Project

Teaching Greek in Eleventh-Century Byzantium. Schedography and Its Methods

Acronym
TeaGre
Code
41T03422
Duration
01 September 2022 → 31 December 2022
Funding
European funding: framework programme
Research disciplines
  • Humanities
    • Greek language
    • Diachronic linguistics
    • Grammar
    • Historical linguistics
    • Language acquisition
    • Lexicography
    • Orthography
    • Sociolinguistics
    • Syntax
    • Literatures in Greek
    • Medieval literature
Keywords
Historical Linguistics Medieval Greek medieval Greek manuscripts Historical Sociolinguistics Byzantine Greek
Other information
 
Project description

Schedography is a Byzantine method of teaching Greek grammar that was popular from the eleventh century to the early modern period. The study of this method enables a better understanding of 1) which kind of Greek was taught and how its teaching was conducted in medieval schools; 2) the influence of school curriculum on writing and reading practices in Byzantium; 3) the purposes of Byzantine education and cultural politics. The existent studies offer sound, but general, overviews and several schedographic sources are unedited. Furthermore, there is the lack of a consistent approach to the study of the edited schedographic sources.

My project addresses this issue by looking at the eleventh century, when this method began to spread. I will frame schedography within the context of eleventh-century Byzantine culture and of contemporary school practices. Furthermore, I will examine the most relevant source for this period, the handbook by Longibardos, to describe its teaching method through a linguistic and stylistic analysis. My project will also lead to a critical edition of Longibardos’ handbook and other unedited eleventh-century schedographic remnants.

TeaGre will offer both the first study of schedography and its early evolution as well as a consistent linguistic and stylistic approach to schedographic sources. The simultaneous presence of the ERC-funded projects MELA and EVWRIT at Ghent University places my MSCA Fellowship within a context of substantial and innovative research on Classical, Late Antique and Medieval Greek language and education. The edition of Longibardos and eleventh-century schedographic texts will also expand the database for the study of Greek literature and language that is currently being developed at Ghent University. Through this fellowship, I will improve my professional profile into a more complete Greek scholar and my project will provide me with the proof of concept for my further research on this topic.

 
 
 
Disclaimer
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the authority can be held responsible for them.