June 29–July 24, 2020
Intensive four-week course in medieval Greek and introduction to paleography and Byzantine book culture. Approximately ten places will be available, with priority going to students without ready access to similar courses at local or regional institutions. Applications due February 1, 2020
Visit: https://www.doaks.org/research/byzantine/scholarly-activities/2020-byzantine-greek-summer-school
Course Offerings
The principal course will be a daily 1½-hour session devoted to the
translation of sample Byzantine texts. Each week, texts will be selected
from a different genre, e.g., historiography, hagiography, poetry, and
epistolography. Two afternoons a week, hour-long sessions on paleography
will be held. In addition, each student will receive a minimum of one
hour per week of individual tutorial. Approximately eleven hours per
week will be devoted to formal classroom instruction. In the remaining
hours of the week, students will prepare their assignments.
Students will also have the opportunity to study inscribed objects in
the Byzantine Collection, and view facsimiles of manuscripts in the
Dumbarton Oaks Rare Books Collection, as well as original manuscripts in
the Byzantine Collection. Any extra time may be used for personal
research in the Dumbarton Oaks library, but support for the summer
school is intended first and foremost for study of Byzantine Greek
language and texts.
Faculty
Alexandros Alexakis, University of Ioannina
Stratis Papaioannou, University of Crete
Accommodation and Costs
No tuition fees will be charged. Successful candidates from outside
the Washington, DC, area will be provided with housing at no cost and
lunch on weekdays. Local area students will not be offered accommodation
but will receive free lunch on weekdays. Students are expected to cover
their own transportation expenses.
Requirements for Admission
Applicants must be graduate students in a field of Byzantine studies
(or advanced undergraduates with a strong background in Greek). Two
years of college-level ancient Greek (or the equivalent) are a
prerequisite; a diagnostic test may be administered to finalist
applicants before successful candidates are selected.
Application Procedure
Applicants should send a letter by February 1, 2020,
addressed to the Byzantine Studies Program, describing their academic
background, career goals, previous study of Greek, and reasons for
wishing to attend the summer school. The application should also include
a curriculum vitae and a list of all Greek authors and/or texts
previously read in the original. Two letters of recommendation should be
sent separately, one from the student’s adviser, and one from an
instructor in Greek, assessing the candidate’s present level of
competence in ancient or medieval Greek. Principles of selection will
include three considerations: previous meritorious achievement, need for
intensive study of Byzantine Greek, and future direction of research.
Awards will be announced in late February 2020, and must be accepted by March 15, 2020.
Please send all required materials to:
Dumbarton Oaks
Byzantine Studies Program
1703 32nd Street NW
Washington, DC 20007
Tel.: 202-339-6940 FAX: 202-298-8409, Email: [email protected]
