University of Pennsylvania Professor Robert Ousterhout delivered the Walton Lecture on Byzantine Constantinople twice this year: at the Gennadius Library in Athens (March 2) and at the Museum of Byzantine Civilization in Thessaloniki (March 4th).
Medieval Greek Summer Session at the Gennadius Library
The Gennadius Library offers to graduate students and professors in Byzantine studies from universities worldwide a four-week program in intermediate level Medieval Greek language and philology at the Gennadius Library, with site and museum trips. The program is held every other year with the next session scheduled for the summer of 2009. Postmark deadline: January 15, 2009.
Download the Bulletin (PDF).
Download the Application (PDF)
Download the Recommendation form (PDF)
The Medieval Greek Summer Session, which was inaugurated in 2005, is offered every other year. 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. Site and museum visits include 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 10-12 students to 2 professors allows the creation of individual tutorial and assignments for each student determined by his/her specific needs and field of study. A minimum of two years of college level Classical Greek (or the equivalent) is required. The language of instruction is English.
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.”