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 features an in-depth section on:

Ancient epistolography, Byzantine epistolography, and the humanistic tradition. After an overview of the Greek epistolary corpus from ancient age and late antiquity, letters by Byzantine authors of the Palaeologan period will be commented on and discussed, particularly by Maximos Planudes, Theodoros Hyrtakenos, Nikephoros Chumnos, and Michael Gabras. Finally, some modes of reception of this literary genre in Italian Humanism will be examined.

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 in-depth section:

 Texts:

The individual epistles of the four selected Byzantine authors will be taken from the following critical editions:

• Maximos Planudes: P. A. Leone (Ed.), Maximi monachi Planudis epistulae, Amsterdam, Hakkert, 1991 (Classical and Byzantine Monographs, 18).
• Theodoros Hyrtakenos: A. Karpozilos - G. Fatouros (Eds.), The Letters of Theodoros Hyrtakenos. Greek Text, Translation and Commentary, Athens, Kanakis, 2017.
  
• Nikephoros Chumnos: A. Riehle (Hrsg.), Die Briefsammlungen
  des Nikephoros Chumnos. Einleitung, Edition, Übersetzung, Berlin/Boston, De Gruyter, 2023 (Byzantinisches Archiv, 43).
  
• Michael Gabras: G. Fatouros (Hrsg.), Die Briefe des Michael Gabras (ca. 1290–nach 1350), 2 voll., Wien, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1973 (Wiener Byzantinistische Studien, X/1-2).

Contributions (in provided reproductions) on this subject will also be recommended; e.g. from A. Riehle (Ed.), A Companion to Byzantine Epistolography, Leiden/Boston, Brill, 2020 (Brill’s Companions to the Byzantine World, 7).

For the humanistic age, reproductions from manuscripts and printed editions conveying texts of ancient and late antique epistolography will be provided.

Non-attending Students

To be added to the above indicated bibliography:

• A. Riehle, Byzantine Epistolography: a Historical and Historiographical Sketch; Th.J. Bauer, Letter Writing in Antiquity and Early Christianity; N. Gaul, The Letter in the Theatron: Epistolary Voice, Character, and Soul (and Their Audience), in A. Riehle (Ed.), A Companion to Byzantine Epistolography, Leiden/Boston, Brill, 2020 (Brill’s Companions to the Byzantine World, 7), pp. 1-30, 33-67, 353-373.

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