The Department of Greek and Latin is delighted to announce a special connection with The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore for an intensive, hands-on summer course in Greek palaeography in May 2024.  Course instructors Dr. Ilya Dines (Library of Congress) and Dr. Fabio Pagani (Greek and Latin, The Catholic University of America) will provide one week of instruction in DC at Catholic University, and one week in Baltimore at The Walters working directly with The Walters' collection of Greek manuscripts.

This course offers a unique opportunity to study all aspects of Greek manuscripts from both a theoretical and a practical perspective. It will provide students with a thorough grounding in the ways that Greek books were written and made between late antiquity and the Renaissance.

Dates

May 13 - May 24, 2024 (please hold May 25, as well, for a final Zoom meeting and/or any needed final exam).

Meeting times

10:00am - 12:00pm and 2:00pm - 4:00pm, MTWThF ( = Monday through Friday).

Locations

May 13 - 17 in person at The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC and May 20 - 24 in person at The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

Course modalities

In person at Catholic University May 13 - 17, in person at The Walters May 20 - 24, all sessions live in real time.  (Please note that while non-synchronous or fully remote participation is not possible, Zoom attendance for the Catholic University week only may be possible with the permission of the course instructors.)

Prerequisites

A minimum of 2 years of ancient/classical Greek (not Biblical, NT, or koinê only) at the college/university level.  Students whose course transcripts do not clearly show this level of prior study will be asked to take the department's free online Greek placement exam in order to confirm their preparation. Questions in this regard may be directed to the course instructors (see below for contact information).

Course size

Maximum 11 students.

Course instructors

Dr. Ilya Dines (Library of Congress) and Dr. Fabio Pagani (Department of Greek and Latin, The Catholic University of America).

Course description: GR 533, Greek Palaeography

An introduction to Greek handwriting from antiquity to the Renaissance, focused upon a selection of different miniscule scripts and designed to teach students both how to read Greek manuscripts and how to approach them as physical objects.  Topics to be addressed include the evolution of handwriting during late antiquity and the Middle Ages; ligatures and abbreviations; basic codicological terminology; physical components of manuscripts; and manuscript catalog descriptions.  Students will practice transcription, learn to describe manuscripts themselves, and study some of the features that help experts propose dates and localities.  They will also be introduced to using some of the main working tools in the field, both print and electronic.

Week 1 at Catholic University

The first half of the course (May 13 through May 17, 2024) will be taught in residence at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.

Week 2 at The Walters

The second half of the course (May 20 through May 24, 2024) will be taught at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, using the museum’s collection of 19 Greek manuscripts to introduce students to the practical aspects of Greek paleography and codicology.

Costs

$550/cr x 3 credit hours = $1650 tuition, plus any applicable Catholic University fees and living expenses (the latter independently arranged by each student).

Grades and transcripts

All students will be enrolled for credit at The Catholic University of America and will receive transcripts attesting to their completion of 3 hours of graduate-level Catholic University course credit (or audit). No separate certificate of completion is available.

The course may be taken, as a student chooses, for a conventional letter grade, pass/fail, or audit: the costs for all three options are identical, and the option can be chosen or changed after course registration occurs.

Application

This program also uses the application for the Summer Program of the Department of Greek and Latin at The Catholic University of America. Please choose "Visiting Undergraduate" as your status if you do not yet have a bachelor's degree; choose "Visiting Graduate" if you already hold a bachelor's degree. Please do also ensure that you record "Greek palaeography" as your intended class so that your transcript can be reviewed by the faculty for your Greek qualifications.

Application deadline

April 23, 2024, 11:59pm.  Accepted students must be fully enrolled for the course and in email contact with the course instructors by May 6, 2024, 11:59pm. 

Housing opportunities

The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC both offer independent study housing during the summertime.  All room and board arrangements are the sole responsibility of program participants.

Contacts and questions