“Reading Medieval Greek Manuscripts”
Mediterranean Studies Summer Skills Seminar
19—22 May 2025 • Remote

Welcome to the 2025 Summer Skills Seminar,  “Reading Medieval Greek Manuscripts.” The course will be held via Zoom from Monday, 19 May to Thursday, 22 May 2025 from 10am to noon and 1pm to 3pm MDT.

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Resources

Basic Literature you can find online

·      Gardthausen, Griechische Paläographie, Vol. 1: Das Buchwesen im Altertum und byzantinischen Mittelalter, Leipzig 1911;Vol. 2: Die Schrift, Unterschriften und Chronologie, Leipzig 1913 https://goo.gl/J66xXT  and https://goo.gl/AfjcMt.
Leipzig, second edition 1911 / 1913.
·      P. Canart, Lezioni di Paleografia e di Codicologia Greca, Vatican City 1980
https://goo.gl/KumEVx Vatican City, 1980.
·      Bausi et al. (eds.), Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies, Hamburg 2015
https://goo.gl/AqKACJ (see M. Maniaci, “Greek manuscripts”, pp. 51–53; same author, “Greek codicology”, pp. 187–207; D. B. Bianconi, “Greek palaeography”, pp. 297–305; A. Binggeli, “Catalogues of Greek manuscripts”, pp. 489–492). Hamburg, 2015. See specific chapters for topics on Greek manuscripts and codicology.

 Greek Paleography

·      Pyle: A Gateway to Greek Manuscripts https://pyle.it/
Pyle is a collaborative tool for teaching and scholarly research in the field of Greek palaeography and codicology; it aims to collect scattered resources from various individuals and institutions, gradually adding new information, materials and services.
·      Associazione Italiana dei Paleografi e Diplomatisti http://scrineum.unipv.it/aipd/index.htm provides up-to-date bibliographies of most Italian palaeographers.
·      Webseite Greek manuscripts der British Library https://www.bl.uk/greek-manuscripts Explore some of the highlights of the British Library's collection items, read articles by leading experts on Greek manuscripts, discover themes running through the collections, and watch videos on key topics.
·      Diktyon is a scientific network of digital resources and databases on Greek manuscripts. http://www.diktyon.org/ Faced with the proliferation of digital resources on the web and the risk of dispersion of the data, the idea was to find ways to coordinate different enterprises in the field of Greek manuscript studies.
·      Pinakes | Πίνακες: Textes et manuscrits grecs http://pinakes.irht.cnrs.fr/
 ("Pinakes's main objective is to compile an inventory of all Greek texts, from the origins to the end of the 16th century, contained in manuscripts described in printed library catalogs, with the exception of papyri. Manuscripts are included without any date limit.).  

Codicology

·      Medieval Digital Resources – Codicology https://mdr-maa.org/subject/codicology/ This site is a curated directory of digital tools and databases related to medieval studies. The Codicology section includes links to projects that focus on the physical structure and history of manuscripts, such as:
o   Ad Fontes – a training tool for working with historical documents,
o   SfarData – a codicological database of Hebrew manuscripts,
o   Digital Scriptorium – a digital archive of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts.

·      Illuminated Manuscripts: Palaeography Calligraphy and Codicology Resources https://www.illuminatedmanuscripts.org/pages/palaeography-calligraphy-and-codicology-resources This page offers a rich collection of links to online resources for studying medieval manuscripts. It includes:
o   Digital libraries of illuminated manuscripts,
o   Tools for analyzing handwriting and manuscript layout,
o   Educational platforms for learning codicology and paleography.

·      MEMSLib – Manuscript Studies: Palaeography & Codicology https://www.memslib.co.uk/manuscript-palaeography-codicology
o   MEMSLib is a resource hub for students and researchers in medieval and early modern studies. The Manuscript Studies section provides:
o   Guides on how to read and date manuscripts,
o   Access to databases of abbreviations and scripts,
o   Links to digitized manuscript collections and scholarly tools.

·      Vocabulary http://vocabulaire.irht.cnrs.fr/vocab.htm  Vocabulaire codicologique: Répertoire méthodique des termes français relatifs aux manuscrits avec leurs équivalents en anglais, italien,
espagnol. Denis Muzerelle

 

Important Collections

Vatican
Follieri, E. (1969) Codices Graeci Bibliothecae Vaticanae selecti temporum locorumque ordine digesti commentariis et transcriptionibus instructi (Vatican City).  Lilla, S. (2004) I manoscritti vaticani greci: lineamenti di una storia del fondo (Vatican City). http://193.43.102.72/gui/html/index.jsp digitized mss.: http://193.43.102.72/gui/scan/link.jsp

Paris
Omont, H. (1898) Bibliotheque nationale; Departement des manuscrits, Inventaire sommaire des manuscrits grecs de la Bibliotheque nationale et des autres bibliotheques de Paris et des departements (Paris).
Cf. http://www.bnf.fr/pages/zNavigat/frame/catalogues_num.htm 
Omont, H. (1892) Fac-similés des plus anciens manuscrits grecs...de la Bibliothèque Nationale du IVe au XIIe siècle (Paris).
Omont, H. (1891) Fac-similés des manuscrits grecs datés de la Bibliothèque ·      Nationale du IXe au XIVe siècle (Paris).
For a list of Greek mss. at Paris available online: cf. http://paleografia-
greca.blogspot.com/2013/09/aggiornamento-dei-manoscritti-parigini.html

Florence: Biblioteca medicea laurenziana
Fryde, E. B. (1996) Greek Manuscripts in the Private Library of the Medici, 1469-1510 (Aberystwyth). http://www.BML.firenze.sbn.it/

Athens, Εθνική βιβλιοθήκη, κατάλογοι:
http://www.nlg.gr/www/el/node/44

British Library: (more than a 1000 Greek mss. and more than 3000 papyri)
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Default.aspx  British Library Digitised Manuscripts

Oxford (Bodleian)
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/medieval/medieval.htm  
http://image.ox.ac.uk/ : High resolution digital images of select Byzantine  manuscripts Cataldi Palau, A. (2011) A Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts from the Meerman Collection in the Bodleian Library (Oxford).

Heidelberg, Codices Palatini graeci
http://www.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/helios/digi/codpalgraec.html

Biblioteca Nacional de España
http://catalogo.bne.es/uhtbin/cgisirsi/QjQDw4QbRR/BNMADRID/0/49
·      specially important: Μορφωτικό Ίδρυμα της Εθνικής Τραπέζης, Ιστορικό και Παλαιογραφικό Αρχείο
http://www.ipamiet.gr/miet/  

Leimonos Monastery, Lesbos
http://84.205.233.134/library/index_en.php

Collections in the USA
N. Kavrus-Hoffmann in various articles in Manuscripta 49-58 (2005-2014)
cf. Digital Scriptorium: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/digitalscriptorium/  (“growing image database of medieval and renaissance manuscripts”

Lexicons and Dictionaries for Greek Language

·       Thesaurus Linguea Graeca: https://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/Iris/inst/tsearch.jsp
·       Liddle-Scott-Jones (Lexikon Altgriechisch-Englisch)
·       Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität 
·       Lexikon der mittegriechischen Volksliteratur (1100-1669), 17 Bände 
·       Kurzgefasstes Lexikon der mittelgriechischen Volksliteratur 
·       Wörterbuch der modernen griechischen Sprache 
·       Suda-Lexikon Online 
·       Harpokrations Lexikon attischer Redner (Lexicon in decem oratores Atticos) Online 
·       Logeion (University of Chicago)

Encyclopedias, reference works, bibliographies

·       Byzantinische Bibliographie von Notre Dame University 
·       Claremont Coptic Encyclopedia 
·       Oxford Bibliographies – Classics 
·       Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit

Resources on manuscript studies (paleography, codicology, etc.)

·       Dumbarton Oaks Mikrofilm Datenbank 
·       Kleines Lexikon der Stemmatologie

Byzantine icon painting

·       The Icons of Sinai (Princeton) – Ikonendatenbank  

Helpful links to specific institutions

·       Koç University Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for Late Antique and Byzantine Studies (GABAM)
·       The Latin Talmud (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)

Other addresses/ search engines

·       Byzantinische/ frühneugriechische Volksliteratur (Center for the Greek Language, Thessaloniki)
·       Robby Search engine and catalog for Greek domains and Greek thematic sites
·       Pathfinder Greek portal, similar to Yahoo or Excite
·       Phantis Search engine specially developed for searching in Greek cyberspace
·       Oneclick Meta search engine searches various Greek search engines and then processes the results