28800 - Papyrology (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will demonstrate ability to use papyri in the historical. philological and achaeological research analysing them with correct and accurate methodologies. Students will demonstrate awarness of the importance of the archaeological, archival and cultural context and precise knowledge of the historical background.
  Students will be able to understand the importance of applying advanced methodologies for the analysis of the writing material and new techniques like the optical multispectral imaging. The students will be able to use the main tools for research and text analysis both traditional and computer based.
  Students will acquire critical understanding of the relationship between the Graeco-Roman and the other contemporary cultures of Egypt and the Ancient Near East.

Course contents

1. Analysis and commentary of a selection of texts. The texts will be selected with the aim of showing some examples of the areas of interest and the methodologies of papyrological research. Competences and learning goals of students partecipating to the course will be taken into account. As far as possible the texts will be connected with themes and problems addressed by other units of the different programmes students are enrolled in. Texts can be choosen e.g. to illustrate some of the following areas of work:
    ▪       papyri from Alexandria: literary and documentary texts from Abusir el Meleq;
    ▪       papyri from the Judean Desert;
    ▪       Papyri and specialized languages: geography, astronomy, medicine, magic, law, administration;
    ▪         Papyri and New Testament studies;
    ▪         Papyri and Archeaology;
  2. From excavation/acquisition to the edition: the different steps of papyrological research.
  3. Papyrology and other Sciences of Antiquity. Case studies to be discussed together with other teaching/learning units in which the study of papyri can be integrated with methodologies, texts and documents studied by other disciplines.
  4. Transcription exercises and introduction to paleography.

Readings/Bibliography

Point 1 and 3:
     ▪     R. Bagnall, Reading Papyri, Writing Ancient History , London and New Youk, Routlege 1995
     ▪     E.G. Turner, Papiri Greci , Roma, Carocci 2002.
     ▪     Text images and editions distributed during the course with bibliography. The bibliography and the texts will be assigned considering the programme in which students are enrolled and the number of credits foreseen for each student (5, 6 or 12).

 Point 2:
 Students are asked to decipher, transcribe and produce a commented critical edition of one text. Further bibliography on the research tools will be distributed and illustrated during the course.

  Please note:
     ▪     Students who have no experience with previous study of papyri can use as an orientation and support textbook: O. Montevecchi, La Papirologia , II edizione, Milano, Vita e Pensiero 1988.
     ▪     Students who are not able to partecipate to the course are asked to prepare point 1, 2 and 3. They can choose to prepare the original texts discussed in the course (the list will be avialble during and after the course) or a different selection of texts: e.g. the anthology of P.W. Pestman, The New Papyrological Primer , Leiden, New York, Kobenhaven, Koeln, E.J. Brill, 1990.  They are invited to contact the lecturer in order to choose the text they will have to work on and in order to receive the necessary support to prepare point 2.

Teaching methods

Point 1. Will be adressed through lectures and class discussion of the selected topics and texts.

Point 2. Will be developed through small groups or individual research projects. Students will be asked to work authonomously and apply- with the help of the teacher - the methods of identification, decipherment, documentation and commentary.

Point 3. will be carried out by outside experts, conferences and lectures on papyrological topics relevant to other disciplines.

Assessment methods

Though an oral examination students will have to show their understanding of the contribution of Papyrology  to the historical and cultural reconstruction of several aspects of the Ancient World. Students will have to show the capacity of oral communication of their findings and  of the ratio underlying the results of their own research. They will be asked to explain the methodologies they have applied in the text analysis.
  The written presentation of the small group work will show their ability of apping the traditional and ICT research tools and their ability of written comunication (edition and commentary of texts) according to the canons of the discipline.
  Through the partecipation to interdisciplinary seminars and discussion students will have to show their ability to communicate  with peers and with experts of other disciplines and to integrate information and data from different sources.

Teaching tools

Students will be asked to work on the original documents in the Library of the Department and in the University Libarary, with photographs of documents, with digital images in the computer laboratory and with multispectral images (through the optical Instruments available in the University Library).

Office hours

See the website of Carla Salvaterra