The authors retain the right to their work, assigning Gilgameš the right of publication in a non-exclusive way.
Fischiare, una metafora: lingua e scrittura di un premio letterario.
Numerous are the comparisons that contemporary literature opens up to styles, genres and words of tradition. The dichotomy that distinguishes the choices of writing between a norm and a misrepresentation of the same has left (now perhaps more openly) the non-place of the linguistic standard emerging as a directional matrix of a more spontaneous communication, which aims to approach the competences - or presumed such - of the reader. The analysis chooses to investigate the pages of La vita prodigiosa di Isidoro Sifflotin as the winner of the Campiello Opera Prima Award in 2015; what is proposed is therefore a linguistic reasoning that can interrogate the pages of the novel to understand what expedients and narrative mechanisms have led to assign a certain literary validity to a product that, deliberately, does not choose the linguistic literary standard. .
In this paper, I shall analyse the information we can extract from ancient Greek texts about the training of those citizens chosen to become members of a chorus during the Athenian festivals, as well as the importance to become such. I shall offer a revision of the role of the chorodidaskalos, the person in charge of their instruction, considered, in a certain way, a maestro di canto in the ancient world, in order to determine if we can delimit the professional grounds with which they used to work, from a technical point of view, especially when, in many cases, they had to deal with members not professionally educated for their chorus lines. This panorama will show the importance that the practice of singing within a chorus, principally on an Athenian theatre, implied for those citizens who partook their experience at each festival, and how things were dealt with from the Classical period until we find the phonaskos, a professional trainer of voice that appears in the Greek world from the Roman period onwards.
Un sigillum enigmatico: Amm. XXXI, 16, 9
Many scholars have written about Amm. XXXI, 16, 9, paragraph in which Ammianus qualifies himself as miles quondam et Graecus. Generally, it is possible to distinguish two interpretations: it could be a biographic reference or an apology due to his presumed incompetence as latin writer. Starting from the comparison between the whole passage, the two prefaces (XV, 1, 1 and XXVI, 1, 1-2) and other chapters, this paper wants to stress the complexity of Ammianus work and his awareness as a literary man, giving particular importance to the adverb quondam.
Pratiche artistiche di rigenerazione urbana, integrazione culturale e trasformazione sociale attraverso il confine Messico/USA
This paper was born from a field research started in 2015 in Mexico City, where I got to know the work of the artists presented: Torolab, Nortec Collective and Rubén Ortiz Torres. They have in common a link with the Mexico/USA border, to which they relate in different ways and for different reasons. The first paragraphs of the paper are meant to outline a theoretical introduction to the theme of the border, which is followed by a study on the generative potential of the border areas. The central focus of the research is an excerpt of the interviews and studio visits carried out as part of a trip undertaken in August 2016, to meet the artists already mentioned and the cross-border dynamics in person: from Tijuana (Baja California, Mexico) to Los Angeles (California, USA), walking through the border. What emerges is a portrait of the frontier region as a laboratory of globalization, where contrast, hybridization and cultural exchange make innovation move faster. In this context, the work of the artists presented demonstrates the potential of art as an engine of urban regeneration, cultural integration and social transformation.
Tra il Nilo e il Ticino: la collezione egizia del Museo Archeologico dell’Università degli Studi di Pavia
The paper aims to provide a historical presentation and a brief description of the quite unknown manufacts kept in the Egyptian collection of the Archaeological Museum of the University of Pavia. The materials, most of them gifts given by scholars, travellers and scientists, in the fist mid of the 19th century, are a good evidence both of the so-called “Egyptomania” and the beginning of the interest in egyptologicals “studies” in Northern Italy. The reader will find, after a historical introduction, a short overview of the materials and a presentation of some ongoing projects for the valorization and the fruition of the collection itself.
Corporéité et liens affectifs féminins: itinéraire d’un rituel pour Diane Nemorensis et Mater Matuta à Satricum
The religious practices performed in Lazio, for Diane of Nemi, and for Mater Matuta at Satricum, are well known thanks to literary sources whose details are sufficient to reconstruct them. They teach us that these rituals were performed by a group of women to replay a particular scene in various stages that can be completed or corroborated by archeology, but they do not necessarily insist on the importance of their bodies, nor on the emotional ties existing between the various devotees. Yet this is one of the foundations of the practice, so that the expected result is positively realized. If they are palpable in one of the two rituals, they are barely mentioned in the second, which is why they will be the focus of all the attention in this article.
Copyright (c) 2019 Émilie Thibaut-Fréville
Vincenzo Appiani (1850-1932) nel contesto della scuola pianistica milanese
After an attempt to clarify the general concept of ‘piano school’ in both its pedagogical and interpretative meaning, the article presents the most recent research results concerning the pianist, composer and pedagogue Vincenzo Appiani (Monza, 1850 – Milano, 1932), an outstanding representative of the Milanese piano tradition. The paper includes a biographical sketch of the musician and a first reconstruction of his artistical and teaching activities in the wider context of the new physiological achievements in piano technique - arm weight, wrist mobility asf. - and their influences in Italy at the beginning of the XX c.
“Hic est enim, Hic est ille Calpurnius Fabatus”. Scritture e riscritture cinquecentesche di CIL V, 5267
This paper examines the sixteenth century tradition of the inscription CIL V, 5267, found in Como in 1511 and currently exhibited at Civico Museo Archeologico P. Giovio. This inscription preserves the cursus honorumof Calpurnio Fabato who, as a political figure of considerable importance, has been mentioned by various literary sources. The text of the inscription is difficult to read, due to the bad state of the conservation of the basis; since the discovery scholars proposed several transcriptions. The aim of this paper is to highlight and analyse some of the variances that can be found in the transcriptions.
L’olio del Granduca, le galline per il Patriarca e l’ingenuo Polacco:nuove lettere per l’epistolario di e su Paolo Paruta (1595-1602)
The analysis of several unpublished letters by or to Paolo Paruta (1540-1598) could be very useful to revalue this underrated Venetian political writer, author of the dialogue Perfettione della Vita Politica ('About Perfection of Political Life’) and Ambassador for the Republic of Venice at the Papal Court (1592-1595). In fact, these letters shed some light on the daily life of Paruta’s political praxis: his travels, his duties as ambassador, his relationships with foreign sovereigns and with Venetian fellow citizens, his growing reputation; thanks to them, we could understand why Ugo Foscolo wanted Paruta to be studied in university courses as politico pratico. Some other letters (such as the one about the dedication of Discorsi Politici’s first edition, 1599), written by Paruta’s brother and sons, proof the hard economical situation of the ambassador’s heirs after Paolo’s death. In the last part of the essay there’s an analysis of a passage of a letter by Polish political writer Krzysztof Warszewicki about the project of a Latin translation of Paruta’s political work: then comes a comparison between Warszewicki’s and Paruta’s political thought.
The semiotics and politics of the female body: A comprehensive analysis of Elfen Lied and its opening song
This paper develops an exhaustive analysis of the Japanese animation series Elfen Lied (2004) and its opening song, “Lilium”, which is an exceptional case within its field of production because its lyrics are written in Latin. The purpose of my analysis is to determine if “Lilium” and its visual presentation really have something to do (thematically and stylistically) with the series it presents, or not. My hypothesis is that "Lilium", both in its musical level and in its visual presentation, fulfils all the formal characteristics of both a lied and an overture; and, given the latter, anticipates core thematic and stylistic elements of the work it precedes. Moreover, it even subtly anticipates the ideological content of the series, which consists of a critical reading of gender roles and feminism in contemporary Japanese and global society. To demonstrate these hypotheses, I made a detailed analysis of Elfen Lied, paying special attention to its animated adaptation but not ignoring its original manga version; and then I analyzed "Lilium" in its three aspects: its visual presentation, its lyric and its musical score. I have analyzed and emphasized how the abundant intertextualities present in "Lilium" were productive for creating music and for transmitting the artistic and ideological content present in the series. The paper adopts an interdisciplinary perspective, and uses theoretical tools from the fields of semiotics, intertextuality, and reception theory.
La figura di Niobe silente in Eschilo: la testimonianza del fr. 154a Radt
In Aeschylean theatre silence reflects the feelings of the characters: anger, sadness, pain are often represented through non-verbal communication. Niobe, as a mater dolorosa, is the best example of an Aeschylean silent character: secluded in her mourning, she decides not to speak and refuses to communicate with the other characters; in this way she lives in her solitude, while she sits on her children’s grave for three days. The fr. 154a Radt testifies this position on the stage and validates the information we were given by Ar. Ra. 911-913; T 1.20 Radt; Σ [BCDMNPPdVWXY] ad A. Pr. 436a; Σ [B*NcP*SjWXcYa] ad A. Pr. 437a.
Copyright (c) 2019 Daniela Immacolata Cagnazzo
La trasfigurazione della storia nel Bellum Geticum di Claudiano
This paper deals with Claudian’s epic-historical poem Bellum Geticum, where the author praises Stilicho’s achievements during Geticum, where the author praises Stilicho’s achievements during Alaric’s invasion of Italy (401 A.D.). The essay starts with a brief exposition of the historical events, and then proceedes with a critical investigation on Claudian’s attempts to transfigure them in a more acceptable reality for his audience. Roman past is idealised; the half- barbarian Stilicho unifies in his person all the military and tactical skills of Rome’s greatest generals; Alaric is portrayed both as a fierce barbarian dressed in pelts and as a new Hannibal; lastly, Stilicho’s little success on Alaric in the battle of Pollentia is celebrated as the final and conclusive revenge of the imperial army for the defeat suffered by the hands of the Goths at Adrianople in 378 A.D.
La calata dei Lanzichenecchi nei Promessi sposi
The essay examines the invasion of landsknechts as the most intensive Manzoni’s blame on war not only in The Betrothed but in all his previous works. The comparison between the novel and his tragedies focuses on the role of victory and enlightens the narrative strategies used to represent the militia. Although Manzoni’s disagreement to unjustified conflicts is already present in the tragedies, only the novel denies any form of moral stature to commanders and soldiers and no military virtue is given to them by the Author. But Manzoni juxtaposes a new form of heroism to this completely negative representation of mercenaries. In the small band of men headed by the Nameless and fighting for their freedom and their properties is portrayed the only war that can be considered right, according to Manzoni. However, in the Nameless’s choice of fighting without weapons, the blame on any injury comes back to prove the Manzoni’s conflicting point of view on war.
Carlo V novello Ercole: la Rotella D63 della Real Armería di Madrid
In the collections of the Real Armería of Madrid it is conserved a shield known as Plus Ultra or Apotheosis of Charles V. The young emperor Charles V is compared, until 1516, to the mythical hero Hercules, who placed two columns at the edge of the known world. Starting from 1530 this identification is accompanied with a new image of the emperor. The shield shows a new iconography inspired by that of a Roman ruler, based on knowledge of classical culture. The Emperor is portrayed with different symbols of his power, reminiscent of the military victory of Tunis.
“Quel giorno” di Edmondo De Amicis. Metamorfosi di un ricordo bellico
Among military sketches written by Edmondo De Amicis, That day is notable for its implications in human and literary biography of the budding writer. That day belongs to the group of sketches that were edited in 1867 in the ministerial journal ‹‹L’Italia militare›› and it crossed the following three editions of Military Life in Italy. This persistence betrays the urgency of the treated theme, during the foundation of the national symbolic patrimony: the rout of Custoza on June 24, 1866. In fact, this day compromised the legitimacy of the national Army and the advisability of the military way to Italian unification process, while they were both cornerstones of the cultural politics of the Kingdom of Italy. De Amicis put his sketch through a repeated reworking, because he was torn between being loyal to journalistic deontology of testifying historical truth and being confident of success of the unification process. In the latter attitude it was implicit his link to the ministerial propaganda by ‹‹L’Italia militare›› as well as his debt with the Peruzzi’s salon, the unofficial branch of the Historical Right. Aim of this contribute is to examine the metamorphosis of this war memory along its four stages, by the analysis of the textual variants as well as the linguistic ones. Censures progressively decrease, but even the last stage (1880), separated in time from the battle of Custoza by then, reveals the unsolved emotional split around the event so crucial for the writer’s bildung.
Une guerre en chromos: Arte e immagini nella Francia della Grande Guerra
The rebirth of popular imagerie is known to be one of the most relevant artistic facts of the Great War’s France, where the logics of wide circulation of the image, linked to propaganda needs, meet with the avant-gardes figurative researches. This paper aims to focus the spread of this form of artistic production and the associated development of a highly specialized editorial system. Illustrators and artists take part with different orientations to the industry of patriotic prints working both for the maison d’édition network and for magazines. Some of the most conscious authors, such as Raoul Dufy and André Lhote, implement innovative visual and poetics strategies, programmatically opting for photomechanical reproduction techniques to create their images. The multiplication of this explicit war iconography succeed also in the applied arts field, where it maintains its vitality throughout the early post-war period and significantly characterize the taste of part of the art production presented at the great Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes held in Paris in 1925.
Gli epiteti di μάχη nella lingua omerica. Il caso di κυδιάνειρα e φθισίμβροτος
This paper deals with a synchronic etymological analysis of both the epithets ‘μάχη κυδιάνειρα’ and ‘φθισίμβροτος’. In the first part, I analyse the term ‘κυδιάνειρα’. From a semantic perspective, this term cannot be interpreted as a possessive compound whose FM follows the Caland’s law, an observation that opens up other issues, which I tackle in my study. My hypothesis is that ‘κυδιάνειρα’ was probably formed by analogy on the example of other compounds which show °άνειρα as SM. In the second part, I analyse the term ‘φθισίμβροτος’ in order to verify Benveniste’s hypothesis that the verbal governing compounds with marked word-order, namely whit verbal FM, imply ‘an actual predicate of description’. Therefore, the battle should ‘destroy the mortals’ only – or especially – in those passages in which the battle is defined as ‘φθισίμβροτος’. Curiously, the only occurrence of ‘μάχη φθισίμβροτος’ (Ν339) is characterized by a rare insistence on the dangers of the battle; moreover, the occurrence of ‘αἰγὶς φθισίμβροτος’ (χ297) connotes the aegis as a signal of inexorable and oncoming death, as it is described in the passage (χ297-301). Although the occurrences of the term ‘φθισίμβροτος’ are very few, I conclude that the use of ‘φθισίμβροτος’ seems to uphold Benveniste’s hypothesis.
Copyright (c) 2016 Maria Margherita Cardella
«È bella la guerra! Evviva la guerra!»: Preziosilla reclutatrice nella Forza del destino
The «parte guerresca» («war component») in Verdi’s La forza del destino is described by the same author as «tutt’affatto episodica» («quite episodic»), although it is a constant presence in his production; nonetheless it gets its own important space during the opera. In particular one among the characters is defined almost exclusively in connection with war: that’s Preziosilla, whose only two appearances culminate into battle songs. In the second act she tunes a recruitment song – «Al suon del tamburo» («At the sound of drums») – with the meaningful refrain «è bella la guerra! evviva la guerra!» («how splendid is war! Hurrah for war!»), and in the third act a rataplan. The connection between a pretty gypsy girl and war neither is immediately comprehensible, nor is the relationship between her and the main plot of the drama: why Preziosilla, who all things considered is a secondary character, gets such an important space hinged on war? My purpose is to analyze this character, because of she reveals herself being very different from the topos of the operatic gypsy girl and has the fundamental task of introducing and integrating the conflict in the plot. In my paper I will examine the very persuasive way by which she introduces herself and that specific theme, focusing on her first entrance on stage: here she speaks strong words if we consider the particular political juncture in which the opera was composed, and raise people in order to persuade them to join the army of the Italian liberation war against Germans, «flagel d’Italia eterno e de’ figliuoli suoi» («the eternal scourge of Italy and of her sons»).
Un codice dell’Apocolocyntosis nella rivolta dei Paesi Bassi
A new copy of Seneca’s Apocolocyntosis has recently been discovered in the codex Haarlem 187 C 14: J. F. Gronovius (1611-1671) discusses a few lessons from a «membrana bibliothecae publicae Harlemensis» in his Ad L. et M. Senecas Notae of 1658, but after Gronovius’ remarks the Apocolocyntosis Harlemensis has never been examined again and the same notion of its existence was lost. The manuscript belonged to the abbot Raphael de Marcatellis, an illegitimate son of the duke of Burgundy Philip the Good, and great collector of codices. Today it is kept at the Noord-Hollands Archief in Haarlem along with five other manuscripts of Marcatellis’ collection, and there is no record on how it arrived in Haarlem from its original location in Ghent, where the abbot’s rich library was located. The series of events led by the Dutch Revolt in the second half of the sixteenth century allows us to at least partially explain what happened to the codex. In Ghent churches and convents were ransacked more than once and the robberies involved manuscripts as well. Haarlem, after its final conversion to Protestantism in 1578, assumed possession of all the goods belonging to catholic institutions including codices, which were gathered in the new civic library founded in 1596. It is during such turbulent times that the theft of the codex Haarlem 187 C 14 and its silent arrival in Haarlem probably took place.
Mussolini e i compositori del Ventennio: estetizzazione della violenza, processi mitopoietici e riti del consenso nel contesto musicale italiano (1922-1939)
The cultural politics perpetrated by Mussolini especially in musical field might appear as a janus bifrons: on one hand, a “revolutionary” character was shown not only in familiar-like relationships with some of the most prominent composers of the Italian musical panorama, ideally devoted to celebrate the imperial glories (Mascagni, Pizzetti, Malipiero, Casella) – but also in the exaltation of the instrumental music rather than the operatic one and in the controversial exchange with the futuristic avantgarde (Russolo, Petrella). On the other hand, a “conservative” character may be detected in submitting the artistic creativity to the censorship and setting the musician again at the service of a chief. Though divergent, such attitudes come to a synthesis, imposed by the centripetal force that attracted towards the leader, a sort of gravitational camp where most of the Italian musicians fell, as a true reflection of the society at that time. As H. Sachs wrote, “study of Italian music under fascism reveals a picture of workaday infighting and intrigue in abundance, much grotesque opportunism, occasional examples of naïve good faith in the government, and very little real political opposition” (Sachs, 1987, p.10). By tracing the correspondence between Mussolini and the composers of the regime according to the fundamental study by Fiamma Nicolodi, this paper aims at illustrating how the regime was able to benefit from music as the main means of popular consensus.
La guerra interdetta: Il campo 29 di Sergio Antonielli
Il campo 29 is the debut as novelist of Sergio Antonielli. It was published in Milan in 1949 by “Edizioni Europee” and in 1976 by “Editori Riuniti”. The novel tells the personal experience of imprisonment in British Raj during the Second World War with other ten thousand Italian officers. Through the analysis of the text and documents from the archives of the author, stored in the Centro Apice, I would like to discuss the techniques of composition that make this work a peculiar case in the post-world war literary system. Antonielli, forcing himself to overcome the tragedy suffered, commits to the writing a dual purpose: to avoid mere “documentarismo” without overindulging in the romance, and to take the advantage of the exceptional nature of his experience to create a work that exceed all individual and historical contingencies. In respect of these moral and stylistic imperatives, the writer refuses the autobiography and choices a choral intonation, different from sentimental style, typical of other writers involved in the literature of war. His critic studies and the introductions, written by author for two editions, show distinct interpretations about his work and about typical methods and category of neorealist literature: document, diary, autobiographical novel. The story does not give way to political disquisitions or to sentimental parenthesis, but it consists of representation of the life in prison camps. A “city of prisoners” comes alive, where coexist vices and virtues of the normal society, and where the war is banned.
Guerra e integrazione in un territorio conteso: il caso dei Banū Ghassān lungo il limes arabicus
The Arab tribe of the Banū Ghassān, ruled by the Jafnid dynasty, emigrated in the Late Antiquity from the Southern Arabian Peninsula to the Balqā’ region in the Levant, near the limes arabicus. Later, the Byzantine emperors appointed the Jafnids with an official recognition (foedus) which gave them a great political and military role in the territories subject to them. The lands of the Ghassanids acted indeed as a buffer zone against the Sasanian Empire. After the Christianization of the tribe, the Jafnids began a process of emulation and cultural assimilation to the Byzantine identity. Finally, the development of the Jafnids’ society was abruptly interrupted by the dissolution of their alliance with the Byzantines at the end of Jāhiliyya, when the brief power of the foederati was replaced by the more lasting domination of the new Islamic Empire. This paper focuses on one of the recent issues brought to scholarly attention: the research of the archaeological evidence connected with the Jafnids. The study, through some epigraphic, iconographic and archaeological sources, examines the Arab elites as both rulers and benefactors with the patronage of several churches, monasteries and other buildings.
L’acqua nei sistemi difensivi delle città romane: alcuni casi in Lombardia
In Italy, as in the rest of the Roman Empire, roman urban fortifications usually include walls and defensive moats. Unlike the walls, the moat is often hard to identify due to the urban stratification from the Middle Ages to the present day. However, combining archaeological evidence with the study of historical sources could lead to a real understanding of the ancient defense systems. This paper aims to give a brief survey of the evidences, by comparing different Northern Italy realities.
Guerra e Natura nel poema di Nonno di Panopoli
This paper focuses on the first part of Nonnus’ Dionysiaca, book XXII, that recounts the preliminary stages of Dionysus’ war against Indians. The scene opens with the description of an idyllic landscape. When the god reaches Hydaspes river, nature is involved by typical Dionysiac phenomena: water becomes wine and milk flows from the springs. Deriades’ army is about to make an assault, but it’s defeated by Dionysus’ plant-weapons. The paper aims to underline the contrast between calm scenery and brutality of war, a topic that will be popular in modsuggests that the encounter has a cosmic and ideological value. erne literatures. I explore the way Nonnus creates tension before the battle and then represents an unconventional fight, at least at first bloodless. The poet, making nature joining the struggle, suggests that the encounter has a cosmic and ideological value.
Un umbone di scudo da parata in bronzo dorato da Nocera Umbra: nuove considerazioni su un manufatto venuto da lontano
How many artifacts do we prefer to forget because of the many questions which arise in relation to production, dating and origin? This study aims to draw attention on the shield boss in gilded bronze found in the Tomb 1 of the Nocera Umbra’s necropolis. This burial is one of the most rich of the early medieval cemetery. It enumerates among the funeral goods a shield boss which is characterized by a central frieze with battle scenes realized with an openwork decoration. To date similar shield bosses have not been yet discovered neither in Italy nor outside. So despite its uniqueness in the archaeology field and in the art historical one, it has been forgotten for many years. The impossibility to compare the Nocera Umbra’s shield boss with similar ones does not allow to add it accurately within time-space coordinates. A significant help comes only from an iconographic and stylistic research. The shield boss may be connected indeed to the artistic production of the Late Antiquity period and of the Early Byzantine one only comparing it with artifacts belonging to other categories as well as silver plates, buckles. The depth study of this object emphasizes therefore the complexity of rebuilding the circumstances and the productive context of valuable artifacts if we limit ourselves to just one field of study. A multidisciplinary approach which makes dialoguing archaeology and art history becomes more and more significant in the construction of the Late Antique and the Early Byzantine world.