090031 VU The Archaeology of the Byzantine Book (2024S)

Content: Ancient books are much more than containers of texts. Their pages hide a centuries-long history, but one must learn how to make them talk and tell their stories. Manuscripts can be considered "archaeological objects": if studied in the right way and with the correct tools they can reveal to us who wrote and later used them, when, why, in which context.
This course will provide a full immersion in the history of the Byzantine book considered as an archaeological object. At the beginning, the focus will be on the written culture and literacy in Byzantium, and on the books of the Byzantines. After this introduction each distinctive part of the Byzantine book will be analysed, from the outside (binding) to the ruling and the writing on its pages. Its characteristic features will be presented from a comparative perspective, taking into account similarities and differences with other co-existing manuscript traditions (e.g. the Latin and the Arabic). Palaeography and textual criticism will be addressed. Students will be introduced to the main tools (printed and digital) for working on Byzantine manuscripts and will learn how to use them. By the end of the course the participants will know how to describe a Byzantine manuscript, also digitally (using XML-TEI), and how to make a codicological description.

Aims, Methods: The course aims at offering an overview on the Byzantine written culture with a focus on the study of the Byzantine handwritten book and its main features, in a comparative perspective. Students will get acquainted with the specific terminology used to describe a manuscript. They will learn how to create a digital description of a manuscript using XML-TEI, and how to make a codicological description. We will work with facsimiles and real manuscripts. Two visits to the Collection of Manuscripts and Old Prints of the Austrian National Library (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) are planned: 15 April and 17 June, during class time.
The lessons will be held in English, but German may in any case be used as the language of discussion and conversation.