The course aims at acquiring the methodologies proper to palaeographic research as well as general and specific technical notions. It also aims to develop the ability to understand the fundamental elements in the evaluation of different graphic systems in the Greek context, from Late Antiquity to the humanistic period. Finally, it aims to enable the application of the acquired knowledge in the recognition and dating of the main Greek book scripts.
Course Prerequisites
Good knowledge of ancient Greek. Knowledge of the fundamentals of the textual criticism and textual transmission.
Teaching Methods
Lectures accompanied by practical exercises in reading, transcription and dating of the proposed writing samples.
Assessment Methods
Verification of learning through an exercise consisting of transcribing a few lines of a paleographical specimen and dating it. Oral interview on the topics covered in class. The assessment criteria will include an evalua-tion of the knowledge acquired (reading of facsimiles and exposition of the main themes addressed), the use of sufficiently adequate technical language, as well as the ability to place the graphic phenomenon in the historical and cultural context.
Texts
Bibliography: • L. Perria, Graphis. Per una storia della scrittura greca libraria (secoli IV a.C. - XVI d.C.), Roma - Città del Vaticano 2011 (Quaderni di Nea Rhome, 1). Facsimiles:
• H. Follieri, Codices graeci Bibliothecae Vaticanae selecti tem-porum locorumque ordine digesti commentariis et transcriptionibus instructi, apud Bibliothecam Vati-canam 1969 (Exempla scripturarum, IV) [selezione di tavole con trascrizione]. • P. Canart - A. Jacob - S. Lucà – L. Perria, Facsimili di codici greci della Biblioteca Vaticana, 1. Tavole, Città del Vaticano, Bi-blioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1998 (Exempla Scripturarum, V) [sele-zione di tavole con trascrizione]. Further reproductions will be presented and distributed during the course. Further in-depth bibliographical infor-mation will be provided during the course.
Contents
The course aims to provide the basic notions and scientific instrumentation necessary for an initial approach to the methodologies of palaeographic research applied to Greek manuscripts. In particular, the following macro-contents are highlighted: - Introduction to the discipline and elements of palaeographic evaluation. - Elements of codicology - History of Greek majuscule bookhands, with particular reference to the ‘canons’ of the 4th-9th centuries. - Origin of the minuscule script. - The Greek minuscule from the 9th/10th to the 14th century. - Fifteenth- and sixteenth- century hands.
