Doctor in Linguistic history of the ancient Mediterranean


Coordinator of the Teaching Board Giovanna Rocca

Doctor in Linguistic history of the ancient Mediterranean

cicloXXV - XXVI

[Coordinator of the Teaching Board:

The resources at your disposal for the Doctorate in Linguistic History of the Ancient Mediterranean.

History, linguistics and culture of the Aegean
Philology and Minoan-Mycenaean epigraphy

Linguistic and cultural history of ancient Italy

Philology and Italian epigraphy

Duration of the Doctorate

3 years

The PhD in Linguistic History of the Ancient Mediterranean aims to provide specific expertise on the linguistic and cultural events of the central-eastern Mediterranean area, with specific reference to Greece and the Aegean basin for the second millennium and to ancient central-southern and insular Italy for the first millennium.

Due to the high specificity of the skills required, which range from linguistic data to philological, epigraphic and archaeological data, involving complex research areas and techniques, it seems appropriate to articulate the activity of the doctorate itself on two alternating curricula in successive cycles, that is, with reference to the second millennium, a curriculum in Aegean languages and cultures, in reference to the first millennium a curriculum in Languages and cultures of ancient Italy.

Curriculum in Aegean Languages and Cultures: The doctoral course aims to provide, over the three years, highly specialized skills in the field of languages, scriptures and cultures of the Aegean of the second millennium, with particular reference to the Greek continental area, Crete in Cyprus and the Cyclades.

The chronological focus will be identified in the Middle (XXI-XVI centuries BC) and Late Minoan (XVI-XIII centuries BC) for Crete, corresponding to the proto- and neopalatial phases, and these skills will be deployed in the field of epigraphy and philology of Minoan and Mycenaean, Mycenaean and Greek linguistics, in Aegean archaeology, thus being expressed prevalently in the scientific-disciplinary areas L-FIL-LET/01 (Aegean Civilization) and L/LIN/01 (Glottology and Linguistics). The students who have just finished their studies will be given an overview of the linguistic and cultural events that have taken place in the second millennium (and of their repercussions in the first millennium) in the entire Aegean basin, as far as Cyprus.

It will also investigate the relationship between the documentary realia of the second millennium and their poetic "rereading" by Homer, thus reaching the dawn of Greek (and European) literature.

The training of the post-graduates in the scientific areas outlined above is organically framed within the cultural history of Europe and the Mediterranean, which has its beginnings precisely in the period of reference of the doctorate. In particular Crete, since its first pre and protohistoric manifestations, since the end of the 19th century has been one of the places that has seen the most intense scientific, cultural and political presence in Italy (of which interest is, for the period of relevance of the doctorate, the exemplary activity of the Italian Mission, to whose first director, Federico Halbherr, we owe the discovery of the Minoan sites of Festo and Hagia Triada, as well as, for the next millennium, the great inscription of Gortina).
Also for this reason, the island will be the focus of the entire scientific and educational activity.

Curriculum in Languages and Cultures of Ancient Italy: the doctoral course aims to provide, over the three-year period, highly specialized skills in the field of languages, writings and cultures of ancient central-southern and insular Italy. Areas of particular interest will be, in addition to the Italian languages (Sudpiceno, epigraphic Sabino, languages 'Sabelliche', Umbro, pre-Sannite Osco, Sannite Osco, Bruzio) also the Latin archaic, Etruscan, Falisco, Messapico and Siculo. The chronological period in question is based on the first epigraphic documents present in Italy from the seventh century BC (without excluding, however, the previous Greek), until the Roman conquest.
However, some example of emergence belonging to the previous millennium (Aeolian Islands, Agrigento area) will also be considered.
Particular attention will be given to linguistic and cultural reflection, to social and institutional aspects and to ideological and cultural aspects.

The students will be asked to select, rework and synthesize the results of numerous previous research projects on specific topics: an attempt to fill in, as far as possible, the still evident absence of an interdisciplinary study on the area in question.

Among the primary areas of observation, there will be Sicily and the lands overlooking the southern Tyrrhenian Sea where the Greek culture of importation and the indigenous ones, previously allocated to them, have interacted more intensely, giving rise to processes of cultural syncretism.

Tenured staff in Italian universities Non-tenured staff in Italian universities

Prof. Giovanni Colonna
Sapienza University of Rome
Prof.ssa Maria Cristina Chiaramonte
University of Milan
Prof. Filippo Coarelli
University of Perugia
Prof. Carlo Consani
University of G. D'Annunzio, Chieti - Pescara
Prof. Celestina Milan
Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan
Prof.ssa Federica Cordano University of Milan Prof. Adriano La Regina
Sapienza University of Rome
Prof. Giulio Facchetti
University of Insubria, Varese
Prof. Francesco Aspesi
University of Milan
Prof.ssa Annalisa Franchi De Bellis
University Urbino Studies "Carlo Bo"

Prof. Roberto Giacomelli
University of Milan
Non-academic staff employed by other bodies
Prof. Louis Godart
University of Naples - Federico II
Dr. Marco Bettelli
Researcher Non-academic research institute
Prof.ssa Maria Teresa Grassi
University of Milan
Dr Enrica Fiandra
President Non-academic research body
Prof. Marco Mancini
University of Tuscia
Dr. Daniele Federico Maras
C project co-worker
Prof.ssa Maria Pia Marchese
University of Florence

Staff from foreign universities
Prof. Vincenzo Orioles
University of Udine
Prof. José Louis Garcia Ramon
IfL Universitat zu Koln
Prof. Umberto Pappalardo
Suor Orsola Benincasa University of Naples
Prof. Michael Crawford
Oxford University

Prof. Gerhard Meiser
Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenberg
Prof. Paolo Poccetti
University of Rome "Tor Vergata" 
Prof. Vincent Martzloff Université Paris Sorbonne
Prof. Aldo Luigi Prosdocimi
University of Padua
Prof. Michael Weiss
Cornell University NYC

Prof. Emmanuel Dupraz
University of Rouen
Prof. Domenico Silvestri
L'Orientale, Naples
Prof. Rex Wallace
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Prof. Brent Vine
University of Los Angeles UCLA

Prof. Ignasi-Xavier Adiego
University of Barcelona