Outreach
Lectures
Speaking From the Margins. DBBE Online Lectures.
Byzantine manuscripts of all periods and kinds regularly contained colophons, scribal prayers, dedicatory pieces, and other “paratexts” in verse. These small (or sometimes long) poems give us a unique insight into the interests, ideologies and emotions of scribe, patron, and/or reader. They are testimonies to a long and often eventful history of reading and interpretation in Byzantine culture, and at the same time, they are fascinating (but sometimes overlooked) works of poetic art.
The DBBE has greatly improved access to this corpus. Nevertheless, book epigrams continue to elicit many questions, from palaeography to art history, from metrics to the history of text transmission. In this series of lectures, we invite scholars to share their perspectives on this multifaceted genre.
Spring 2021 Series
In Spring 2021, we will kick off Speaking From the Margins with a series of six online lectures. The lectures will take place at 4pm (Central European Time) and will be freely accessible via Zoom. No registration required. The links to the individual lectures will be broadly advertised before each lecture.
- Thursday 11 February 2021
Andreas Rhoby, Verse and Image: The Kosmos of Byzantine Metrical Paratexts
abstract and practical information
recording - Tuesday 2 March 2021
Julie Boeten, The Focus in and on Book Epigrams: A Pragmatic Investigation of Object Clitic Pronouns and the Topic-Focus Pair in Byzantine Book Epigrams
abstract and practical information
recording - Tuesday 30 March 2021
Jacopo Marcon, Παῦλος ὁ μύστης τῶν ἀπορρήτων λόγων: On the Use of the Book Epigrams in New Testament Catenae on Paul
abstract and practical information
recording - Tuesday 27 April 2021
Alessandra Palla, Manuscript Tradition and Cultural Perspectives: Investigating the Epigrams AP 2, vv. 372-376 and AP 9, 583
abstract and practical information
recording - Tuesday 25 May 2021
Sien De Groot, Reading and Writing the Areopagite. Book Epigrams as Witnesses to the Transmission of the Corpus Dionysiacum
abstract and practical information
recording - Tuesday 22 June 2021
Georgi Parpulov, A Typology of Metrical Paratexts
abstract and practical information
Epigrams in the picture
As DBBE is an ever-growing corpus of fascinating and diverse Byzantine book epigrams, we decided to put some of these hidden gems in the spotlight in the series #epigramsinthepicture!
- World Book Day (23/04/2021)
- International Women's Day (08/03/2021)
- Merry Christmas! (25/12/2020)
- Mount Etna (15/12/2020)
- All Souls' Day (02/11/2020)
- World Animal Day (04/10/2020)
- Back to school (01/09/2020)
- World Breastfeeding Week (05/08/2020)
- Summer break (17/07/2020)
- Saints Peter and Paul (29/06/2020)
- Growing Corpora poster (25/06/2020)
- Alexander the Great (11/06/2020)
- Pentecost (31/05/2020)
- Feast of the Ascension (21/05/2020)
- A Byzantine applause for all healthcare heroes (12/05/2020)
- World Veterinary Day (25/04/2020)
- Saint George (23/04/2020)
- Happy Easter! (12/04/2020)
- Good Friday (10/04/2020)
- Valentine's Day (14/02/2020)
- Saint Nicholas (06/12/2019)
- Saint Luke (18/10/2019)
Blog
A DBBE blog is on its way! In the meantime, you can have look at
- a blogpost on Byzantine book epigrams written by our own Julie Boeten and Sien De Groot for the British Library
- another blogpost on Byzantine book epigrams written by our intern Noor Vanhoe for Medieval / Modern on the occastion of World Book Day 2021
- Aglae Pizzone's blogpost on John Tzetzes, proudly featuring DBBE
Interested in writing a blogpost about our material? Go for it and get in touch!
Workshops
- 03-04/02/2020: crash course in Greek paleography, in collaboration with the Research School OIKOS
- 13/02/2019: crash course in Greek paleography, in collaboration with the Research School OIKOS
Teaching materials
"The Quest for the lost Epigram: Greek book epigrams in medieval manuscripts"
(featuring London BL Harley 5600 and many other treasures)
Abstract (in Dutch)
De wrok van Achilles, de avonturen van Odysseus en het tragische lot van Antigone: we kennen ze allemaal. Maar deze verhalen waren voor altijd verloren gegaan, hadden middeleeuwse (Byzantijnse) kopiisten ze niet zorgvuldig overgeschreven in manuscripten. Vaak voegden deze kopiisten voor of na de tekst of zelfs in de marge korte gedichtjes toe: ze prijzen de auteur de hemel in, richten zich tot de lezer (een bekend voorbeeld: “steel dit boek en je belandt in de hel!”) of uiten hun opluchting dat ze eindelijk klaar zijn met hun (soms saaie) kopieerwerk. Deze gedichtjes, ook wel boekepigrammen genoemd, worden vaak genegeerd. Nochtans bieden ze ons een unieke inkijk in de raadselachtige wereld van manuscripten.
De Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams (https://dbbe.ugent.be) is dé digitale tool bij uitstek waarin al deze boekepigrammen verzameld en ook onderzocht worden. Elke dag doen we nog nieuwe ontdekkingen! In deze workshop zijn jullie de onderzoekers. Jullie duiken in echte Griekse manuscripten en gaan op zoek naar epigrammen om ze te ontcijferen. Daarna gaan jullie aan de hand van onze database verder op onderzoek uit: Wie schreef deze verzen? Wanneer? Waarom? Vinden we dit gedicht nog ergens anders terug? Draai mee in ons team en ga mee op een historische queeste!
All info to be found at the website of Didactica Classica Gandensia (in Dutch).