GREEK PALAEOGRAPHY

Bachelor’s Degree Programme Scienze dell’antichità
Bachelor’s Degree Programme Archivistico bibliotecario/storico-mediterraneo antico e medievale
The course of Greek Palaeography offers to the students of “History” and “Humanities” the essential training for reading, recognising and dating Greek book and diplomatic scripts, and for using and analysing historical and literary sources in their original form and in their transmission between classical antiquity and Middle Ages.

By the end of the course, the students:
• will have a sound knowledge of Greek Palaeography (in particular minuscule bookhands and a general overview of the development of Greek handwriting);
• will be able to select and apply sources and techniques required for the analysis of the Greek handwritings;
• will be able to read and date manuscripts.

Knowledge of Classical Greek

The course includes an introduction to the objectives and methods of analysis in palaeography and to the functional palaeographic description. Book and documentary scripts in Greek alphabet and language of 4th-15th centuries will be studied, considering production and circulation of manuscripts.

Mandatory
D. Bianconi, P. Degni, E. Crisci, Paleografia greca, Roma, Carocci, 2021
Facsimiles of manuscripts read and commented on in class.

Other warmly recommended books
L. D. Reynolds, N. Wilson, Copisti e filologi. La tradizione dei classici dall’antichità ai tempi moderni, a cura di M. Ferrari, Padova, Antenore, 2016 (capp. I e II)
G. Cavallo (a cura di), Libri e lettori nel mondo bizantino. Guida storica e critica, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1990
Codices graeci Bibliothecae Vaticanae selecti, edidit H. Follieri, Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1969 (Exempla scripturarum, 4)
Facsimili di codici greci della Biblioteca Vaticana, a cura di P. Canart, S. Lucà, A. Jacob, L. Perria, Città del Vaticano, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1998 (Exempla scripturarum, 5)

The examination consists of verifying the knowledge acquired on the bibliography given, as well as the possession of the terminological and methodological tools of the discipline. The ability to read, recognise, date and describe the graphic typologies covered by the course will be assessed.

Lectures will be conducted in conventional mode, with the aid of power points and facsimiles of manuscripts for reading and commentary. Attendance is strongly recommended.
Students unable to attend are invited to notify the lecturer at the beginning of the course in order to establish alternative programmes.

Italian

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