Description

The manuscript transmission of treatises and minor texts on Greek grammar presents significant challenges due to at least four key factors:

• First, the sheer variety of combinations in which these texts were copied, often bundled with school texts on rhetoric, metrics, and other subjects.

• Second, the fluidity of boundaries between texts and paratexts.

• Third, the constant adaptation of grammatical texts to different pedagogical (and occasionally non-pedagogical) contexts.

• Fourth, the instability of grammatical miscellanies’ composition, where texts in a single codex could be reorganized or supplemented with new material based on the preferences of new owners.

This workshop will address the codicological challenges posed by the latter factor. Our goal is to map the patterns of structural changes that a miscellaneous codex containing Greek grammatical texts would undergo over centuries, before arriving at its current state.

Recent theoretical studies in structural codicology, especially by Marilena Maniaci and Patrick Andrist, have underscored the need to describe non-unitary codices as a chronological sequence of stages ('circulation units') where different 'production units' were combined. Such stratigraphic descriptions, treating codices as ‘evolving entities’ (Friedrich & Schwarke 2016, 1), can be intricate and diverse. In the workshop, we will look for common patterns across multiple case studies, focusing specifically on Greek grammatical miscellanies within composite manuscripts.

Given the importance of comparative analysis in codicology, we also welcome papers on non-Greek and/or non-grammatical miscellanies.

Program and abstracts