090124 UE Digital Resources for Classicists and Byzantinists (2023W)

Content: When was John Chortasmenos notary in Constantinople? How often is the word euchologion (‘prayer book’) attested in literary sources? Where is the Byzantine epic poem Digenis Akritas preserved? How often is the city of Antioch mentioned in Greek and Roman inscriptions? These are questions to which nowadays, thanks to the availability of digital research tools, one can easily answer. However, in order to do so, it is necessary to know where to look at and what to look for. This course will introduce the main digital tools for researching the ancient world, with a non-exclusive focus on Byzantium; students will learn how to make use of them while being aware of their limits. We will deal with digital tools related to archaeology and art history, philology and textual criticism, manuscript studies and history of religion. There will be guest presentations by: Johannes Preiser-Kapeller, Ekaterini Mitsiou, Rachael Helen Banes, Damianos Kasotakis, Ilias Nesseris, Eirini Afentoulidou. The course should be of interest to historians, archaeologists, philologists, and digital humanists.

Aims, Methods: The course will aim at offering an overview of the existing digital tools and teaching how to use them, by mean of examples and exercises that students will submit on a weekly basis. Presentations by experts who work with such resources will help the students to get a closer understanding of their use and significance.