to explore the work’s literary genre and sources. To this end De fer. Alsiens. 3 will be considered with respect to its self-distancing from Hesiodic cosmogony, its allusion to Pindar, its handling of Augustan literary sources and its references to Statius’ Thebaid. It will examine the expressive potential of rhetoric in combination with a philosophical (specifically, ethical) message.
GFA, 2019
This paper focuses on Ps.-Aeschines’ ep. 3 (Hernández-Muñoz, Berlin 2012) and offers a philo- log... more This paper focuses on Ps.-Aeschines’ ep. 3 (Hernández-Muñoz, Berlin 2012) and offers a philo- logical analysis together with an interpretation of its rhetorical structure. This short message shows an unusual portrait of the Athenian orator: in the Second Sophistic progymnasmata Aeschines was the subject of ψόγοι and argumenta a persona and represented a negative exemplum of πολίτης for darkness of birth and treachery; here he is described as a sincere patriot, ready to face fiercely his exile and to sacrifice himself for Athens.
The collected data highlight the imitator and his modus operandi, including a mimetic intent towards the demosthenic epistolary – achieved by reworking, and sometimes misunderstanding, the original model – and an unusual use of historical exempla, which seem to be lacking in rhetorical strength. All these aspects show that this composition is a form of epistolary ἠθοποιία that, in order to please a well-learned audience, includes as well more than one typical element of the ἐγκώμιον παράδοξον.
This research analyses the role of philosophical paideia in Plutarch’s life of Cicero and, highli... more This research analyses the role of philosophical paideia in Plutarch’s life of Cicero and, highlighting the Platonic inspiration of Cicero’s political ideals, alleges that Plutarch may have directly consulted Cicero's Academica on the base of Cic. 40, 2. Here the Greek words which, according to Plutarch, were translated for the first time in Latin by Cicero, lead to a series of textual proofs supporting this hypothesis. The reason for this Plutarchean allusion to the Academica can be found in its strong ideological significance: through its reflections in the field of gnoseology it demonstrated Cicero's confidence in the possibility to discern the true and the false and, therefore, to build an authentic ethic based on truth, which corresponded to Plutarch’s moralistic point of view.
This paper analyses the description of Fames in Ov. met. 8, 799-808, first extensive anthropomorp... more This paper analyses the description of Fames in Ov. met. 8, 799-808, first extensive anthropomorphic charakterization of this creature in ancient literature, and aims at tracing its most significant literary antecedents. Starting from the first attestation of Λιμός in Hesiod (Theog. 227) and from the hymns by Homer and Callimachus, it is observed the passage from cases of latent personification (Call. Cer. 102) to the first anthropomorphic description (Verg. Aen. 6, 276). Through the analysis and comparison between textual and extra-textual data it is argued that the Ovidian description, probably influenced by the schools of rhetoric under the Augustan Age, may have been inspired by some monstra of the Greek archaic epic, and in particular to the pseudo- hesiodic Ἀχλύς (Scut. 264), featured by elements that also recall the Fates, the Gorgons and the Moirai (Scut. 228-270).
Teaching Documents by Irene Giaquinta
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Book Reviews by Irene Giaquinta
Papers by Irene Giaquinta
The collected data highlight the imitator and his modus operandi, including a mimetic intent towards the demosthenic epistolary – achieved by reworking, and sometimes misunderstanding, the original model – and an unusual use of historical exempla, which seem to be lacking in rhetorical strength. All these aspects show that this composition is a form of epistolary ἠθοποιία that, in order to please a well-learned audience, includes as well more than one typical element of the ἐγκώμιον παράδοξον.
Teaching Documents by Irene Giaquinta
The collected data highlight the imitator and his modus operandi, including a mimetic intent towards the demosthenic epistolary – achieved by reworking, and sometimes misunderstanding, the original model – and an unusual use of historical exempla, which seem to be lacking in rhetorical strength. All these aspects show that this composition is a form of epistolary ἠθοποιία that, in order to please a well-learned audience, includes as well more than one typical element of the ἐγκώμιον παράδοξον.
Compared to Euripides’ Hypsipyle, Argonautica’s first book focuses on the period preceding the Nemean exile, when, after the slaughter of men, Hypsipyle reigns on Lemnos. Here population is only composed of women and they hold the government of the city in complete autonomy, performing typical masculine tasks: from agriculture to military activities, to community administration. Argonauts’ arrival gives women the opportunity to think about the survival of Lemnian population: even the debate between Hypsipyle, which proposes to quickly dismiss the heroes, and the old nurse Polyxo, who urges to think about the future, reproduces tones and dynamics of male assemblies (cf. I 329-362). Both the analexis, by which Apollonius reveals the real reason of the absence of men from Lemnos (vv. I 609-632), and the false story cleverly built by the queen to persuade Jason describe female universe as working in full consciousness and freedom.
A brand new insight into the character of the queen is provided by the poet, who takes inspiration from Aeschylus’ and Euripides’ homonymous tragedies but goes further in the psychological characterization of this powerful woman, also under the influence of the Greek novel. Compared to Euripides’ work, where Hypsipyle is an helpless slave in Nemea forced to face the death sentence imposed on her, hold responsible for Opheltes’ death, Apollonius lends the queen not only the role of the guide within the community, but also a shrewd rhetorical talent. Willing to dismiss the Argonauts but ready to listen to someone else's opinion, she moderates a debate that resembles a symbouleutikos logos and acts according to the majority. The queen is shown to act as leader not only in accidents of ordinary life but also in case of extraordinary events, such as Argonauts landing. Both the persuasiveness with which Hypsipyle invites Jason to stay and the steadfastness in accepting his inevitable departure lend her not only strength and intelligence but also respectability. Hypsipyle refers to the slaughter as mega ergon (μέγα ἔργον, 662), showing that she accepts her past as necessary; then, she lives the separation from Jason with restrained emotion, showing new attitude towards abandonment.
For these and other reasons it is possible to argue that in Hellenistic poetry women distinguish themselves through self-awareness, common sense and, most important point, the ability to replan the future starting from contingent circumstances, incumbent duty and moral responsabilities. A deeper linguistical analysis and a detailed comparison between meaningful passages from Argonautica and Euripides’ Hypsipyle will show that in his poem Apollonius opens up new perspectives on female world also through this, lesser-known, female character.
Tra la primavera e l’estate del 323 a.C. Demostene, privo dei diritti politici e in esilio dopo lo scandalo arpalico, indirizza delle epistole al consiglio e al popolo ateniesi per ottenere il rientro in patria e partecipare alla riscossa contro la Macedonia. Sono due delle pochissime testimonianze conservatesi che vedono l’oratore cimentarsi in un genere letterario diverso da quello che lo ha reso grande.
La cifra-chiave di queste lettere è il loro contenuto autobiografico-politico: la tradizione ci ha conservato pochissime raccolte simili ma nessuna di quelle in nostro possesso rivela un’urgenza comunicativa così autentica e raffinata nell’espressione artistica. Questi scritti offrono un’occasione unica per un’indagine sul rapporto tra retorica e politica nell’epistolografia greca di IV sec. a.C.: documento di una complicata vicenda personale e di un delicato momento storico, esse si rivelano, al contempo, dei ricercati prodotti letterari.
All’interno delle coordinate proprie dell’epistolografia si annoverano sezioni autoapologetiche proprie dell’oratoria giudiziaria accanto ad altre tipiche del genos symbouleutikon. Quest’indagine rivelerà che una ricca miniera di espedienti retorici (perifrasi, gnomai, topoi dell’oratoria deliberativa e della prosa epistolare, tecnica della ricorsività, complesse allusioni alla realtà storica contemporanea, ecc.), volti a persuadere la polis, impreziosisce queste potenziali demegorie epistolari, che
Catania, 95041
Demostene nella condizione di atimos non poté pronunciare personalmente.
Demostene nella condizione di atimos non poté pronunciare personalmente.
Ci si propone, quindi, di dimostrare la dignità di documento retorico-letterario, prima ancora che storico-politico, delle Epistole di Demostene, pezzi diffusamente letti e studiati nelle scuole di retorica tardoantiche come testimoniano i papiri di II sec. d.C. e la tradizione indiretta. Si auspica, pertanto, di poter indebolire quel pregiudizio legato all’autenticità che finora ha costretto questa parte negletta, eppure preziosa, del corpus demostenico ad occupare una zona d’ombra dei moderni studi sull'antichità e di dare, al contempo, maggiore impulso allo studio del rapporto tra retorica ed epistolografia politica.