PALEOGRAPHY OF THE CLASSICS. GREEK EAST

Course objectives

In consistency with the educational purposes of the whole teaching course, aim of the teaching unit is to give students knowledge and comprehension skills in the field of the Palaeography of the Classics, that complete and/or reinforce those acquired in the first grade of studies. Moreover, it will make the students able to approach orginal themes in a research context, making more complex judgments, communicating knowledge and its process, and studying the subject in an independent and self-educational way. In particular, the course, by using the palaeographical method, will enable students to read, date and locate manuscripts – especially medieval ones –, and will provide some coordinates on the history of the texts and the culture that manuscripts illustrate.

Channel 1
DANIELE BIANCONI Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program
The palaeographical method and a brief history of Greek palaeography; Greek handwriting during the Hellenistic and Roman periods (4th BC-3rd AD centuries); the majuscule 'normative' scripts (4rd-9th centuries); the birth of the minuscule script; Greek minuscule handwriting in books and documents (9th-14th centuries); Greek handwritings in the Italian Humanism and the Renaissance (15ht-16th centuries).
Prerequisites
Knowledge of Ancient Greek.
Books
D. Bianconi, E. Crisci, P. Degni, Paleografia greca, Roma, Carocci, 2021 (Manuali Universitari, 222) [ISBN: 978-88-290-1168-1]. Plates of Greek manuscripts with transcriptions as well as further bibliography will be provided in class.
Frequency
The attendance is optional, but strongly recommended.
Exam mode
Oral exam at the end of the lessons, by mark expressed on a scale from a minimum of 18 (the threshold to pass the exam) to the maximum of 30 (cum laude). The exam consists in reading and discussing one or more facsimiles of Greek manuscripts. During the exam, a written practical test will also be discussed: it consists in the transcription of some portions of Greek manuscripts, which the student will have completed independently and given to the professor well in advance before the oral exam.
Lesson mode
frontal lessons; reading practices.
DANIELE BIANCONI Lecturers' profile

Program - Frequency - Exams

Course program
The palaeographical method and a brief history of Greek palaeography; Greek handwriting during the Hellenistic and Roman periods (4th BC-3rd AD centuries); the majuscule 'normative' scripts (4rd-9th centuries); the birth of the minuscule script; Greek minuscule handwriting in books and documents (9th-14th centuries); Greek handwritings in the Italian Humanism and the Renaissance (15ht-16th centuries).
Prerequisites
Knowledge of Ancient Greek.
Books
D. Bianconi, E. Crisci, P. Degni, Paleografia greca, Roma, Carocci, 2021 (Manuali Universitari, 222) [ISBN: 978-88-290-1168-1]. Plates of Greek manuscripts with transcriptions as well as further bibliography will be provided in class.
Frequency
The attendance is optional, but strongly recommended.
Exam mode
Oral exam at the end of the lessons, by mark expressed on a scale from a minimum of 18 (the threshold to pass the exam) to the maximum of 30 (cum laude). The exam consists in reading and discussing one or more facsimiles of Greek manuscripts. During the exam, a written practical test will also be discussed: it consists in the transcription of some portions of Greek manuscripts, which the student will have completed independently and given to the professor well in advance before the oral exam.
Lesson mode
frontal lessons; reading practices.
  • Lesson code10621425
  • Academic year2025/2026
  • CoursePhilology, literatures and history of the ancient world
  • CurriculumStorico e medievistico
  • Year1st year
  • Semester1st semester
  • SSDM-STO/09
  • CFU6