MSc · Special Background · Skills Development

The Splendor of Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts :
The Art of Miniature from Late Antiquity to the End of the Eastern Roman Empire

Postgraduate Programme — Level 7

10 ECTS Credits
3 hrs / week
English Language
Open to Erasmus
None Prerequisites

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Upon completion, students will be able to:

1)

Explain the evolution of text decoration from Antiquity to the Late Byzantine Empire, including the transition from ceramic to parchment and the influence of text type.

2)

Analyze the relationship between text and image in illuminated manuscripts and determine the chronological placement of codices.

3)

Critically evaluate Byzantine miniatures and apply interdisciplinary methods to art historical research.

4)

Compare competing scholarly interpretations to formulate research-based academic arguments.

5)

Communicate complex historical and art historical ideas effectively in written form.

COURSE SYLLABUS

13 Modules

Week 01 | The oldest illuminated books

The oldest illustrated papyri in Egypt and their use. The Greeks’ acquaintance with papyrus in the 7th century BC and the founding of scriptoria and libraries. The role and the library of Alexandria. Papyrus and roll, parchment and codex.

Methods of miniature painting in roll and codex. The use of colors and the place of miniature in Text. The stages of emancipation of the miniature’s separation from the text and the creation of full-page miniatures. The decorative elements of the book.

The Calendar of 354 (Roma, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, cod. Barb. lat. 2154. Virgilius Romanus (Roma, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, cod. lat. 3225) and Viirgilius Vaticanus (Roma, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, cod. lat. 3867): Τwo nearly contemporary manuscripts containing works by Virgil, with different decoration and stylε of illumination.

Τhe Ambrosian Iliad (Milano, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, cod. F 205inf.) and the decoration of literary texts. Τhe Vienna Dioscurides (Wien, Nationalbibliothek, cod. med. gr. 1) and the illustration of scientific texts.

A recurring theme in the early religious decorated manuscripts of Byzantium is the very frequent illustration of the Book of Genesis. No other text of the Old Testament was ever illustrated so frequently. This phenomenon can only be explained by the strong influence of Jewish on Christian art during the early centuries We shall analyze the Vienna Genesis (Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, cod. theol. gr. 31) and the very damaged Cotton Genesis (London, British Library, Cod. Cotton Ohto B. VI).

Analysis of the three surviving of the Period: The Rossano Gospels (Rossano, Museo Diocesano di Arte Sacra, cod. Unicus), the Sinope Gospel (Paris, BnF, Cod. suppl. gr. 1286). The difference between Gospel and Lectionary.

Analysis of the Syrian Gospels of Rabbula (Florence, Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, MS. Plut. I. 56), important both for its representations and for its CanonTables. Codices with secular text, which were painted during the iconoclastic period. The problem of the chronology

The victory of the iconodules over the iconoclasts was reflected (among other things) in the creation of three psalters with marginal miniatures, dating from the second half of the 9th century. These are: The Chloudov Psalter (Moscow, Hist. Mus. MS. D.129), the Codex Athos, Pantokrator Monastery, cod. gr.61, and the Psalter kept in Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, cod. gr. 20.

Psalters with marginal miniatures continued to be created in the centuries that followed, and not only in Byzantium. We will examine three of these, which can be dated to the 11th century. These are the codices: The Bristol Psalter (London, British Library, Add MS 40731), The Theodore Psalter (London, British Library, Add MS 19.352) and the Barberini Psalter (Roma, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana cod. Barb. gr. 372).

The Aristocratic Psalter Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, cod. gr. 139 and others, later dated, Aristocratic Psalters in Byzantium.Basic usability and accessibility principles for AI-supported educational resources. Students evaluate a learning object using a SUS-inspired checklist, inclusive design criteria, and peer feedback.

Various codices of the so called “Macedonian Renaissance” Significant manuscripts of the eleventh century. The Role of the Studios Monastery in Constantinople.

Manuscripts of the late eleventh and twelfth century. Other known scriptoria in Constantinople or in provinces of the Byzantine Empire and their production of manuscripts.

The Byzantine illustrated codices and their effect in Georgia and Armenia.

ASSESSMENT

Student Evaluation

20%

Seminar Participation

20%

Miniatures Analysis

20%

Public presentation

40%

Research Essay

Workload — ECTS Distribution

250 Hours Total

Lectures

26

Seminar discussions

13

Primary source workshops

20

Study and analysis of bibliography

40

Student presentations

11

Independent study

70

Essay writing

70

Course Total

250

Recommended Bibliography

Suggested bibliography:

  • Bandinelli, R. B. Hellenistic-Byzantine Miniatures of the Iliad. Olten, 1955.
  • Brubaker, L. Vision and meaning in ninth-century Byzantium: image as exegesis in the Homilies of Gregory of Nazianzus. Cambridge, 1999.
  • Brubaker, L. “Every cliché in the book: the linguistic turn and the text-image discourse in Byzantine manuscripts.” In Art and Text in Byzantine Culture, edited by L. James, 58–82. Cambridge, 2007.
  • Buchthal, H. The Miniatures of the Paris Psalter: A Study in Middle Byzantine Painting [Studies of the Warburg Institute 2]. London, 1938 (reprint Nendeln 1968).
  • Canart, P., ed. La Bible du patrice Léon. Codex Reginensis Graecus 1. Commentaire codicologique, paléographique, philologique et artistique [ST 463]. Città del Vaticano, 2011.
  • Carr, A. W. Byzantine illumination, 1150-1250: the study of a provincial tradition [Studies in medieval manuscript illumination 47]. Chicago, 1987.
  • Ceulemans, R., and B. Crostini, eds. Receptions of the Bible in Byzantium: Texts, Manuscripts, and their Readers [Studia Byzantina Upsaliensia 20]. Uppsala, 2021.
  • Coogan, J. “Byzantine manuscript colophons and the prosopography of scribal activity.” In From Constantinople to the Frontier: The City and the Cities, edited by N. S. M. Matheou, Th. Kampianaki, and L. M. Bondioli, 297–310. Leiden, Boston, 2016.
  • Corrigan, K. Visual polemics in the ninth-century marginal psalters. Cambridge, New York, 1992.
  • Crostini, B., and G. Peers, eds. Book of psalms from Eleventh century Constantinople: on the complex of texts and images in Vat. gr. 752 [ST 504]. Città del Vaticano, 2016.
  • Cutler, A. The Aristocratic Psalters in Byzantium [Bibliothèque des Cahiers Archéologiques 13]. Paris, 1984.
  • Cutler, A. Imagery and Ideology in Byzantine Art [Collected studies 358]. Hampshire, Brookfield, 1992.
  • Degni, P., P. Eleuteri, and M. Maniaci, eds. Greek manuscript cataloguing: past, present, and future [Bibliologia 48]. Turnhout, 2018.
  • Dufrenne, S. L’illustration des psautiers grecs du Moyen Âge I: Pantocrator 61, Paris grec 20, British Museum 40731 [Bibliothèque des Cahiers Archéologiques 1]. Paris, 1966.
  • Dufrenne, S. Tableaux synoptiques de 15 psautiers médiévaux à illustrations intégrales issues du texte. Paris, 1978.
  • Evangelatou, M. “Liturgy and the Illustration of the Ninth-Century Marginal Psalters.” DOP 63 (2009): 59–116.
  • Galavaris, G. Ζωγραφική βυζαντινών χειρογράφων. Athens, 2006.
  • Galavaris, G. The Illustrations of the Prefaces in Byzantine Gospels [Byzantina Vindobonensia 11]. Wien, 1979.
  • Gasbarri, G. “From Margins to Frames. Some Forms of Transmission of Visual Formulas in Byzantine Post-Iconoclastic Illuminated Books.” Marginalia 19 (2015): 51–67.
  • Gerstinger, H. Dioscurides, Codex Vindobonensis med. gr. 1 der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek. Graz, 1965–1970.
  • Grabar, A. Christian Iconography: A Study of Its Origins [Bollingen 35/10]. Princeton, 1968.
  • Holmes, C., and J. Waring, eds. Literacy, education and manuscript transmission in Byzantium and beyond [Medieval Mediterranean 42]. Leiden, Boston, Köln, 2002.
  • Hutter, I. “Theodoros βιβλιογράφος und die Buchmalerei in Studiu.” In Opōra: studi in onore di mgr Paul Canart per il LXX compleanno, I, edited by S. Luca and L. Perria, 177–208. Grottaferrata, 1997.
  • Kadas, S. N. Τα εικονογραφημένα χειρόγραφα του Αγίου Όρους. Thessaloniki, 2008.
  • Kavrus-Hoffmann, N. “Producing New Testament Manuscripts in Byzantium. Scribes, Scriptoria, and Patrons.” In The New Testament in Byzantium, edited by D. Krueger and R. S. Nelson, 117–146. Washington, D.C., 2016.
  • Krunger, M. J. “Manuscripts, Scribes and Book production within early Christianity.” In Christian origins and greco-roman culture: social and literary contexts for the New Testament, edited by S. E. Porter and A. W. Pitts, 13–40. Leiden, 2013.
  • Lassus, J. L’illustration du Livre des Rois. Paris, 1973.
  • Linardou, K. Reading two Byzantine illustrated books: the Kokkinobaphos manuscripts (Vaticanus graecus 1162 and Parisinus graecus 1208) and their illustration. PhD Thesis, Birmingham, 2004.
  • Lowden, J. Illuminated Prophet Books: A Study of Byzantine Manuscripts of the Major and Minor Prophets. Pennsylvania, 1988.
  • Lymberopoulou, A., ed. Images of the Byzantine World: Visions, Messages and Meanings. New York, 2016.
  • Magdalino, P., and R. S. Nelson, eds. The Old Testament in Byzantium. Washington, D.C., 2010.
  • Marava-Chatzinikolaou, A. Κατάλογος μικρογραφιῶν Βυζαντινῶν χειρογράφων τῆς Ἐθνικῆς Βιβλιοθήκης τῆς Ἑλλάδος, Α-Γ. Athens, 1978–1997.
  • Martin, J. R. The illustration of the heavenly Ladder of John Climacus [Studies in manuscript illumination 5]. Princeton, 1954.
  • Mazal, O. Der Wiener Dioskurides: Codex medicus Graecus 1 der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, I-II [Glanzlichter der Buchkunst, 8/1-2]. Graz, 1998–1999.
  • Mioni, E. Εἰσαγωγή στήν Ἑλληνική Παλαιογραφία. Athens, 2014.
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  • Der Nersessian, S. L’Illustration des Psautiers Grecs du Moyen Âge II: Londres Add.19352 [Bibliothèque des Cahiers Archéologiques 5]. Paris, 1970.
  • Panayotova, S., and P. Ricciardi, eds. Manuscripts in the making: art and science. London, 2017.
  • Papadaki-Oekland, S. Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts of the Book of Job: A Preliminary Study of the Miniature Illustrations, Its Origin and Development. Athens, Brepols, 2009.
  • Parpulov, G. R. Middle-Byzantine Evangelist Portraits. A corpus of miniature paintings [Manuscripta Biblica 7]. Berlin, Boston, 2022.
  • Pelikanidis, S., et al., eds. Οι θησαυροί του Αγίου Όρους, Α΄: Σειρά Α΄, Εικονογραφηµένα χειρόγραφα. Athens, 1973–1991.
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  • Weitzmann, K. Illustrations in Roll and Codex: A Study of the Origin and Method of Text Illustration. Princeton, 1970.
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