Greek Paleography

[seroteamavi]

Greetings, all. I am interested in learning Byzantine paleography so that I can better figure out some manuscripts I'm going to be working with. Can anyone recommend some resources for Greek paleography that covers writings around the 7th through the 11th centuries?

[sacklunch]

Hey there,

You might start with Todd Hickey's "Papyrology" in The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. That period of papyrology is notoriously understudied. I work quite some in late antique papyrology, which has some related graphic features. Though I admittedly don't know much about research dealing with post-fifth century papyri. Shoot me a PM if you want to chat more about this. It's a damn difficult field to navigate oneself without some guidance!

[Kuriakos]

In terms of practical help, Metzger has a book that contains virtual all the contractions you end up seeing in minuscule manuscripts. Those are what make collating minuscules difficult. 

[Jonjae]

Wilson, Nigel. Mediaeval Greek Bookhands: Examples selected from Greek manuscripts in Oxford libraries. 1973. 

The instructor in a Byzantine Greek course I am taking right now has used this book in class, and it seems to be a wonderful resource for Byzantine paleography. It certainly does train you to start reading miniscule Greek script, which is typical of the 8th century onward. 

Edited July 20, 2016 by Jonjae