Postgraduate Course: Greek Palaeography and Textual Criticism (PGHC11033)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Postgraduate (School of History and Classics) |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | The classical texts we use today are the product not simply of their original authors' genius but of the painstaking labours of generations of copyists and of editors both ancient and modern. Just as stories may lose or gain as they are repeated from one person to another, so texts transmitted from antiquity may be changed, accidentally or deliberately, as they are copied and recopied. Mistakes inevitably occurred that might eventually cast doubt on the original text or even displace it altogether. The task of the palaeographer is to learn how to read ancient manuscripts and to determine what they say, of the textual critic to decide, on the basis of these and any other available evidence, what the author actually wrote. The purpose of this course is to introduce students to examples of various types of scripts from different periods, to illustrate and explain some of the difficulties that may be encountered in reading them and to offer practice in their transcription and interpretation. Some of the resources that may be drawn on by editors in restoring readings will be examined in a detailed study of the opening lines of Euripides' 'Iphigenia in Tauris'. By these means students will be able to make intelligent, practical use of an apparatus criticus and to exercise independent judgement in their evaluation of readings. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the course students will have:-
- learned to recognise and transcribe a number of different types of Greek script;
- gained practice in identifying and accounting for manuscript errors;
- learned how to determine the relationship between manuscripts in constructing a stemma;
- had an opportunity to collate a portion of manuscript against a printed text;
- learned how to interpret and use the information given in a critical edition;
- learned how to establish a text and construct an apparatus criticus. |
Assessment Information
| 2 essays totalling 5000 words |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Douglas Cairns
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Nicholas Ovenden
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: |
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