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 Planudean collection in ms. Vat. Urb. gr. 125. On the basis of a miscellaneous codex, which can be considered as illustrative example of the modus operandi of Byzantine scholars in the Palaeologan era (13th and 14th centuries), the role of Maximos Planudes is examined in the manuscript tradition of ancient authors as well as in the reception and construction of a brief paroemiographical collection deriving from Suda.
2. Texts and manuscripts in Constantinople from the court of Andronikos II Palaiologos to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the 16th century: The case of Andronikos Komnenos Dukas Palaiologos’ Dialogus contra Iudaeos. Thanks to the many inputs and ideas offered by a particularly significant case study, the mechanisms of production and circulation of Greek mediaeval literary works are analysed, especially within the Byzantine élites linked to the ruling dynasty of the Palaiologoi in the 14th century, with reflexes in later ages until the 16th century (between Ottoman Constantinople, Lutheran Reformation and post-Tridentine Rome).
   
   

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

General studies:

• C. Mango, La civiltà bizantina, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1992 (2. ed. e successive ristampe).
• A. Kambylis, Compendio della letteratura bizantina, in H.G. Nesselrath (Dir.), Introduzione alla filologia greca, ed. it. a cura di S. Fornaro, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2004, pp. 446-478.
  

For the 1st part:

• G. De Gregorio, Filone Alessandrino tra Massimo Planude e Giorgio Bullotes. A proposito dei codici Vindob. Suppl. gr. 50, Vat. Urb. gr. 125 e Laur. Plut. 10, 23, in Handschriften- und Textforschung heute. Zur Überlieferung der griechischen Literatur. Festschrift für Dieter Harlfinger aus Anlass seines 70. Geburtstages, herausgegeben von Ch. Brockmann - D. Deckers - L. Koch - S. Valente, Wiesbaden, Reichert, 2014 (Serta Graeca. Beiträge zur Erforschung griechischer Texte, 30), pp. 177-230.
• For the paroemiographical collection, which has been set up by Maximos Planudes in ms. Vat. Urb. gr. 125, the reference text will be: Suidae Lexicon, edidit A. Adler, I: Α-Γ, Lipsiae, Teubner, 1928 (rist. anast. 2013).

For the 2nd part:

• For the manuscript tradition of Andronikos Komnenos Dukas Palaiologos’ Dialogus contra Iudaeos, the material collected by the teacher for a large study now in preparation will be used. For a more general framework, see:
• Jews in Byzantium. Dialectics of Minority and Majority Cultures, ed. by R. Bonfil - O. Irshai - G.G Stroumsa - R. Talgam, Leiden - Boston, Brill, 2012 (Jerusalem Studies in Religion and Culture, 14) [as readings for the exam especially pp. 101-148, 219-255, 535-585, 709-721, 871-891].
  

Non-attending Students

To be added to the above indicated bibliography:

• M.D. Lauxtermann, La poesia, in Lo spazio letterario del Medioevo, 3. Le culture circostanti, I. La cultura bizantina, a cura di G. Cavallo, Roma, Salerno Editrice, 2004, pp. 301-343.

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

Teaching methods

The adopted teaching method will be that of frontal lessons; during the course, students will be involved in the transcription and collation of manuscripts and in the preparation of short critical edition specimina for some 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.

Teaching tools

During the course, reproductions of manuscripts and related transcriptions as well as 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://iol.unibo.it.

Office hours

See the website of Giuseppe De Gregorio