General provisions

The course is given as a self-contained course.

Entry requirements

120 credits of which at least 90 credits within ancient or Byzantine Greek and knowledge of English corresponding to the general entry requirements for first cycle studies in Sweden.

Learning outcomes

The purpose of the course is to acquaint the students with the transmission of Greek texts in manuscripts from Antiquity to the Renaissance. The students study manuscripts from different places and periods, written in different hands, in order to gain a basic knowledge in how to read and to some degree date and geographically locate Greek manuscripts. The course also provides a basic knowledge of codicology and how to catalogue manuscripts, and introduces the application of modern technology to both conservation and cataloguing of manuscripts.

In order to pass the course the student shall be able to:

• read Greek text in manuscripts from different periods and in different hands (from Antiquity to the 16th century)
• approximately date manuscripts and, if possible, locate them to a geographical context
• reflect upon issues of manuscript culture and textual transmission
• present a basic codicological analysis of a manuscript
• account for the basics of how to catalogue manuscript.

Content

The course will introduce students to the development of Greek writing techniques and materials from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance. It will also practically prepare the student to analyse and describe a medieval manuscript from the palaeographical and codicological points of view by providing the terminology and the reference materials used for such work. Further it will survey the contemporary approaches to book conservation and the digital resources that are transforming the study of manuscripts.

Instruction

The course is taught through seminars, lectures and exercises.

Assessment

The course is examined continuously in connection with the seminars, by assigned tasks and exercises during the course and by a final paper. The content and format of the assigned tasks, exercises and final paper, the date of completion/submission and information on re-examination are given at the start of the course.

If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.