A systematic Study of the Greek Manuscripts of Demosthenes

The project Greek Manuscripts of Demosthenes from Antiquity to the Eleventh Century (on criteria of Paleography, Codicology and Textual Criticism) sets as its goal the production of a monograph on the oldest direct textual tradition of the works of Demosthenes based on the systematic study of the preserved witnesses of the Greek text from Antiquity to the eleventh century. Emphasis will be placed on a detailed paleographic- codicological examination, using the newest research methods, of the primary Byzantine manuscripts of Demosthenes (9th - 11th century) together with an analysis of the intellectual and cultural background as well as the geographic and historical conditions of the emergence and later survival of these important witnesses of the text. The very fragmentary witnesses preserved from Antiquity (up to the 5th - 6th century A.D.) are to be critically examined and assessed anew on the basis of the best documented manuscript materials. Relevant indirect tradition (Lexica, Scholia, Commentaries, etc.) will also be taken into consideration. The results of this study will shed new light on many important questions of the tradition and establishment of the text, e.g. the relation of the significant maunscripts to one another, the archetype, the formation of corpora etc. The work will be fitted out with an apparatus as closely compatible to the Oxford Classical Texts edition as possible for the relevant readings from the materials under study, and the new results thereby obtained will be assessed from a philological/ textcritical point of view. The Project will adhere to the most modern requirements both of manuscript research on the basis of Paleography and Codicology as well as those of Classical Philology grounded on the critical analysis of the textual tradition. By means of a concrete synergetic treatment together with Paleography, Papyrology and Classical Philology (with conscious methodologic reliance on the postulates the discourse of interdisciplinary research) a new approach is to be made to the textual tradition of Demosthenes in its diachronic aspect. The projected monograph will furnish scholars with rich material for further linguistic, literary and historical studies on the works of the great orator. Likewise, it will provide cultural historians with a more nuanced picture of the reception of Demosthenes in Byzantium. Project Website: http://www.oeaw.ac.at/byzanz/

The project Greek Manuscripts of Demosthenes from Antiquity to the Eleventh Century (on criteria of Paleography, Codicology and Textual Criticism) sets as its goal the production of a monograph on the oldest direct textual tradition of the works of Demosthenes based on the systematic study of the preserved witnesses of the Greek text from Antiquity to the eleventh century. Emphasis will be placed on a detailed paleographic-codicological examination, using the newest research methods, of the primary Byzantine manuscripts of Demosthenes (9th - 11th century) together with an analysis of the intellectual and cultural background as well as the geographic and historical conditions of the emergence and later survival of these important witnesses of the text. The very fragmentary witnesses preserved from Antiquity (up to the 5th - 6th century A.D.) are to be critically examined and assessed anew on the basis of the best documented manuscript materials. Relevant indirect tradition (Lexica, Scholia, Commentaries, etc.) will also be taken into consideration. The results of this study will shed new light on many important questions of the tradition and establishment of the text, e.g. the relation of the significant maunscripts to one another, the archetype, the formation of corpora etc. The work will be fitted out with an apparatus as closely compatible to the Oxford Classical Texts edition as possible for the relevant readings from the materials under study, and the new results thereby obtained will be assessed from a philological/ textcritical point of view. The Project will adhere to the most modern requirements both of manuscript research on the basis of Paleography and Codicology as well as those of Classical Philology grounded on the critical analysis of the textual tradition. By means of a concrete synergetic treatment together with Paleography, Papyrology and Classical Philology (with conscious methodologic reliance on the postulates the discourse of interdisciplinary research) a new approach is to be made to the textual tradition of Demosthenes in its diachronic aspect. The projected monograph will furnish scholars with rich material for further linguistic, literary and historical studies on the works of the great orator. Likewise, it will provide cultural historians with a more nuanced picture of the reception of Demosthenes in Byzantium.