Educational Programs

In 2007 the Gennadius Library held a Medieval Greek Summer Session focused on the teaching of Medieval Greek. Although no future program is yet announced, the Library hopes to hold this successful event biannually. The objective of the Summer Session is to familiarize students who have a sound foundation in Classical Greek with Medieval Greek language and philology by exposing them to primary sources, different kinds of literary genres, paleography and epigraphy as well as bibliographic and electronic tools, drawing on the resources of the Gennadius Library. The program also includes site and museum visits (in 2007 visits included the Byzantine, the Benaki Museums and the National Library as well as tours of Byzantine Athens, Corinth, Mistra, Thessaloniki, and Hosios Loukas). A ratio of 10 students to 2 professors in 2007 allowed the creation of individual tutorial and assignments for each student determined by his/her specific needs and field of study. 2007 session was geared to students enrolled in a graduate program in any field of Byzantine studies in a North American or European university. A minimum of two years of college level Classical Greek (or the equivalent) was required and a diagnostic test (available electronically) was administered to finalists before the final selection of students was made.

Please check this page regularly for the announcement of the next Medieval Greek Summer Session and/or other educational programs.

Ivan Drpic, Ph.D. candidate, Art History, Harvard University and American School Associate Fellow writes on the Byzantine Summer School:

“I found the Byzantine Greek Summer School of 2005 to be a tremendously enriching experience. Our readings included a wide spectrum of texts (from Romanos the Melode’s kontakia and letters of Michael Psellos to orations of John of Damascus and Photios’ Bibliotheke). Highlights included the additional classes on paleography and instrumenta studiorum, and especially, the individual tutorials with the excellent instructors, Alexander Alexakis and Stratis Papaioannou, which allowed us to unravel the intricacies of texts/authors relevant to each participant’s interests. In addition to having access to the excellent collections of the Gennadius Library, we also took excursions to Thessaloniki, Hosios Loukas, and Mistra—all due compensation for spending an unbearably hot July in Athens.”