Byzantium authors readings 4018-KONW11
The course aims to familiarize year-two students of New Greek Philology with texts by Byzantine authors, typical of some of the main genres of lay literature in Byzantium (historiography, poetry, philosophy). The classes will be supplemented with selected texts from other areas of Byzantine literature.
The selection of texts read in class is designed to present a few of the most important Byzantine authors and their texts about the most important events of Byzantium’s history (the regaining of Constantinople for the Byzantine Empire from the state formed by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade, the fall of Constantinople in 1453, etc.).
The purpose of the secondary literature discussed during the course is to familiarize students with the people and texts discussed in class. Expanding the students’ knowledge of the historical background of the authors’ lives as well as the events described in the texts will be an added value of the course.
Since the course is addressed to year-two students of New Greek Philology, the texts have been selected so as to cover events from the history of the late Empire (13th-15th centuries) which are still present in the awareness of contemporary Greeks and in modern Greek literature.
Type of course
Learning outcomes
Students who fully complete the syllabus will:
- be aware of the diversity of the Greek language in the Byzantine period and be able to explain the importance of this diversity in the context of Byzantine culture
- have mastered the rudiments of knowledge on the poetics and topoi of Byzantine texts
- be familiar with the main problems of a translator of Byzantine texts
- be able to identify and name the main genres of Greek literature from the Byzantine period
- on a basic level, be able to identify and characterize the literary periods, trends and directions of Greek literature of the Byzantine period
- be able to retrieve, assess, select and use information from different written and electronic sources
- be able to present cohesive and logical argumentation with references to the opinions of others, polemicize critically with the arguments of others, and formulate conclusions
- know how to make proper use of dictionaries, grammar books, and auxiliary materials
- be able to read and analyse academic texts in Modern Greek
- be aware of the limited scope of their own knowledge and skills
- see the need for continual learning and improving one’s professional competence, especially by improving language skills
- appreciate the importance of the Greek heritage from Byzantine times in European culture
- be aware of the existence of an ethical dimension in research and in their own work
- take care to organize their work well
Credits will be based on:
- regular and active participation in the Reading Byzantine Authors classes
- at least one brief report on a topic of the teacher’s choice, presented in class
- at least one written translation of an excerpt from a source text
- taking the final test and achieving a satisfactory result
Assessment criteria
Assessment criteria:
- the student’s contribution to group work on source texts
- quality of the translation
- quality of the report
- familiarity with the material as shown in the final test
Bibliography
Podstawę zajęć stanowić będą wydania (o ile to możliwe krytyczne) tekstów autorów bizantyńskich. Pełny zestaw tekstów zostanie przekazany uczestnikom zajęć przez prowadzącego.
Podstawowymi pomocami naukowymi są:
A) Słowniki Greki średniowiecznej:
- Lampe, A patristic Greek lexicon, Oxford 1968
- Sophocles, E.A. [red.], Greek lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine periods from 146 B. C. to 1100, Cambridge/ London 1914
- Trapp, Erich [red.]; Hrandner, Wolfram [red.], Lexikon zur byzantinischen Gräzität besonders des 9.-12. Jahrhunderts, Wien 1994-
- Κριαράς, Εμμανουήλ, Λεξικό της μεσαιωνικής ελληνικής δημώδους γραμματείας 1100-1669, Θεσσαλονίκη 1968
B) Słowniki Greki starożytnej i współczesnej
- Liddell, Henry George, A Greek - English lexicon, Oxford, 1996
- Μπαμπινιώτης, Γεώργιος, Λεξικό της νέας ελληνικής γλώσσας, Αθήνα 2005
Funkcję pomocniczą stanowić będą opracowania z zakresu literatury bizantyńskiej. Najważniejsze z nich to:
- Hunger, H., Die hochsprachliche profane Literatur der Byzantiner, Munchen 1978 [=Hunger, H., Βυζαντινή λογοτεχνία: Η λόγια κοσμική γραμματεία των Βυζαντινών, Αθήνα 1991]
- Jurewicz, O., Historia literatury bizantyńskiej, Ossolineum 2007
- Kazhdan, Alexander P., The Oxford dictionary of Byzantium, New York/ Oxford 1991
Additional information
Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: