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GREEK 187: Greek Palaeography

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2022
Course website

Do you want to learn how to read the Greek classics from the manuscripts in which they survive?

This course offers an introduction to late antique and medieval Greek book culture and handwriting. On the basis of selected manuscripts of a variety of texts (for example, the Homeric epics, Plato’s dialogues, classical tragedies and the Bible), we will trace the main lines of development of Greek script from the majuscule (uncial) of the earliest codices to the minuscule of Byzantine manuscripts and the type of early printed books in Renaissance Italy. Although the focus will be...

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CLS-STDY 122 / HIST 12V: Identity and the Self in the Medieval Greek Tradition

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2021
Course website
This seminar explores the construction and complexity of identities in the Greek tradition (300-1500).  How did the inhabitants of the Byzantine, or the Eastern Roman, Empire in the Middle Ages, both men and women, Constantinopolitans and provincials, emperors and people of lower social status, define and represent themselves in text? What about dress and visual representations? Readings include fascinating narratives, biographies, and autobiographies. Students will learn how to approach these rich texts from combined historical and literary perspectives, while gaining familiarity with... Read more about CLS-STDY 122 / HIST 12V: Identity and the Self in the Medieval Greek Tradition

CLASPHIL 295 / MEDGREEK 295: The Greek Anthology

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2021
Course website
“For our knowledge of virtually the entire history of the classical epigram, we are dependent on two celebrated and remarkable manuscripts: the so-called Palatine Anthology … and the Planudean Anthology” (Cameron 1993, 16). These two manuscripts make up what we today commonly refer to as the Greek Anthology, the most important source not only of ancient but also of early Byzantine epigrams. In this course, we will study these anthologies both as sources of individual epigrams and as works of art in their own right that weave these epigrams into “garlands” of poetry. We will... Read more about CLASPHIL 295 / MEDGREEK 295: The Greek Anthology

GREEK 112B: History of Greek Literature II

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2021
Course website

This course offers a survey of Greek literature from around 400 BC to AD 200 through the lens of rhetorical discourse. In the largely oral societies of the ancient Mediterranean world, speech occupied an important place in public discourse. The delivery of orations and more informal discourses could serve various purposes: to establish communication between individuals or groups; to influence decision-making in assemblies and courts; to support and spread political propaganda; to forge and represent collective identities; and to promote personal agendas. Especially in the later period,...

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MEDGREEK 115: Introduction to Byzantine Greek

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2020
Course website

This course provides an introduction to the language of late antique and Byzantine Greek texts. This “Medieval Greek” should not be understood as a particular, “intermediate” stage in a supposedly linear development from Ancient to Modern Greek, but rather as a conventional designation of a broad continuum of linguistic registers, ranging from highly archaizing usages (“Atticism”) to the so-called vernacular. In the surviving texts, these registers may vary significantly, depending on the author and his (or rarely, her) audience, the genre and other contextual factors.

Through...

Read more about MEDGREEK 115: Introduction to Byzantine Greek

MEDGREEK 115: Introduction to Byzantine Greek

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2019
Course website

This course provides an introduction to the language of late antique and Byzantine Greek texts. This “Medieval Greek” should not be understood as a particular, “intermediate” stage in a supposedly linear development from Ancient to Modern Greek, but rather as a conventional designation of a broad continuum of linguistic registers, ranging from highly archaizing usages (“Atticism”) to the so-called vernacular. In the surviving texts, these registers may vary significantly, depending on the author and his (or rarely, her) audience, the genre and other contextual factors.

Through...

Read more about MEDGREEK 115: Introduction to Byzantine Greek

CLASPHIL 216: Greek Epistolography

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2018
Course website
Letters were an important medium of long-distance communication in the ancient Mediterranean, be it for private matters, official affairs, or business transactions. Soon after its emergence in the Greek world, the epistolary form was adopted by educated elites and transformed into a literary genre, which developed distinctive motifs and was used, for instance, to convey philosophical and political ideas, to establish and foster ties with peers, or to narrate stories. This seminar will explore a broad range of texts that employ or toy with epistolarity and that discuss or theorize letter-... Read more about CLASPHIL 216: Greek Epistolography

GREEK 112B: History of Greek Literature II

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2018
Course website
This course offers a survey of Greek literature from around 400 BC to 400 AD through the lens of rhetorical discourse. We will read extracts from a broad range of texts from the Classical, Hellenistic, Roman and Late Antique periods. The selection will include exemplary orations (e.g., Demosthenes’ First Philippic), inserted speeches in narrative texts (e.g., Pericles’ famous funeral oration as rendered by Thucydides, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount according to the Gospel of Matthew), a panegyrical poem (Theocritus' Idyll 17), texts about rhetoric and rhetoricians... Read more about GREEK 112B: History of Greek Literature II

MEDGREEK 115: Introduction to Byzantine Greek

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2018
Course website
This course provides an introduction to the language of late antique and Byzantine Greek texts. This “Medieval Greek” should not be understood as a particular, “intermediate” stage in a supposedly linear development from Ancient to Modern Greek, but rather as a conventional designation of a broad continuum of linguistic registers, ranging from highly archaizing usages (“Atticism”) to the so-called vernacular. In the surviving texts, these registers may vary significantly, depending on the author and
his (or rarely, her) audience, the genre and other contextual factors. Through a close... Read more about MEDGREEK 115: Introduction to Byzantine Greek

CLS-STDY 140: Stories from Byzantium: Medieval Greek Literature in Translation

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2017
Course website
This course offers an introduction to Medieval Greek literature, from the foundation of Constantinople by Emperor Constantine the Great in 330 to the city’s conquest by Sultan Mehmed II in 1453, on the basis of selected readings in English translation. The focus will be on narrative texts (for instance, historical accounts, saints' lives, and novels), and particularly on wondrous, humorous, and juicy stories and tales, which enjoyed great popularity in Byzantium. Each thematic unit will be introduced by a lecture on the general historical and literary contexts of the assigned texts, followed... Read more about CLS-STDY 140: Stories from Byzantium: Medieval Greek Literature in Translation

GREEK 112B: History of Greek Literature II

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2017
Course website
This course offers a survey of Greek literature from the late 5th century BC to the late 5th century AD through the lens of rhetorical discourse. We will read extracts from a broad range of texts from the Classical, Hellenistic, Roman, and Late Antique periods. The selection will include exemplary orations (e.g., Demosthenes’ First Philippic, Gregory of Nazianzus’ Funeral Oration for Basil the Great), inserted speeches in narrative texts (e.g., Pericles’ famous funeral oration as rendered by Thucydides, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount according to the Gospel of Matthew), texts about rhetoric and... Read more about GREEK 112B: History of Greek Literature II

MEDGREEK 115: Introduction to Byzantine Greek

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2017
Course website

 

This course provides an introduction to the language of late antique and Byzantine Greek texts. This “Medieval Greek” should not be understood as a clearly definable stage in a linear development from Ancient to Modern Greek, but rather as a conventional designation of a broad continuum of linguistic registers, ranging from highly archaizing usages (“Atticism”) to the so-called vernacular. In the surviving texts, these registers may vary significantly, depending on the author and his (or rarely, her) audience, the genre and other contextual factors.

Through a close...

Read more about MEDGREEK 115: Introduction to Byzantine Greek

CLASPHIL 285: Greek Palaeography

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2017
Course website

This course is intended as an introduction to late antique and medieval Greek book culture and handwriting. On the basis of selected manuscripts of a variety of texts, ranging from classical authors to the Bible and Byzantine writers, we will trace the main lines of development of Greek script from the uncial (majuscule) of the earliest codices to the minuscule of the manuscripts and early printed books of Renaissance humanists. Although the main focus will be on deciphering, transcribing and contextualizing various handwritings, we will also pay attention to material aspects of the...

Read more about CLASPHIL 285: Greek Palaeography