Divna Manolova
Observatoire de Paris, SYRTE, Post-Doc
- Medieval Studies, Byzantine sciences, History of Byzantine Education and Culture, Byzantine Studies, Epistolography, Byzantine Literature, and 29 moreGreek epistolography, Byzantine Paleography and codicology, Byzantine Philosophy, Byzantine monasticism, Epistemology, Philosophy Of Language, Philosophy of Education, Philosophy, Vat. Gr. 1087, History, Archaeology, Art History, Religion, Classics, Medieval History, Digital Humanities, Manuscript Studies, Textual Criticism, Alchemy, Monasticism, History of Astronomy, History of Science, Philosophy of Science, History of Philosophy, Late Antiquity, Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Late Antique and Byzantine History, Dimitri Gutas, and Philosophy of Curiosityedit
This is the first volume to explore the commentaries on ancient texts produced and circulating in Byzantium. It adopts a broad chronological perspective (from the twelfth to the fifteenth century) and examines different types of... more
This is the first volume to explore the commentaries on ancient texts produced and circulating in Byzantium. It adopts a broad chronological perspective (from the twelfth to the fifteenth century) and examines different types of commentaries on ancient poetry and prose within the context of the study and teaching of grammar, rhetoric, philosophy and science. By discussing the exegetical literature of the Byzantines as embedded in the socio-cultural context of the Komnenian and Palaiologan periods, the book analyses the frameworks and networks of knowledge transfer, patronage and identity building that motivated the Byzantine engagement with the ancient intellectual and literary tradition.
Research Interests: Classics, Homer, Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Medieval Literature, Aristotle, and 15 moreMedieval Studies, Byzantine Literature, Byzantine Studies, Aristotle's Commentators, Ancient Greek Rhetoric, History of Byzantine Education and Culture, Classical Reception Studies, Byzantine Philosophy, Reception of Antiquity, Ancient Greek Literature, Greek Scholia and History of Scholarship, John Tzetzes, Eustathios of Thessalonike/ Eustathius of Thessalonica, Ancient Greek Scholarship, and Classical Studies
This first book entirely devoted to Byzantine science is the result of the hugely diverse goals, contexts, and accomplishments of the different scientific fields that developed through this civilisation’s eleven centuries of existence... more
This first book entirely devoted to Byzantine science is the result of the hugely diverse goals, contexts, and accomplishments of the different scientific fields that developed through this civilisation’s eleven centuries of existence (4th-15th C.).
The introductory chapter focuses mainly on the modern vs Byzantine conceptions of science and to the semantic fields covered by this term, then and now, whereas the first two chapters analyse the Christianisation of pagan science and the beginnings of Byzantine science as well as its teaching during the Byzantine civilisation. Thereafter follow eleven chapters that cover the following fields: Logic, Arithmetic, Harmonic Theory, Geometry, Metrology, Optics and Mechanics, Theories of Vision, Meteorology and Physics, Astronomy, Geography, Zoology, Botany, Medicine and Pharmacology, Veterinary medicine, Science of warfare and Occult Sciences.
This volume, organized by topic, with essays by distinguished scholars offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date history of byzantine science currently available. It is an important editorial venture, aimed not only at specialists, including students of the history of Byzantine science, but the wider public, to all readers interested in medieval history in general.
The introductory chapter focuses mainly on the modern vs Byzantine conceptions of science and to the semantic fields covered by this term, then and now, whereas the first two chapters analyse the Christianisation of pagan science and the beginnings of Byzantine science as well as its teaching during the Byzantine civilisation. Thereafter follow eleven chapters that cover the following fields: Logic, Arithmetic, Harmonic Theory, Geometry, Metrology, Optics and Mechanics, Theories of Vision, Meteorology and Physics, Astronomy, Geography, Zoology, Botany, Medicine and Pharmacology, Veterinary medicine, Science of warfare and Occult Sciences.
This volume, organized by topic, with essays by distinguished scholars offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date history of byzantine science currently available. It is an important editorial venture, aimed not only at specialists, including students of the history of Byzantine science, but the wider public, to all readers interested in medieval history in general.
Research Interests: Science Education, History of Mathematics, History of Medicine, History of Science, History of Geometry, and 15 moreHistory of Astronomy, History of Astrology, Byzantine Studies, History of Physics, History of Meteorology, History of Military Technology, History and Philosophy of the Human Sciences, History of geography, History of Zoology, History of military Engineering, History of Vision, History of Veterinary Medicine, History of Botany, History of occult sciences, and History of mechanics
ISBN: 9781108483056 Series: Sources for Byzantine Art History 3 In this book the beauty and meaning of Byzantine art and its aesthetics are for the first time made accessible through the original sources. More than 150 medieval texts... more
ISBN: 9781108483056
Series: Sources for Byzantine Art History 3
In this book the beauty and meaning of Byzantine art and its aesthetics are for the first time made accessible through the original sources. More than 150 medieval texts are translated from nine medieval languages into English, with commentaries from over seventy leading scholars. These include theories of art, discussions of patronage and understandings of iconography, practical recipes for artistic supplies, expressions of devotion, and descriptions of cities. The volume reveals the cultural plurality and the interconnectivity of medieval Europe and the Mediterranean from the late eleventh to the early fourteenth centuries. The first part uncovers salient aspects of Byzantine artistic production and its aesthetic reception, while the second puts a spotlight on particular ways of expressing admiration and of interpreting of the visual.
Series: Sources for Byzantine Art History 3
In this book the beauty and meaning of Byzantine art and its aesthetics are for the first time made accessible through the original sources. More than 150 medieval texts are translated from nine medieval languages into English, with commentaries from over seventy leading scholars. These include theories of art, discussions of patronage and understandings of iconography, practical recipes for artistic supplies, expressions of devotion, and descriptions of cities. The volume reveals the cultural plurality and the interconnectivity of medieval Europe and the Mediterranean from the late eleventh to the early fourteenth centuries. The first part uncovers salient aspects of Byzantine artistic production and its aesthetic reception, while the second puts a spotlight on particular ways of expressing admiration and of interpreting of the visual.
Research Interests: Art History, Late Antique and Byzantine History, Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Medieval Literature, Medieval History, and 23 moreMedieval Studies, Byzantine Literature, Medieval Archaeology, Byzantine Studies, Medieval Europe, Byzantine History, Byzantine Architecture, Byzantine Iconography, Byzantine Archaeology, Late Byzantine history, Medieval Art, Byzantine Aesthetics, Byzantium, Byzantine historiography, Constantinople, Medieval Art History, Daily Life in Byzantium, Byzantine art, Medieval aesthetics, Donors in Byzantium, Byzantine history and archaeology, Byzantine and Comparative Literature, and BYZANTIUM AND THE WEST
Manolova, Divna "Byzantine Science". In obo in Medieval Studies, https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396584/obo-9780195396584-0338.xml (accessed 7 Aug. 2024).
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The Historia Rhōmaïkē was written and circulated in Constantinople in several installments since the 1340s. It recounts events in Byzantine history from the period from 1204 until ca. 1359. Today the work is preserved in more than forty... more
The Historia Rhōmaïkē was written and circulated in Constantinople in several installments since the 1340s. It recounts events in Byzantine history from the period from 1204 until ca. 1359. Today the work is preserved in more than forty manuscripts, two of which–Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, codd. Vat. gr. 165 and 164–were partially copied, annotated, and revised by Gregoras himself. The pinakes, marginal, and chapter titles in both codices indicate that the latter were designed as an edition of the first seventeen books of the History. The present paper studies Gregoras’ historiographical project and a selection of his letters and hagiographical works in order to explore Gregoras’ self referential remarks on ‘novelty’ and ‘innovation’, as well as his reflections on the aesthetic value of variety and the pleasure the latter can incite. It also adduces as evidence some of the ‘editorial’ decisions the two Vatican manuscripts preserving the Roman History display, such as the chapter division and its relationship to the pinax of each volume, and the role of marginal titles in guiding the readers’ emotional response or alternatively, in directing how the text should be performed. Gregoras’ remarks on novelty and its relation to diversity and perception indicate his concern with the reception of his literary production, which in turn, reaffirms the importance of rhetoric in Palaiologan Byzantium.
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Translation co-authored with Paul Magdalino. In Sources for Byzantine Art History, vol. 3: The Visual Culture of Later Byzantium (1081-c. 1350), edited by Foteini Spingou, 630–42. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022.
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Edited by Jeffrey F. Hamburger, David Roxburgh, Linda Safran. Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Symposia and Colloquia series. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2022.
ISBN 9780884024866
ISBN 9780884024866
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Edited by Douglas Cairns, Martin Hinterberger, Aglae Pizzone, and Matteo Zaccarini. Emotions in Antiquity. Mohr Siebeck, 2022.
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This article is available open access through the 'Interfaces' website. The link is provided. Alternatively, you can find it through its DOI number. This article is about the interplay between diagrammatic representation, the mediation... more
This article is available open access through the 'Interfaces' website. The link is provided. Alternatively, you can find it through its DOI number.
This article is about the interplay between diagrammatic representation, the mediation of mirrors, and visual cognition. It centres on Demetrios Triklinios (fl. ca. 1308–25/30) and his treatise on lunar theory. The latter includes, first, a discussion of the lunar phases and of the Moon's position in relation to the Sun, and second, a narrative and a pictorial description of the lunar surface. Demetrios Triklinios's Selenography is little-known (though edited in 1967 by Wasserstein) and not available in translation into a modern scholarly language. Therefore, one of the main goals of the present article is to introduce its context and contents and to lay down the foundations for their detailed study at a later stage. When discussing the Selenography, I refer to a bricolage consisting of the two earliest versions of the work preserved in Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, graecus 482, ff. 92r–95v (third quarter of the fourteenth century) and Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, graecus 2381, ff. 78r–79v (last quarter of the fourteenth century). I survey the available evidence concerning the role of Demetrios Triklinios (the author), John Astrapas (?) (the grapheus or scribe-painter), and Neophytos Prodromenos and Anonymus (the scribes-editors) in the production of the two manuscript copies. Next, I discuss the diagrams included in the Selenography and their functioning in relation to Triklinios's theory concerning the Moon as a mirror reflecting the geography of the Earth, on the one hand, and to the mirror experiment described by Triklinios, on the other. Finally, I demonstrate how, even though the Selenography is a work on lunar astronomy, it can also be read as a discussion focusing on the Mediterranean world and aiming at elevating its centrality and importance on a cosmic scale.
This article is about the interplay between diagrammatic representation, the mediation of mirrors, and visual cognition. It centres on Demetrios Triklinios (fl. ca. 1308–25/30) and his treatise on lunar theory. The latter includes, first, a discussion of the lunar phases and of the Moon's position in relation to the Sun, and second, a narrative and a pictorial description of the lunar surface. Demetrios Triklinios's Selenography is little-known (though edited in 1967 by Wasserstein) and not available in translation into a modern scholarly language. Therefore, one of the main goals of the present article is to introduce its context and contents and to lay down the foundations for their detailed study at a later stage. When discussing the Selenography, I refer to a bricolage consisting of the two earliest versions of the work preserved in Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, graecus 482, ff. 92r–95v (third quarter of the fourteenth century) and Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, graecus 2381, ff. 78r–79v (last quarter of the fourteenth century). I survey the available evidence concerning the role of Demetrios Triklinios (the author), John Astrapas (?) (the grapheus or scribe-painter), and Neophytos Prodromenos and Anonymus (the scribes-editors) in the production of the two manuscript copies. Next, I discuss the diagrams included in the Selenography and their functioning in relation to Triklinios's theory concerning the Moon as a mirror reflecting the geography of the Earth, on the one hand, and to the mirror experiment described by Triklinios, on the other. Finally, I demonstrate how, even though the Selenography is a work on lunar astronomy, it can also be read as a discussion focusing on the Mediterranean world and aiming at elevating its centrality and importance on a cosmic scale.
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The present contribution argues that the study of the interaction between philosophy and epistolography in Byzantium faces a number of methodological challenges. First, the study of Byzantine philosophical literature, including... more
The present contribution argues that the study of the interaction between philosophy and epistolography in Byzantium faces a number of methodological challenges. First, the study of Byzantine philosophical literature, including philosophical epistolography, depends on one’s definition of philosophy in respect to its cultural, intellectual, social, and disciplinary context in Byzantium. Second, essential for the examination of philosophical epistolography in Byzantium is the critical assessment of the category of philosophical letter and its relevance to the Byzantine material. Finally, the author argues that one possible venue for examining philosophical epistolography in Byzantium is the discussion of literary friendship and theories of friendship as developed in friendship letters. To illustrate the theoretical approach it proposes, this contribution offers a case study of two letters written by Nikephoros Gregoras (d. c.1360).
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The chapter is available open access, in Bulgarian, through Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/record/4298472#.YxW6uy0RqS4). [Manuel Holobolos, Maximos Planudes, and Boethius: Translating παιδεία in Late Byzantium] In Sine arte scientia nihil... more
The chapter is available open access, in Bulgarian, through Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/record/4298472#.YxW6uy0RqS4).
[Manuel Holobolos, Maximos Planudes, and Boethius: Translating παιδεία in Late Byzantium] In Sine arte scientia nihil est: Изследвания в чест на проф. дфн Олег Георгиев [Sine arte scientia nihil est: Festschrift for Prof. Oleg Georgiev], edited by Georgi Kapriev, 277–91. Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 2019.
[Manuel Holobolos, Maximos Planudes, and Boethius: Translating παιδεία in Late Byzantium] In Sine arte scientia nihil est: Изследвания в чест на проф. дфн Олег Георгиев [Sine arte scientia nihil est: Festschrift for Prof. Oleg Georgiev], edited by Georgi Kapriev, 277–91. Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 2019.
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Licence: CC BY–NC 4.0; Gold Open Access publication
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The present article reconstructs and analyzes two rhetorical strategies of constructing epistolary friendship through the employment of specialized philosophical vocabulary and discussion. Case in point are two late Byzantine letters... more
The present article reconstructs and analyzes two rhetorical strategies of constructing epistolary friendship through the employment of specialized philosophical vocabulary and discussion. Case in point are two late Byzantine letters penned by Nikephoros Gregoras (ca. 1292/1295–1358/1361), a prominent historian, astronomer and philosopher at the Palaiologan court. The first part of the inquiry discusses letter 134, addressed to Ignatios Glabas, metropolitan of Thessaloniki from 1336 to 1341. The second half of the article is dedicated to letter 34, addressed to Maximos Magistros, a monk and later an archimandrite of the Chortaïtes monastery. Both letters seem to be written around the same time, i.e. during the second half of the 1330s. Letter 134 employs Aristotle’s theory of friendship as found in books VIII and IX of Nicomachean Ethics, as well as in Rhetoric. Here, with a subversive maneuver, Gregoras defends the claim that even those not equal in fortune could still be joined by the bond of friendship. Letter 34 exemplifies the opposite strategy: it praises the friendship of those who are the same in nature, employing Plato’s cosmological discussion in the Timaeus, as well as the corresponding commentary by Plutarch. In conclusion, the article argues for the primacy of rhetorical function over philosophical discussion in the two epistolary strategies employed by Gregoras.
In a letter written between the solar eclipses of November 1331 and the one of May 1333 Nikephoros Gregoras (ca. 1292/1295--1358/1361) 1 described his involvement in an on-going debate astronomical matters and more precisely, on the... more
In a letter written between the solar eclipses of November 1331 and the one of May 1333 Nikephoros Gregoras (ca. 1292/1295--1358/1361) 1 described his involvement in an on-going debate astronomical matters and more precisely, on the accuracy of the calculation of the solar eclipses' date. Gregoras described the relations between him and his adversaries in the following way:
Having introduced the concepts of cosmology and cosmography and the distinction between the two at the start of my talk, I will then discuss a range of diagrammatic representations preserved in Byzantine manuscripts whose purpose was to... more
Having introduced the concepts of cosmology and cosmography and the distinction between the two at the start of my talk, I will then discuss a range of diagrammatic representations preserved in Byzantine manuscripts whose purpose was to help see, imagine, understand and remember the nature and structure of the universe at various scales: from the four elements or nature’s building blocks to the cosmos itself.
The lecture will serve as an introduction to the main cosmological ideas in Byzantium and will offer a survey of the available manuscript evidence. Beyond that, however, and in dialogue with the Liber Floridus, it will unpack and examine how scientific illustrations, especially the diagrammatic ones, function as abstractions and representations of what is otherwise unseen but imaginable, as for instance the tiniest particles in nature or the entirety of the creation.
The lecture will serve as an introduction to the main cosmological ideas in Byzantium and will offer a survey of the available manuscript evidence. Beyond that, however, and in dialogue with the Liber Floridus, it will unpack and examine how scientific illustrations, especially the diagrammatic ones, function as abstractions and representations of what is otherwise unseen but imaginable, as for instance the tiniest particles in nature or the entirety of the creation.
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This paper forms part of my ongoing research on the role representation, both abstract and illustrative, and imagination (phantasia) play in the design and use of Byzantine diagrammatic and technological devices for the purposes of... more
This paper forms part of my ongoing research on the role representation, both abstract and illustrative, and imagination (phantasia) play in the design and use of Byzantine diagrammatic and technological devices for the purposes of understanding, mapping, preserving and transmitting knowledge concerning the cosmos and the natural world. Thus, in this paper I discuss various ways, through which Byzantine scholars employed diagrams in order to visualize what was otherwise impossible to observe, namely the basic building blocks of nature, such as the four elements of earth, water, air and fire. The paper is part of a work in progress and does not aim to offer any definitive answers, but rather to engage the audience in a process of collaborative thinking concerning nature, imagination, and scientific representation in Byzantium.
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This paper forms part of my ongoing research on the role representation, both abstract and illustrative, and imagination (phantasia) play in the design and use of diagrammatic and technological devices during the Middle Ages in the... more
This paper forms part of my ongoing research on the role representation, both abstract and illustrative, and imagination (phantasia) play in the design and use of diagrammatic and technological devices during the Middle Ages in the Eastern Mediterranean for the purposes of understanding, mapping, preserving and transmitting knowledge concerning the kosmos and the natural world. Thus, in this paper I discuss various ways, through which medieval scholars constructed models of the universe and used them to visualize what was otherwise impossible to observe, e.g. the planetary spheres or the entirety of the Earth’s body. Diagrams, astrolabes, and globes are the usual suspects in this story, while the role of mirrors in the study of the heavens is less conspicuous. After surveying what scarce evidence there is concerning the use of astronomical instruments in Byzantium, I will focus on one case study in particular, namely on Demetrios Triklinios’ Selenography and his proposal for an experiment in lunar observation involving the use of a large mirror. The paper is part of a work in progress and does not aim to offer any definitive answers, but rather to engage the audience in a process of collaborative thinking concerning astronomical observation, representation, and imagination in the medieval Mediterranean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJMwvmYmbs4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJMwvmYmbs4
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How do medieval manuscripts create and recreate three-dimensional spaces onto the flat, two-dimensional surface of the page? This is the main research question this presentation discusses. We will focus on a selection of medieval... more
How do medieval manuscripts create and recreate three-dimensional spaces onto the flat, two-dimensional surface of the page? This is the main research question this presentation discusses. We will focus on a selection of medieval manuscripts of cosmological and astronomical content (11th–15th centuries) as we examine the following aspects contributing to the spatiality of the bound handwritten book: 1) the materiality and corporeality of the codex; 2) the graphic conventions of projecting solid objects such as cubes and spheres onto a plane surface; 3) the inclusion of devices inducing movement such as dynamic diagrams and volvelles. Finally, we will analyse diagrams as devices that enable and reinforce worldviews and views of the world and the importance of their study for the history of science.
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Presented at the Centre for Medieval Studies Seminar Series. This is a talk about cosmological diagrams and the ways in which they make the universe — its construction, articulation and movement — meaningful to us. In this sense, this is... more
Presented at the Centre for Medieval Studies Seminar Series.
This is a talk about cosmological diagrams and the ways in which they make the universe — its construction, articulation and movement — meaningful to us. In this sense, this is also a talk about imagination and specifically, about the type of imagination required to depict the world. I shall focus on spherical models of the universe and discuss them in the context of fourteenth-century Byzantium. The case study I will examine in most detail is that of Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Graecus 482, which transmits Cleomedes’ The Heavens – a Stoic introduction to cosmology and elementary astronomy.
The Heavens is also the main source for one of the most celebrated achievements in the history of Greek mathematics, namely Eratosthenes’ calculation of the circumference of the Earth. The account of Eratosthenes’ procedure is usually accompanied by diagrams and f. 31r of the codex Monacensis includes one its most illustrative and most puzzling representations. In order to familiarise themselves with Eratosthenes’ method of calculation, attendees might find useful watching Carl Sagan’s short explanation included in the very first episode of Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (aired on 28 September 1980; https://bit.ly/2gCHNbU).
This is a talk about cosmological diagrams and the ways in which they make the universe — its construction, articulation and movement — meaningful to us. In this sense, this is also a talk about imagination and specifically, about the type of imagination required to depict the world. I shall focus on spherical models of the universe and discuss them in the context of fourteenth-century Byzantium. The case study I will examine in most detail is that of Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Graecus 482, which transmits Cleomedes’ The Heavens – a Stoic introduction to cosmology and elementary astronomy.
The Heavens is also the main source for one of the most celebrated achievements in the history of Greek mathematics, namely Eratosthenes’ calculation of the circumference of the Earth. The account of Eratosthenes’ procedure is usually accompanied by diagrams and f. 31r of the codex Monacensis includes one its most illustrative and most puzzling representations. In order to familiarise themselves with Eratosthenes’ method of calculation, attendees might find useful watching Carl Sagan’s short explanation included in the very first episode of Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (aired on 28 September 1980; https://bit.ly/2gCHNbU).
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Presented at the First Annual Vienna Colloquium in Byzantine Philosophy.
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Byzantine Studies Seminar, University of Edinburgh
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A public lecture delivered at the international workshop "Sacred Time in Medieval Societies of the Middle East" (Mainz, 11–12 July 2016).
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A public talk delivered at the Department of Theoretical Philosophy, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, January 13, 2016.
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A public lecture delivered at the Medieval Studies Faculty Research Seminar, Central European University, Budapest, November 23, 2015
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A talk delivered at the Fellows Lunchtime Seminar at the Institute for Research in the Humanities, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, October 15, 2015.
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NEC BSL Seminar
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In her seminal study of wind diagrams (1997), Barbara Obrist highlighted the importance of the study of winds—as treated in meteorological theory, diagrams, lists—for the understanding of medieval cosmographical and cosmological ideas... more
In her seminal study of wind diagrams (1997), Barbara Obrist highlighted the importance of the study of winds—as treated in meteorological theory, diagrams, lists—for the understanding of medieval cosmographical and cosmological ideas about nature and the universe. Following up on Obrist’s inquiry, in which only two Byzantine examples are mentioned, the present paper continues Obrist’s methodological lines, while introducing late Byzantine material as the subject matter.
This communication discusses a sample of wind diagrams preserved in Palaiologan manuscripts, usually, though not exclusively, in connection to copies of Aristotle’s Meteorologica and related commentaries. After a brief survey of the most frequent diagrammatic patterns of representing the winds and of several notable exceptions, my analysis discusses the ways, in which wind diagrams 1) structure both the sublunar (terrestrial) and the supralunar (celestial) space by dividing it into segments and by indicating the cardinal directions; 2) articulate the relationships, interaction and interdependencies between the celestial and terrestrial phenomena within a given cosmological framework; 3) relate to alternative discursive modes used to preserve and structure the knowledge about the nature of the winds, such as textual discussions and lists.
This communication discusses a sample of wind diagrams preserved in Palaiologan manuscripts, usually, though not exclusively, in connection to copies of Aristotle’s Meteorologica and related commentaries. After a brief survey of the most frequent diagrammatic patterns of representing the winds and of several notable exceptions, my analysis discusses the ways, in which wind diagrams 1) structure both the sublunar (terrestrial) and the supralunar (celestial) space by dividing it into segments and by indicating the cardinal directions; 2) articulate the relationships, interaction and interdependencies between the celestial and terrestrial phenomena within a given cosmological framework; 3) relate to alternative discursive modes used to preserve and structure the knowledge about the nature of the winds, such as textual discussions and lists.
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Presented at the International Workshop Liber Floridus.
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The present paper studies two related emotions, namely the experience of wonder (θαυμάζειν) and awe (ἄγη, θάμβος, σέβας) in relation to philosophy broadly conceived. Instead of examining the role wonder and awe play in an aesthetic or a... more
The present paper studies two related emotions, namely the experience of wonder (θαυμάζειν) and awe (ἄγη, θάμβος, σέβας) in relation to philosophy broadly conceived. Instead of examining the role wonder and awe play in an aesthetic or a religious framework, however, it focuses on their function in a cognitive situation, namely in the context of attaining new knowledge. In this framework, wonder and awe relate to intellectual curiosity and exploration, to the joy and surprise of discovery and the hope that there is even more to discover. In a way, they are also related to admiration as, for instance, the admiration the already acquired wisdom inspires in those who witness it. Taking its cue from Plato’s Theaetetus 155c-d, the present contribution surveys, on the one hand, Byzantine theoretical approaches to the relationship between wonder and philosophy and, on the other, examples of the emotional responses to the acquisition of new knowledge recorded by late Byzantine scholars.
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A paper delivered at the 23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies, Belgrade, August 22–27, 2016.
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A paper delivered at the 23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies, Belgrade, August 22–27, 2016.
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A public talk delivered at the international workshop Knowledge Unlimited: Intellectual Curiosity and Innovation in Byzantium, organized by Institute for Research in the Humanities, University of Bucharest and hosted by New Europe... more
A public talk delivered at the international workshop Knowledge Unlimited: Intellectual Curiosity and Innovation in Byzantium, organized by Institute for Research in the Humanities, University of Bucharest and hosted by New Europe College, 11–12 February, 2016, Bucharest.
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The principal objective of the present dissertation is to reconstruct and analyze the discourses of science and philosophy in the letters of the Constantinopolitan scholar Nikephoros Gregoras (d. ca. 1360), a prominent figure on the... more
The principal objective of the present dissertation is to reconstruct and analyze the discourses of science and philosophy in the letters of the Constantinopolitan scholar Nikephoros Gregoras (d. ca. 1360), a prominent figure on the fourteenth-century Byzantine intellectual scene, well-known to modern scholars as the author of a major work on Byzantine history for the period from 1204 until ca. 1359. The inquiry explores Gregoras’ views on mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy expressed in his letters and, consequently, it reevaluates the existing scholarly perspectives on Gregoras’ intellectual legacy. By means of contextualization, Part I: Nikephoros Gregoras’ Epistolary Collection offers a survey of Gregoras’ biography and works, as well as a detailed reconstruction of his ‘library,’ that is, a survey of the manuscripts (in particular, of those codices which transmit scientific and philosophical content) he, in all likelihood, possessed, annotated, compiled, and copied. Part I concludes with a discussion of the manuscript tradition of Gregoras’ letters and the context of their preservation and circulation accompanied by a critical commentary of their modern editions. The main analytical body of the dissertation consists of two large sections dedicated respectively to astronomy (Part II: Justifications of Astronomy) and to philosophy and letters (Part III: Letters and Philosophy). The principal conceptual motivation behind Parts II and III is the exploration of the dialectical relationship informing Gregoras’ intellectual epistolary discourse, namely the relationship between knowledge (mathematical sciences and philosophy), on the one hand, and rhetoric (letters), on the other. Part II examines the status of the astronomical studies in the early Palaiologan period and discusses various strategies Gregoras employed in order to justify the value of this mathematical science. Gregoras’ programmatic effort to defend astronomy’s worthiness is analyzed in the context of the revival of Ptolemaic astronomy in Palaiologan Byzantium, a scholarly “project” that involved erudites from the two preceding generations, notably Maximos Planoudes and Gregoras’ mentor Theodore Metochites. Importantly, Part II: Justifications of Astronomy discusses for the first time after its edition in 1936 Gregoras’ arithmological treatise On the Number Seven which, among other things, is an important evidence for Gregoras’ readership of Philo and Macrobius. Part III: Letters and Philosophy offers a discussion of philosophical letter-writing in Byzantium as well as an analysis of the philosophical premises of Byzantine epistolography. Importantly, its principal discussion problematizes the question of certainty with respect to the human condition through analysis of three case studies which illustrate Gregoras’ strategies for constructing epistolary friendship. Thus, Part III addresses two of the main problems of the dissertation, namely what are, in Gregoras’ view, the possibilities and limitations of human knowledge and, correspondingly, what is the status of science and philosophy as the acquisition of knowledge is at their core qua disciplines. The dissertation concludes that in his letters Gregoras maintains that while there are limits of mankind’s ability to attain knowledge of the perceptible world, due both to the nature of the studied objects and to the faculties of the inquiring intellect, nevertheless, with the help of the divine providence, it is possible to achieve certainty and comprehension. One such example is the study of the heavenly bodies and their movements. Not only are the planets and the stars created by God as signs for mankind to understand, according to Gregoras, but also the regularity of their motion and its mathematical principles facilitate the use of the astronomical science for the attainment of knowledge. Similarly, the ideal friendship, one that manifests itself in the discursive unity of the correspondents, brings certainty and knowledge of oneself and of the other.
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At the end of the thirteenth century Sophonias the Philosopher wrote a paraphrasis of Aristotle's treatise De Anima [On the Soul]. This exegetical work is accompanied by a methodological preface which presents a discussion on the... more
At the end of the thirteenth century Sophonias the Philosopher wrote a paraphrasis of Aristotle's treatise De Anima [On the Soul]. This exegetical work is accompanied by a methodological preface which presents a discussion on the approaches of previous commentators followed by a description of Sophonias' own method. This preface and its various aspects constitute the core of this study. Through the analysis of this introductory part of Sophonias' paraphrasis I will elucidate puzzling questions concerning the purpose, ...
A series of interviews with participants in Moving Forms: The Transformations and Translocations of Medieval Literature (https://cml.sdu.dk/blog/the-transformations-and-translocations-of-medieval-literature), a symposium organized by the... more
A series of interviews with participants in Moving Forms: The Transformations and Translocations of Medieval Literature (https://cml.sdu.dk/blog/the-transformations-and-translocations-of-medieval-literature), a symposium organized by the Centre for Medieval Literature (University of Southern Denmark and University of York, https://cml.sdu.dk/) and hosted by the Danish Institute in Athens, 11 - 13 September 2019.
The video is filmed, edited, and produced by Divna Manolova.
The video is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE1XUgxBqxk&t=13s
The video is filmed, edited, and produced by Divna Manolova.
The video is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pE1XUgxBqxk&t=13s
Research Interests:
A video lecture for the Labyrinths for Wellbeing event, York Festival of Ideas June 2021:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGGs73nl51k&t=19s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGGs73nl51k&t=19s
Research Interests:
A discussion of Stephen Greenblatt’s "Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare", focusing on the Introduction and on Chapter 3, entitled “Power, Sexuality, and Inwardness in Wyatt’s Poetry”... more
A discussion of Stephen Greenblatt’s "Renaissance Self-Fashioning: From More to Shakespeare", focusing on the Introduction and on Chapter 3, entitled “Power, Sexuality, and Inwardness in Wyatt’s Poetry”
https://www.doaks.org/research/byzantine/podcast/episode-2-renaissance-self-fashioning
https://www.doaks.org/research/byzantine/podcast/episode-2-renaissance-self-fashioning
Research Interests:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmQiz-it1Os
An interactive game based on medieval diagrams for the Humanities Research Centre’s 10th anniversary.
An interactive game based on medieval diagrams for the Humanities Research Centre’s 10th anniversary.
Research Interests:
https://bit.ly/2ooBRcG At the end of May, York-based CML-ers temporarily migrated from University of York to Syddansk Universitet in Odense. Our journey took us to Copenhagen where Davids Samling and Black Diamond Royal Library hosted us... more
https://bit.ly/2ooBRcG
At the end of May, York-based CML-ers temporarily migrated from University of York to Syddansk Universitet in Odense. Our journey took us to Copenhagen where Davids Samling and Black Diamond Royal Library hosted us for the Shared Moveable Worlds workshop (http://cml.sdu.dk/event/cml-workshop-shared-worlds). Having returned to York and just before IMC Leeds and the summer (hopefully!), we'd like to share with all of you a "moving images" expression of our trip.
At the end of May, York-based CML-ers temporarily migrated from University of York to Syddansk Universitet in Odense. Our journey took us to Copenhagen where Davids Samling and Black Diamond Royal Library hosted us for the Shared Moveable Worlds workshop (http://cml.sdu.dk/event/cml-workshop-shared-worlds). Having returned to York and just before IMC Leeds and the summer (hopefully!), we'd like to share with all of you a "moving images" expression of our trip.
Research Interests:
Enter the world of the medieval books and their readers! This presentation introduces one of the most important inventions of late antiquity, namely the codex or the bound book that we know today. In particular, the presentation focuses... more
Enter the world of the medieval books and their readers! This presentation introduces one of the most important inventions of late antiquity, namely the codex or the bound book that we know today. In particular, the presentation focuses on the medieval Greek book produced, read, and annotated in Byzantium for about one thousand years from the fourth to the fifteenth century. It shows examples of the practices of medieval scribes and readers: for instance, the methods of producing a book that was meant for teaching and learning purposes different techniques of annotation (marginal notes, reading signs and diagrams) book repairs, corrections, and alterations. Finally, the presentation compares the reading and annotating practices of medieval scribes and readers with those of contemporary readers and scholars.
Research Interests:
An episode of Agnus: The Late Antique, Medieval, and Byzantine Podcast, aired on 12 December 2017
Research Interests:
The History of Science in the Medieval World (HSMW) summer school, organized by St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo, with Academic Theatre Ikaros, in cooperation with the International Summer Seminar in Bulgarian... more
The History of Science in the Medieval World (HSMW) summer school, organized by St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo, with Academic Theatre Ikaros, in cooperation with the International Summer Seminar in Bulgarian Language and Culture (University of Veliko Tarnovo), with the support of the Faculty of Slavic Studies, Sofia University is happy to announce its Second 2024 edition which will take place from 15 to 19 July 2024 in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria.
In its pilot 2022 edition, HSMW Summer School introduced the participants to the medieval epistemic fields (sciences) which study the natural world (the kosmos) as a space, namely geography, cosmography, and astronomy. In 2024, we shift the focus to the history of knowledge and the practitioners and their practices: from the geographers and the astronomers, the map and instrument makers, to the users of medieval herbals and the artisans preparing sgraffito pottery and enamel.
The instructors include: Marie-Hélène Blanchet (CNRS, UMR 8167 Orient et Méditerranée, Monde byzantin); Chiara D’Agostini (Department of Culture and Language, University of Southern Denmark); Aneta Dimitrova (Faculty of Slavic Studies, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”); Stephanie Drew (Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York); Rossina Kostova (Department of Archaeology, Faculty of History, St Cyril and St Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo); Divna Manolova (MSCA Paris Region Postdoctoral Fellow, Université PSL-Observatoire de Paris, SYRTE, CNRS); Angel Nikolov (Faculty of History, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”); Shannon Steiner (Independent Researcher, Practicing Goldsmith).
In its pilot 2022 edition, HSMW Summer School introduced the participants to the medieval epistemic fields (sciences) which study the natural world (the kosmos) as a space, namely geography, cosmography, and astronomy. In 2024, we shift the focus to the history of knowledge and the practitioners and their practices: from the geographers and the astronomers, the map and instrument makers, to the users of medieval herbals and the artisans preparing sgraffito pottery and enamel.
The instructors include: Marie-Hélène Blanchet (CNRS, UMR 8167 Orient et Méditerranée, Monde byzantin); Chiara D’Agostini (Department of Culture and Language, University of Southern Denmark); Aneta Dimitrova (Faculty of Slavic Studies, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”); Stephanie Drew (Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York); Rossina Kostova (Department of Archaeology, Faculty of History, St Cyril and St Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo); Divna Manolova (MSCA Paris Region Postdoctoral Fellow, Université PSL-Observatoire de Paris, SYRTE, CNRS); Angel Nikolov (Faculty of History, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”); Shannon Steiner (Independent Researcher, Practicing Goldsmith).
Research Interests:
We are starting something new and very special. Join us in Veliko Tarnovo, this summer, between 18–22 July 2022 for the Pilot Edition of the HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN THE MEDIEVAL WORLD SUMMER SCHOOL Deadline for submitting an application:... more
We are starting something new and very special.
Join us in Veliko Tarnovo, this summer, between 18–22 July 2022 for the Pilot Edition of the HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN THE MEDIEVAL WORLD SUMMER SCHOOL
Deadline for submitting an application: 29 April 2022.
There is no registration fee.
Full schedule: https://www.uni-vt.bg/res/14892/SSHistMedSci_Final_Program.pdf
Please address your informal inquiries and your application materials to Dr Divna Manolova at dvmanolova@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de.
Summer School Philosophy and Vision
The School studies the wider medieval world of Afro-Eurasia and aims to shed light on Byzantium and the Slavonic world, and their intellectual heritage as agents in the development of medieval science, which, though significant, nevertheless remain largely unknown to the scholarly community. Even though current scholarship is focused on the so-called ‘Global Medieval’, the medieval Slavonic, Byzantine and Black Sea regions remain a blind spot for both the researchers and the general public outside of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Thus, the School aims at positioning Byzantium and the Slavonic world on the map of history of medieval science, thus offering the participants the rare opportunity to get acquainted with their respective heritage.
In its pilot edition, the Summer School will problematize the medieval manuscript and approach it as a space and as a territory. Building upon this conceptual premise, the School will also introduce students to the medieval epistemic fields (sciences) which study the natural world (the kosmos) as a space, namely geography, cosmography and astronomy. Students will acquire fundamental knowledge concerning the place and role of the sciences in the intellectual world of the Middle Ages. They will also develop an understanding of premodern science as a spectrum of disciplines wider than the late antique framework of the four mathematical sciences (arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy) and inclusive of all epistemic domains dedicated to the intellectual exploration of the natural world (the kosmos) and of humanity. The School relies on a discussion-based and experiential / experimental format. That is, the School includes workshops, which will guide the students into the use of medieval instruments and maps as preserved in the surviving manuscripts.
The common discussion language of the School will be English.
If the participants know a medieval scholarly language (for this pilot edition: Latin, Greek and/or Old Church Slavonic, but in the future also Persian, Arabic, Chinese, Classical Armenian, and so forth), this would be an advantage, but it is not an essential requirement for participation.
During the selection process, preference will be given to MA and PhD students, but researchers with interest in the Middle Ages and / or History of Science can also apply.
Available places: The School offers twelve places for in-person participants wishing to attend both the morning (lectures) and afternoon (workshops) sessions.
There is no limit for the number of online participants, but their registration is restricted solely to the morning sessions.
We cannot offer any financial support to cover travel and accommodation expenses.
There is no registration fee.
In order to apply, please send a short bio and description of what motivates your application (maximum one page altogether). Please indicate in your application whether you would like to attend the Summer School in person or online.
Join us in Veliko Tarnovo, this summer, between 18–22 July 2022 for the Pilot Edition of the HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN THE MEDIEVAL WORLD SUMMER SCHOOL
Deadline for submitting an application: 29 April 2022.
There is no registration fee.
Full schedule: https://www.uni-vt.bg/res/14892/SSHistMedSci_Final_Program.pdf
Please address your informal inquiries and your application materials to Dr Divna Manolova at dvmanolova@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de.
Summer School Philosophy and Vision
The School studies the wider medieval world of Afro-Eurasia and aims to shed light on Byzantium and the Slavonic world, and their intellectual heritage as agents in the development of medieval science, which, though significant, nevertheless remain largely unknown to the scholarly community. Even though current scholarship is focused on the so-called ‘Global Medieval’, the medieval Slavonic, Byzantine and Black Sea regions remain a blind spot for both the researchers and the general public outside of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Thus, the School aims at positioning Byzantium and the Slavonic world on the map of history of medieval science, thus offering the participants the rare opportunity to get acquainted with their respective heritage.
In its pilot edition, the Summer School will problematize the medieval manuscript and approach it as a space and as a territory. Building upon this conceptual premise, the School will also introduce students to the medieval epistemic fields (sciences) which study the natural world (the kosmos) as a space, namely geography, cosmography and astronomy. Students will acquire fundamental knowledge concerning the place and role of the sciences in the intellectual world of the Middle Ages. They will also develop an understanding of premodern science as a spectrum of disciplines wider than the late antique framework of the four mathematical sciences (arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy) and inclusive of all epistemic domains dedicated to the intellectual exploration of the natural world (the kosmos) and of humanity. The School relies on a discussion-based and experiential / experimental format. That is, the School includes workshops, which will guide the students into the use of medieval instruments and maps as preserved in the surviving manuscripts.
The common discussion language of the School will be English.
If the participants know a medieval scholarly language (for this pilot edition: Latin, Greek and/or Old Church Slavonic, but in the future also Persian, Arabic, Chinese, Classical Armenian, and so forth), this would be an advantage, but it is not an essential requirement for participation.
During the selection process, preference will be given to MA and PhD students, but researchers with interest in the Middle Ages and / or History of Science can also apply.
Available places: The School offers twelve places for in-person participants wishing to attend both the morning (lectures) and afternoon (workshops) sessions.
There is no limit for the number of online participants, but their registration is restricted solely to the morning sessions.
We cannot offer any financial support to cover travel and accommodation expenses.
There is no registration fee.
In order to apply, please send a short bio and description of what motivates your application (maximum one page altogether). Please indicate in your application whether you would like to attend the Summer School in person or online.
Research Interests:
This online two-day workshop moves from previous Transformations and Translocations workshops and conferences on forms to examine the question of the absence of forms and of absence as form. We invite participants to reflect critically on... more
This online two-day workshop moves from previous Transformations and Translocations workshops and conferences on forms to examine the question of the absence of forms and of absence as form. We invite participants to reflect critically on the methodological problems, implications, and above all, opportunities of absence and related concepts of discontinuity and fragmentation. How can we make the evidentiary gaps inherent in our field productive and meaningful? What insights can we gain from focusing on the lacuna as a structuring form? In other words, how did absence shape the sources we have? By situating absence at the centre of our discussion, this workshop aims to engender fruitful new ways of thinking about the incomplete record at our disposal as medievalists.
The participants work across diverse fields of medieval literature, including French, Arabic, English, Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Slavic, Irish, and Spanish literatures.
Organizers: Divna Manolova, Elizabeth Tyler, Julian Yolles, and Rosa M. Rodríguez Porto
A blog post about the event is published and available here: https://cml.sdu.dk/blog/constructive-absences-in-medieval-literature-a-transformations-translocations-workshop
The participants work across diverse fields of medieval literature, including French, Arabic, English, Latin, Hebrew, Greek, Slavic, Irish, and Spanish literatures.
Organizers: Divna Manolova, Elizabeth Tyler, Julian Yolles, and Rosa M. Rodríguez Porto
A blog post about the event is published and available here: https://cml.sdu.dk/blog/constructive-absences-in-medieval-literature-a-transformations-translocations-workshop
Research Interests:
This is an experimental workshop in reading and analysing Byzantine textual culture (literature broadly understood) whose aim is to display and receive feedback on current work in progress. The workshop engages with the concept of λόγοι... more
This is an experimental workshop in reading and analysing Byzantine textual culture (literature broadly understood) whose aim is to display and receive feedback on current work in progress. The workshop engages with the concept of λόγοι in Byzantium, that is, with literature and discourse in a very broad sense. The ambiguity and versatility of λόγος when applied to any Byzantine literary product raises issues of rhetorical and generic articulation, of narrative, style and modes of discourse, thus provoking us to continuously question and revise the methodological and theoretical toolkits we apply in our reading and interpreting of Byzantine texts and their place within frameworks of education, patronage, communities of reading and writing, book production, organisation, and transmission of knowledge.
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Conference Program: International workshop "Preserving, Commenting, Adapting: Commentaries on Ancient Texts in Twelfth-Century Byzantium" This workshop aims to explore the ways in which the Byzantines used—preserved, commented,... more
Conference Program: International workshop "Preserving, Commenting, Adapting: Commentaries on Ancient Texts in Twelfth-Century Byzantium"
This workshop aims to explore the ways in which the Byzantines used—preserved, commented, adapted—ancient literature. We therefore invite abstracts that explore commentaries on ancient texts throughout the Byzantine period. We define ‘commentary’ in a broad sense, to include generically diverse texts that in one way or another comment on the ancient literary heritage. Questions that might be addressed include but are not limited to the following: What (contemporary) questions of meaning do Byzantine commentators seek to answer? What is their hermeneutic and/or didactic programme? How do commentators perceive their own role in preserving or defending the authority of the ancient text? What function do these commentaries fulfil within their intellectual and socio-cultural context? What is the relationship between commentaries on ancient texts and the transtextual use of ancient texts in Byzantine literary practice?
This workshop aims to explore the ways in which the Byzantines used—preserved, commented, adapted—ancient literature. We therefore invite abstracts that explore commentaries on ancient texts throughout the Byzantine period. We define ‘commentary’ in a broad sense, to include generically diverse texts that in one way or another comment on the ancient literary heritage. Questions that might be addressed include but are not limited to the following: What (contemporary) questions of meaning do Byzantine commentators seek to answer? What is their hermeneutic and/or didactic programme? How do commentators perceive their own role in preserving or defending the authority of the ancient text? What function do these commentaries fulfil within their intellectual and socio-cultural context? What is the relationship between commentaries on ancient texts and the transtextual use of ancient texts in Byzantine literary practice?
Research Interests:
The workshop focuses on three key notions—knowledge, curiosity, and innovation—and examines how they were conceptualized in Byzantine learned culture between the ninth and the fourteenth centuries. Three lectures introduce respective... more
The workshop focuses on three key notions—knowledge, curiosity, and innovation—and examines how they were conceptualized in Byzantine learned culture between the ninth and the fourteenth centuries. Three lectures introduce respective reading-group discussions of Byzantine texts of the period. In both lectures and reading groups, our goal is to examine how Byzantine thinkers wrote about knowledge production and acquisition, how they reflected on their own role in this processes, as well as what the social and political structures underpinning and facilitating the latter were. We pay particular attention to the ‘limits’ of knowledge set up by the conventions of Byzantine paideia and problematize them using the concepts of innovation, progress, and curiosity as hermeneutical tools.
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[published in Turkish translation in 2015]
The original English version was published online in 2020: https://istanbultarihi.ist/678-measuring-the-world-science-and-technology-in-byzantine-constantinople
The original English version was published online in 2020: https://istanbultarihi.ist/678-measuring-the-world-science-and-technology-in-byzantine-constantinople
„Разбивачи на митове“: Пет студии по средновековна философия и култура.” [‘Myth Busters’: Five Essays on Medieval Philosophy and Culture] Review of Georgiev, Oleg. За „плоската“ земя, за дяволите на върха на иглата и други неща. [About... more
„Разбивачи на митове“: Пет студии по средновековна философия и култура.” [‘Myth Busters’: Five Essays on Medieval Philosophy and Culture] Review of Georgiev, Oleg. За „плоската“ земя, за дяволите на върха на иглата и други неща. [About the ‘Flat’ Earth, the Devils on the Point of a Needle, and Other Matters] Sofia: Sofia University Press, 2014. Архив за средновековна философия и култура/Archiv für mittelalterliche Philosophie und Kultur 21 (2015): 413–420.
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Review of Paraskeuopoulou, Ιliana. Το Αγιολογικό και Ομιλητικό Έργο του Νικηφόρου Γρηγορά. Βυζαντινά κείμενα και μελέτες = Byzantine Texts and Studies 59. Thessalonike: Κέντρο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών, 2013. Jahrbuch der Österreichischen... more
Review of Paraskeuopoulou, Ιliana. Το Αγιολογικό και Ομιλητικό Έργο του Νικηφόρου Γρηγορά. Βυζαντινά κείμενα και μελέτες = Byzantine Texts and Studies 59. Thessalonike: Κέντρο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών, 2013. Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 65 (2015), 269–271.
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Ptolemy’s Geography, since its composition in the 2nd century AD the standard work of scientific cartography for nearly fifteen hundred years, found its way to Western Europe via Byzantium. The main goal of this Round Table is to provide... more
Ptolemy’s Geography, since its composition in the 2nd century AD the standard work of scientific cartography for nearly fifteen hundred years, found its way to Western Europe via Byzantium. The main goal of this Round Table is to provide an overview of the most recent state of research on the reception and the impact of Ptolemy’s Geography. The Round Table therefore reassesses the scientific, intellectual, and social background of the work in early Palaeologan Byzantium and beyond, gives new insights into its textual recensions and cartographical redactions, and analyses the significance and role of Ptolemy’s Geography in early Humanist Italy.
Research Interests: History of Science, Manuscript Studies, Codicology, History of Ancient Geography, Ancient Geography, and 15 moreByzantine Paleography and codicology, Classical Reception Studies, Ptolemy, Ancient Astronomy, Greek manuscripts, Ancient Geography and the Representation of Space, Byzantine Epigrams, Byzantine manuscripts, Greek Manuscripts and Textual Criticism, Claudius Ptolemy, John Tzetzes, Ancient Geography and Cartography, Greek Manuscripts (Palaeography, Codicology, Text Transmission), Manuel Chrysoloras, and Nikephoros Gregoras
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Research Interests:
This is a self-archived version of the author manuscript (post peer review). English title: <em>Manuel Holobolos, Maximos Planudes, and Boethius: Translating παιδεία in Late Byzantium</em> Full reference:... more
This is a self-archived version of the author manuscript (post peer review). English title: <em>Manuel Holobolos, Maximos Planudes, and Boethius: Translating παιδεία in Late Byzantium</em> Full reference: <em>"Мануил Оловол, Максим Плануд и Боеций: Преводи на παιδεία</em><em> в късната Византия.</em>" [Manuel Holobolos, Maximos Planudes, and Boethius: Translating παιδεία in Late Byzantium] In <em>Sine</em> <em>arte</em> <em>scientia</em> <em>nihil</em> <em>est</em><em>: Изследвания в чест на проф. дфн Олег Георгиев</em> [Sine arte scientia nihil est: <em>Festschrift</em> <em>for</em> <em>Prof</em><em>. </em><em>Oleg</em> <em>Georgiev</em>], edited by Georgi Kapriev, 277–91. Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 2019.
The principal objective of the present dissertation is to reconstruct and analyze the discourses of science and philosophy in the letters of the Constantinopolitan scholar Nikephoros Gregoras (d. ca. 1360), a prominent figure on the... more
The principal objective of the present dissertation is to reconstruct and analyze the discourses of science and philosophy in the letters of the Constantinopolitan scholar Nikephoros Gregoras (d. ca. 1360), a prominent figure on the fourteenth-century Byzantine intellectual scene, well-known to modern scholars as the author of a major work on Byzantine history for the period from 1204 until ca. 1359. The inquiry explores Gregoras’ views on mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy expressed in his letters and, consequently, it reevaluates the existing scholarly perspectives on Gregoras’ intellectual legacy. By means of contextualization, Part I: Nikephoros Gregoras’ Epistolary Collection offers a survey of Gregoras’ biography and works, as well as a detailed reconstruction of his ‘library,’ that is, a survey of the manuscripts (in particular, of those codices which transmit scientific and philosophical content) he, in all likelihood, possessed, annotated, compiled, and copied. Part I concludes with a discussion of the manuscript tradition of Gregoras’ letters and the context of their preservation and circulation accompanied by a critical commentary of their modern editions. The main analytical body of the dissertation consists of two large sections dedicated respectively to astronomy (Part II: Justifications of Astronomy) and to philosophy and letters (Part III: Letters and Philosophy). The principal conceptual motivation behind Parts II and III is the exploration of the dialectical relationship informing Gregoras’ intellectual epistolary discourse, namely the relationship between knowledge (mathematical sciences and philosophy), on the one hand, and rhetoric (letters), on the other. Part II examines the status of the astronomical studies in the early Palaiologan period and discusses various strategies Gregoras employed in order to justify the value of this mathematical science. Gregoras’ programmatic effort to defend astronomy’s worthiness is analyzed in the context of the revival of Ptolemaic astronomy in Palaiologan Byzantium, a scholarly “project” that involved erudites from the two preceding generations, notably Maximos Planoudes and Gregoras’ mentor Theodore Metochites. Importantly, Part II: Justifications of Astronomy discusses for the first time after its edition in 1936 Gregoras’ arithmological treatise On the Number Seven which, among other things, is an important evidence for Gregoras’ readership of Philo and Macrobius. Part III: Letters and Philosophy offers a discussion of philosophical letter-writing in Byzantium as well as an analysis of the philosophical premises of Byzantine epistolography. Importantly, its principal discussion problematizes the question of certainty with respect to the human condition through analysis of three case studies which illustrate Gregoras’ strategies for constructing epistolary friendship. Thus, Part III addresses two of the main problems of the dissertation, namely what are, in Gregoras’ view, the possibilities and limitations of human knowledge and, correspondingly, what is the status of science and philosophy as the acquisition of knowledge is at their core qua disciplines. The dissertation concludes that in his letters Gregoras maintains that while there are limits of mankind’s ability to attain knowledge of the perceptible world, due both to the nature of the studied objects and to the faculties of the inquiring intellect, nevertheless, with the help of the divine providence, it is possible to achieve certainty and comprehension. One such example is the study of the heavenly bodies and their movements. Not only are the planets and the stars created by God as signs for mankind to understand, according to Gregoras, but also the regularity of their motion and its mathematical principles facilitate the use of the astronomical science for the attainment of knowledge. Similarly, the ideal friendship, one that manifests itself in the discursive unity of the correspondents, brings certainty and knowledge of oneself and of the other.
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Research Interests:
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The present contribution argues that the study of the interaction between philosophy and epistolography in Byzantium faces a number of methodological challenges. First, the study of Byzantine philosophical literature, including... more
The present contribution argues that the study of the interaction between philosophy and epistolography in Byzantium faces a number of methodological challenges. First, the study of Byzantine philosophical literature, including philosophical epistolography, depends on one’s definition of philosophy in respect to its cultural, intellectual, social, and disciplinary context in Byzantium. Second, essential for the examination of philosophical epistolography in Byzantium is the critical assessment of the category of philosophical letter and its relevance to the Byzantine material. Finally, the author argues that one possible venue for examining philosophical epistolography in Byzantium is the discussion of literary friendship and theories of friendship as developed in friendship letters. To illustrate the theoretical approach it proposes, this contribution offers a case study of two letters written by Nikephoros Gregoras (d. c.1360).
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In &quot;A Companion to Byzantine Science&quot;, edited by Stavros Lazaris. Leiden: Brill 2020, pp. 53-104.
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This article is about the interplay between diagrammatic representation, the mediation of mirrors, and visual cognition. It centres on Demetrios Triklinios (fl. ca. 1308–25/30) and his treatise on lunar theory. The latter includes, first,... more
This article is about the interplay between diagrammatic representation, the mediation of mirrors, and visual cognition. It centres on Demetrios Triklinios (fl. ca. 1308–25/30) and his treatise on lunar theory. The latter includes, first, a discussion of the lunar phases and of the Moon's position in relation to the Sun, and second, a narrative and a pictorial description of the lunar surface. Demetrios Triklinios's Selenography is little-known (though edited in 1967 by Wasserstein) and not available in translation into a modern scholarly language. Therefore, one of the main goals of the present article is to introduce its context and contents and to lay down the foundations for their detailed study at a later stage. When discussing the Selenography, I refer to a bricolage consisting of the two earliest versions of the work preserved in Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, graecus 482, ff. 92r–95v (third quarter of the fourteenth century) and Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France,...