90554 - Production and Tradition of Greek Texts in Byzantium (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students learn to gain knowledge both about mechanisms of production of Byzantine literary as well as documentary texts and about the practices of material preparation of the related manuscript witnesses, within the Byzantine millennium, with particular reference to Middle and Late Byzantine Era. Moreover, students build abilities, on the one hand, in critically evaluating problems connected to the study of textual transmission and critical edition, also through a consideration of periods and genres of Byzantine literature and of the principal themes related to Mediaeval Greek in its highest register, on the other hand, in interpreting typology and function of the examined artefacts.

Course contents

After an introduction to the Byzantine civilization, with particular reference to the transmission of ancient texts in the Greek Middle Ages as well as to epochs and genres of Byzantine literature, the course is divided into two parts:

1. The two "falls" of Constantinople: texts and testimonies from the catastrophe of 1204 and the Halosis of 1453. News and pieces of historiography relating to the two most dramatic events in Byzantine history will be read, namely the two Haloseis: in 1204 at the hands of Westerners of the Fourth Crusade, as well as in 1453 after the final siege by the Ottomans.
2. Reception and manuscript tradition of the Bibliotheca historica of Diodorus Siculus in the Macedonian age. A group of manuscript witnesses of Diodorus' work dating back to the acme of the Macedonian age (10th century) will be presented, including an unpublished fragment recently found.

Readings/Bibliography

General studies:

• C. Mango, La civiltà bizantina, Rome-Bari 1992 (2. ed.) [Engl.: Byzantium. The Empire of New Rome, New York 1980].
  
• A. Kambylis, Compendio della letteratura bizantina, in H.G. Nesselrath (Dir.), Introduzione alla filologia greca, Italian Edition by S. Fornaro, Rome 2004, pp. 446-478.
  

For the 1st part:

 Texts:

The individual readings from passages of historiography on the fall of Constantinople (in 1204 and 1453) will be taken from the following works:

• Nicetas Choniates: Nicetae Choniatae Historia, I: Praef. et text.; II: Indices, rec. I.A. van Dieten, Berolini–Novi Eboraci, De Gruyter, 1975 (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae, 11). – For an Italian translation and commentary, please refer to: Niceta Coniata, Grandezza e catastrofe di Bisanzio (Narrazione cronologica), I: libb. 1-8; II: libb. 9-14; III: libb. 15-19, cur. [R. Maisano], A. Pontani, Roma–Milano, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla – A. Mondadori, 1994/2017 [2], 1999, 2014.
  
• Chronica breviora: P. Schreiner, Die byzantinischen Kleinchroniken, 1. Teil: Einleitung und Text; 2. Teil: Historischer Kommentar; 3. Teil: Teilübersetzung, Addenda et Corrigenda, Indices, Wien, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1975, 1977, 1979 (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae, 12/1-3). 
  
• Dukas: S. Kotzabassi (Hrsg.), Ducae Historia, Prolegomena, textus et indices, Berolini, De Gruyter (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae); the edition will be available in early 2025.
• For texts on the fall of Constantinople in 1453, we will also resort to: A. Pertusi, La caduta di Costantinopoli, I: Le testimonianze dei contemporanei; II: L’eco nel mondo, Milano-Verona, Fondazione Lorenzo Valla – A. Mondadori, 1976.
  

For the 2nd part:

• For the study of the manuscript tradition of Diodorus Siculus in the Macedonian period, starting with the headword in the Bibliotheca of Photius, facsimiles will be provided from 10th-century witnesses, including the recently discovered fragment.
  

Non-attending Students

To be added to the above indicated bibliography:

• R.J. Lilie, Reality and Invention: Reflections on Byzantine Historiography, in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 68 (2014), pp. 157-210.

Non-attending students are recommended to contact the professor before they start preparing the exam.

Students with specific learning disabilities or other temporary or permanent disabilities: it is recommended to immediately contact the responsible University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it) to search, together with the professor, for the most effective strategies in following the lessons and/or preparing for the exam.

Teaching methods

The adopted teaching method will be that of frontal lessons; during the course, students will be involved in the collation of manuscripts and in the reading and commentary of the presented texts.

Assessment methods

Oral interview. The judgment criteria will include an extensive evaluation about the acquired knowledge (translation, exegesis and analysis of the presented texts, display of the main addressed issues), about the use of a good standard technical vocabulary, as well as about the ability in framing the production of the medieval literary texts and the reception of ancient literature in Byzantium in the historical and cultural context of which these phenomena are an expression.

Students with specific learning disabilities or other temporary or permanent disabilities:t is recommended to promptly contact the responsible University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/it): it will be their responsibility to propose any adaptations to the interested students, which must in any case be submitted, 15 days in advance, for the approval of the Professor, who will evaluate the opportunity also in relation to the educational objectives of the course.

Teaching tools

During the course, reproductions of manuscripts and specimina of critical edition of the presented texts will be provided in both paper and digital format. Teaching support material will be regularly downloadable from the platform page dedicated to the course on the web site https://virtuale.unibo.it/.

Office hours

See the website of Giuseppe De Gregorio