GREEK PALAEOGRAPHY

The course of Greek Palaeography offers to the students of “Ancient Civilisations: Literature, History and Archaeology”, "Archival and Library Science" and “History from the Middle Ages to Present” the essential training for reading Greek manuscripts and documents, and for using and analysing historical and literary sources in their original form.

By the end of the module, the students
- Will have a sound knowledge of Greek handwriting of 15th and 16th centuries both in East and West
- Will be able to distinguish different handwriting styles
- Will be able to comment on the layout and the script, date these manuscripts, and place them in the cultural milieu in which they were produced.

Knowledge of classical Greek.

Greek book script in the 15th and 16th centuries. In this period we find scripts that continue previous styles together with individual handwriting, sometimes in contamination with Latin humanistic script. The great number of surviving manuscripts allows to recognize and classify the different handwritings as well as to determine influences in each scribe.

Mandatory texts

L. Perria, Γραφίς: per una storia della scrittura greca libraria, secoli IV a.C.-XVI d.C, Roma-Città del Vaticano 2011, pp. 155-165
La scrittura greca dall’antichità all’epoca della stampa: una introduzione, a cura di E. Crisci e P. Degni, Roma, Carocci editore, 2011, pp. 201-238

Other warmly recommended books

P. Canart, Identification et différentiation de mains à l'époque de la Renaissance, in: La paléographie grecque et byzantine, Paris 1977, pp. 363-369
D. Harlfinger, Zu griechischen Kopisten und Schriftstilen des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts, in: La paléographie grecque et byzantine, Paris 1977, pp. 327-341
P. Eleuteri- P. Canart, Scrittura greca nell'Umanesimo italiano, Milano, Il Polifilo, 1991
Repertorium der griechischen Kopisten, Wien 1981-1997

The exam is oral, and the student has to answer the questions in such a way as to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the subject to pass the exam.

Lessons will be carried out in a conventional manner.

Lectures and reading of manuscript reproductions. To learn how to read a manuscript it is essential to be always present during the course.

Every week the students will have the possibility to make a transcription at home that will be corrected by the teacher in order to prepare for the final examination.

Italian

oral