90100 - Greek Language and Literature in the Byzantine Age

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to provide students with basic linguistic and philological knowledge, familiarity with fundamental information tools, and with the method for approaching Byzantine texts (4th-15th centuries). The student at the end of the course knows the role played by Byzantium in the history of European culture, the main Byzantine texts that shaped the civilization of the Orthodox Christian East, and is aware of the mutual literary influences that characterized the Byzantine, Arabic, Latin, Slavic civilizations in the Middle Ages; he can also read and understand in the original language documentary and literary texts with the aid of dictionaries and modern translations.

Course contents

The course is structured in three parts:
1. Thirty hours of introduction to:

- the main themes and texts of Greek literature from the 4th to the 15th century

- the major centres where the teaching, literary activity and cultural life of the Byzantine Empire developed.

Presentation of the fundamental tools of information (both printed and in digital form). The student will be guided to an autonomous and critical use of them.

2. The second part (ten hours) is dedicated to the reading of selected texts of the monastic literature of the Egyptian-Palestinian desert of the V-VII centuries, and to the examination of its diffusion in the whole Christian oikoumene, in original and through ancient translations in different languages (Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, Georgian, Arabic, Ethiopian, Paleoslavic), and finally in modern European languages.

3. The third part (twenty hours) is dedicated to the commented reading of the Digenis Akritas, an epic poem and eloquent document of the cultural relationship between Byzantium and Islam.

NOTE: The elementary knowledge of the Greek language and its history is a logical and indispensable prerequisite for achieving the objectives of the course (see NEWS on the teacher's page). The necessary didactic support is provided: a cycle of 50 hours of Greek language (basic level). Students will be guided to learn the essential elements of phonetics, morphology and syntax through the reading and translation of original texts, namely: a) some pagan and Christian epigraphs, b) selected passages from Homer, Aristotle, Strabo, Plutarch.
The student who is not attending the course must agree, by appointment, on an exam programme in lieu of the lessons.

Readings/Bibliography

Among the works that will be examined and discussed in the first part of the course, each student will choose - according to his/her personal skills and interests - a Byzantine literary work to be read for the exam, in translation.

Compulsory reading for the exam are also:
 - The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies, edited by Elizabeth Jeffreys with John Haldon and Robin Cormack, Oxford 2008: Part III 16.1; 17; 18.
- I. Shahîd, Byzantium and the Islamic World, in A.E. Laiou and H. Maguire (ed.), Byzantium: A World Civilization, Washington D.C. 1992, pp. 49-60.
- The texts discussed in class and uploaded online in "Teaching Materials", section "Compulsory Readings for the Exam, 2020-2021".

Teaching methods

- Frontal lesson.
- Projection in the classroom and distribution to students, in pdf format, of maps, chronological tables, concept maps (see "Learning Materials".
- Interactive language course, and individual guide to reading and translating Greek texts.
- Presentation of webliography on Byzantium and the Greek book and documentary heritage that is preserved in Italian and foreign libraries, museums and archives, followed by a debate with the students. Training to a critical selection of information sources offered by the web.

Assessment methods

Viva voce examination, and a written test.
The student will be assessed according to this criterion:
- failing grades: lack of basic knowledge of topics and texts; inability to answer the questions related to the course in a logically structured manner and in a correct linguistic form.
- narrow passing grades: basic knowledge of the topics covered by the course, but uncertain exposure and purely mnemonic learning
- passing grades (good): mastery of the topics and texts covered in the course
- excellent: elegant and precise exposition, from which emerges a deep understanding of topics and texts, cultural curiosity, and excellent logical skills.

Teaching tools

Online databases. Metaopac.
Video projector and interactive whiteboard.
Presentation of the main dictionaries, the most important series of editions and translations, and the basic bibliography about the Byzantine literary civilization.
Guided tour of the Campus Library and the Classense Library (both optional and outside class hours).

Office hours

See the website of Chiara Francesca Faraggiana di Sarzana