Professor Florian Schaffenrath
Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Neulateinische Studien
Latin Epic Poetry between Tradition and Innovation: The Case of Basinio’s Hesperis

The highly talented and gifted Basinio da Parma (1425–1457) was the first poet of the Italian Quattrocento to write a large-sized epic poem in the tradition of Homer and Virgil. In the 13 books of his Hesperis (1448/53), Basinio celebrates the heroic deeds of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (1417–1468), the lord of Rimini, who fought fierce battles against Alfonso, the king of Naples, and his son Ferdinand. In my talk, I will show on the one hand how Basinio put himself in the long tradition of classical epic poetry by imitating specific literary features; on the other hand, he integrated new ideas and current issues like Sigismondo’s romance with with the beautiful Isotta dagli Atti, which created a certain tension between tradition and innovation.

Professor Daniel Orrells
King’s College London
"Printing Antiquity in the Eighteenth Century"
This talk explores how antiquarians during the mid-eighteenth century illustrated their narratives about the history of ancient art. In the later 1600s and early 1700s, science had become spectacular and antiquarianism followed suit. This talk examines how key eighteenth-century antiquarians such as Winckelmann, Mariette, Caylus and d’Hancarville all became interested in how engravings of ancient art and archaeology might be able to visualise a historical narrative. The talk, then, offers a fresh, new analysis of the reception of classical antiquity in the eighteenth century.

Daniel Orrells is Reader in Ancient Literature and Its Reception at King’s College London, where he is also the Head of the Department of Classics. His work focuses on the reception of classical antiquity in modern intellectual history, in particular in French, German, Italian and British contexts. He is the author of two monographs, Classical Culture and Modern Masculinity and Sex: Antiquity and its Legacy, both published by Oxford University Press.

Para mais informações, consulte o website.

Inscrições e informações: centro.classicos@letras.ulisboa.pt