Papers by Rachele Ricceri
R. Ricceri, K. Bentein, F. Bernard, A. Bronselaer, E. De Paermentier, P. De Potter, G. De Tré, I. De Vos, M. Deforche, K. Demoen, E. Lefever, A.-S. Rouckhout, C. Swaelens, The Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams Project: Principles, Challenges, Opportunities Journal of Data Mining and Digital Humanities, 2023
This paper presents an overview of the history, conceptualization, and development of the Databas... more This paper presents an overview of the history, conceptualization, and development of the Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams, an ongoing research project hosted at Ghent University. It also offers a glimpse into current and future research threads carried out within the project, with an eye on longterm sustainability. The first part of the paper pinpoints the position of DBBE within the broad field of Digital Humanities and addresses the question of how and why Byzantine metrical paratexts have been collected in an open-access online database. In the second part of the article, we describe the main features of the relational database currently available, both from the perspective of its users and from a technical point of view. The third section of the paper includes the description of four subprojects connected to DBBE, which at present involve the development of a graph database complementary to the relational one, the implementation of natural language pre-processing applied to the DBBE corpus, the linguistic analysis of formulaicity in book epigrams, and the exploration of the broad implications of the study of book epigrams for a better understanding of Byzantine book culture.
Tetradio, 2021
This volume of the journal 'Tetradio' collects the lectures given at Ghent University's Centre fo... more This volume of the journal 'Tetradio' collects the lectures given at Ghent University's Centre for Hellenic Studies (Griekenlandcentrum) in the academic year 2020-2021.
https://www.grieks.ugent.be/griekenlandcentrum/#tetradio
Des cahiers à l'histoire de la culture à Byzance, Hommage à Paul Canart, codicologue (1927-2017), 2021
Cette contribution porte sur les caractéristiques principales et quelques exemples représentatifs... more Cette contribution porte sur les caractéristiques principales et quelques exemples représentatifs des épigrammes dédiées à l’apôtre Paul dans les livres manuscrits byzantins. La première partie de la contribution présente un aperçu de ce corpus et comporte des informations sur la nature paratextuelle de ces poèmes, leurs aspects paléographiques, leurs genre et contenu. La seconde partie comprend le texte et la traduction de certaines épigrammes spécifiques et donne un aperçu sur les plus communes représentations poétiques de Paul, de même que sur leurs principales sources littéraires. Cette analyse est corroborée dans l’épilogue par une brève comparaison entre les épigrammes livresques sur Paul et d’autres poèmes byzantins composés en son honneur.
in B. Crostini & R. Ceulemans (eds.), Receptions of the Bible in Byzantium : Texts, Manuscripts, and their Readers. Uppsala (Studia Byzantina Upsaliensia 20): p. 259-275, 2021
in M. Cutino (ed.), Poetry, Bible and Theology from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Berlin: De Gruyter (Millennium-Studien / Millennium Studies 86): p. 223-236, 2020
In: A. Rhoby - N. Zagklas (2018) Middle and Late Byzantine Poetry: Texts and Contexts. Turnhout: 285-386, 2018
This article deals with a twelfth-century cycle of four unedited metrical paratexts on John Klima... more This article deals with a twelfth-century cycle of four unedited metrical paratexts on John Klimax in dodecasyllables, preserved in seven manuscripts. We provide a general introduction, an overview of the manuscripts and of the poems, and the editio princeps, and an English translation.
Programme of the Conference on 'Biblical Poetry: The Legacy of the Psalms in Late Antiquity and B... more Programme of the Conference on 'Biblical Poetry: The Legacy of the Psalms in Late Antiquity and Byzantium' (Ghent, April 23-24 2020)
T. Scheijnen, B. Verhelst (eds), Parels in schrift: huldeboek voor Marc De Groote, 2019
The Psalms, in their Greek Septuagint translation, were a fundamental corpus of biblical poetry, ... more The Psalms, in their Greek Septuagint translation, were a fundamental corpus of biblical poetry, and as such were continuously referred to in Christian literature. They played a key role in the daily life and in the development of religious sensitivity of late antique and Byzantine people. The production of Psalm-related literature, notably exegetic, was impressively widespread. The Psalms, however, influenced other genres of religious literature as well, and their poetical nature remained an important feature that later authors were well aware of. In preparation of a volume on the reception of the Psalms in poetry from Late Antiquity and Byzantium, we invite scholars of all levels of experience to present a paper at a colloquium on this subject. Confirmed speakers are We welcome contributions on the following topics especially: • the appreciation of the Psalter's poetical nature in exegesis and in the biblical manuscript tradition (e.g. recognition, by patristic and Byzantine exegetes, of the presence or absence of poetical features); • rhetorical aspects of the Psalms as highlighted in late antique and Byzantine treatises; • the influence of the Psalms on Byzantine poetry (e.g. what was their role in the composition of eis heauton poems? How does self-expression in Christian poetry relate to the Psalms?); • the reception of the Psalms in hymnographic poetry; • the reception of the Psalter in specific genres of poetry, such as Byzantine catanyctic poetry; • the metrical metaphrases by ps-Apollinaris and Manuel Philes; • metrical paratexts on the Psalms. These examples are not exclusive and papers on other related topics are welcome. We invite proposals for 20-minute papers. Each paper will be followed by a reaction from a respondent, who will open the discussion with the audience. Contributors whose abstract is accepted will be asked to submit prior to the colloquium a rough draft of their full text. After the conference, they are expected to offer their reworked paper for inclusion (upon acceptance after peer-review) in a volume on the reception of the Psalms in Byzantine poetry. Please send a title and a short abstract (max. 300 words) of your paper to rachele.ricceri@ugent.be no later than May 31, 2019. Accepted speakers will be notified by the end of June 2019. For more information, please visit our website:
This paper attempts to reconstruct the meaning of the adjective δολοπλόκος (“weaver of wiles”) fr... more This paper attempts to reconstruct the meaning of the adjective δολοπλόκος (“weaver of wiles”) from the archaic poetry to Gregory of Nazianzus. Gregory uses the vocative δολοπλόκε in the incipit of poem 2, 1, 50 to address the devil, whereas this adjective was traditionally referred to Aphrodite (e.g. Theogn. 1386; Sapph. fr. 1, 2 V.; Simon. 541, 9-10). Therefore, the Greek goddess and the Christian demon implicitly coincide. This identification is confirmed by a wider analysis, that shows an interesting connection between the complex feelings aroused by Eros and the illness provoked by the assaults of the devil.
This article aims to examine the structure of seven short poems by Gregory of Nazianzus (carm. 2.... more This article aims to examine the structure of seven short poems by Gregory of Nazianzus (carm. 2.1.54-60), focused on a complaint against the devil. These poems are articulated
in three parts: an incipit, in which the poet evokes the demon and condemns his presence; a central part, which depicts the disrupting effects of the demoniac assaults; an epilogue, centred on the exorcism, in order to throw the devil out. The second part of the article is devoted to a comparison between carm.2.1.54-60 and the form of classical hymns: Gregory’s deprecationes seem to follow the same scheme adopted to compose prayers. An appendix shows how this approach can be useful also to prove that carm. 2.1.55 and 2.1.60 are likely to be respectively the conflation of two
shorter poems.
Books by Rachele Ricceri
This volume contains 18 contributions divided in four sections: Politics of Interpretation, Quota... more This volume contains 18 contributions divided in four sections: Politics of Interpretation, Quotations, Rewritten Bible and Visual Exegesis. It situates the reception of the Bible in Byzantium at the heart of Byzantine studies highlighting both technical and contextual approaches.
by Foteini Spingou, Charles Barber, Nathan Leidholm, Thomas Carlson, Ivan Drpić, Alexandros (Alexander) Alexakis, elizabeth jeffreys, Theocharis Tsampouras, Mircea G . Duluș, Nikos Zagklas, Ida Toth, Alexander Riehle, Brad Hostetler, Michael Featherstone, Emmanuel C Bourbouhakis, Shannon Steiner, Efthymios Rizos, Divna Manolova, Robert Romanchuk, Maria Tomadaki, Kirsty Stewart, Baukje van den Berg, Katarzyna Warcaba, Florin Leonte, Vasileios Marinis, Ludovic Bender, Linda Safran, Sophia Kalopissi-Verti, Rachele Ricceri, Luisa Andriollo, Alex J Novikoff, Annemarie Carr, Marina Bazzani, Greti Dinkova-Bruun, Renaat Meesters, Daphne (Dafni) / Δάφνη Penna / Πέννα, Annemarie Carr, Alexander Alexakis, Jeremy Johns, Maria Parani, Lisa Mahoney, Irena Spadijer, and Ilias Taxidis ISBN: 9781108483056
Series: Sources for Byzantine Art History 3
In this book the beauty and m... more ISBN: 9781108483056
Series: Sources for Byzantine Art History 3
In this book the beauty and meaning of Byzantine art and its aesthetics are for the first time made accessible through the original sources. More than 150 medieval texts are translated from nine medieval languages into English, with commentaries from over seventy leading scholars. These include theories of art, discussions of patronage and understandings of iconography, practical recipes for artistic supplies, expressions of devotion, and descriptions of cities. The volume reveals the cultural plurality and the interconnectivity of medieval Europe and the Mediterranean from the late eleventh to the early fourteenth centuries. The first part uncovers salient aspects of Byzantine artistic production and its aesthetic reception, while the second puts a spotlight on particular ways of expressing admiration and of interpreting of the visual.
Calls for Papers by Rachele Ricceri
The Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams project (DBBE) will organize a conference on "Paratexts i... more The Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams project (DBBE) will organize a conference on "Paratexts in Premodern Writing Cultures", which will take place in Ghent on 24-25 June 2024.
Please submit a title and a short abstract (approx. 300 words excluding references) of your paper to dbbe@ugent.be (subject “Paratexts – abstract”) no later than 15 November 2023.
Call for Papers
We are thrilled to announce our upcoming DBBE conference ‘Growing Corpora. Byzan... more Call for Papers
We are thrilled to announce our upcoming DBBE conference ‘Growing Corpora. Byzantine Book Epigrams and Online Text Collections’, which will take place on 24-25 June 2020 in Ghent!
A new version of our database was launched last June. Exactly one year later, we are organising a two-day conference. Together with anyone interested, we want to celebrate and reflect on what we have achieved so far and look ahead at what is - hopefully! - yet to come.
In our demo sessions you can present your project and discuss your experiences in growing your online corpus (10-15 minutes). In our thematic sessions you can present your research on Byzantine book epigrams (20 minutes).
📄Abstracts should be sent to dbbe@ugent.be by November 15, 2019.
🌐 For any further information, please visit the conference website (https://www.dbbe2020.ugent.be).
Book Reviews by Rachele Ricceri
Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2018.11.34
Review: V. Ruggieri, L. Pieralli, G. Rigotti (eds), Riflessi metropolitani liturgici, agiografici, paleografici, artistici nell’Italia meridionale. Atti della giornata di studi presso il Pontificio Istituto Orientale, 18 maggio 2010, Rome 2014, in Byzantion 86, 2016: 511-512
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Papers by Rachele Ricceri
https://www.grieks.ugent.be/griekenlandcentrum/#tetradio
in three parts: an incipit, in which the poet evokes the demon and condemns his presence; a central part, which depicts the disrupting effects of the demoniac assaults; an epilogue, centred on the exorcism, in order to throw the devil out. The second part of the article is devoted to a comparison between carm.2.1.54-60 and the form of classical hymns: Gregory’s deprecationes seem to follow the same scheme adopted to compose prayers. An appendix shows how this approach can be useful also to prove that carm. 2.1.55 and 2.1.60 are likely to be respectively the conflation of two
shorter poems.
Books by Rachele Ricceri
Series: Sources for Byzantine Art History 3
In this book the beauty and meaning of Byzantine art and its aesthetics are for the first time made accessible through the original sources. More than 150 medieval texts are translated from nine medieval languages into English, with commentaries from over seventy leading scholars. These include theories of art, discussions of patronage and understandings of iconography, practical recipes for artistic supplies, expressions of devotion, and descriptions of cities. The volume reveals the cultural plurality and the interconnectivity of medieval Europe and the Mediterranean from the late eleventh to the early fourteenth centuries. The first part uncovers salient aspects of Byzantine artistic production and its aesthetic reception, while the second puts a spotlight on particular ways of expressing admiration and of interpreting of the visual.
Calls for Papers by Rachele Ricceri
Please submit a title and a short abstract (approx. 300 words excluding references) of your paper to dbbe@ugent.be (subject “Paratexts – abstract”) no later than 15 November 2023.
We are thrilled to announce our upcoming DBBE conference ‘Growing Corpora. Byzantine Book Epigrams and Online Text Collections’, which will take place on 24-25 June 2020 in Ghent!
A new version of our database was launched last June. Exactly one year later, we are organising a two-day conference. Together with anyone interested, we want to celebrate and reflect on what we have achieved so far and look ahead at what is - hopefully! - yet to come.
In our demo sessions you can present your project and discuss your experiences in growing your online corpus (10-15 minutes). In our thematic sessions you can present your research on Byzantine book epigrams (20 minutes).
📄Abstracts should be sent to dbbe@ugent.be by November 15, 2019.
🌐 For any further information, please visit the conference website (https://www.dbbe2020.ugent.be).
Book Reviews by Rachele Ricceri
https://www.grieks.ugent.be/griekenlandcentrum/#tetradio
in three parts: an incipit, in which the poet evokes the demon and condemns his presence; a central part, which depicts the disrupting effects of the demoniac assaults; an epilogue, centred on the exorcism, in order to throw the devil out. The second part of the article is devoted to a comparison between carm.2.1.54-60 and the form of classical hymns: Gregory’s deprecationes seem to follow the same scheme adopted to compose prayers. An appendix shows how this approach can be useful also to prove that carm. 2.1.55 and 2.1.60 are likely to be respectively the conflation of two
shorter poems.
Series: Sources for Byzantine Art History 3
In this book the beauty and meaning of Byzantine art and its aesthetics are for the first time made accessible through the original sources. More than 150 medieval texts are translated from nine medieval languages into English, with commentaries from over seventy leading scholars. These include theories of art, discussions of patronage and understandings of iconography, practical recipes for artistic supplies, expressions of devotion, and descriptions of cities. The volume reveals the cultural plurality and the interconnectivity of medieval Europe and the Mediterranean from the late eleventh to the early fourteenth centuries. The first part uncovers salient aspects of Byzantine artistic production and its aesthetic reception, while the second puts a spotlight on particular ways of expressing admiration and of interpreting of the visual.
Please submit a title and a short abstract (approx. 300 words excluding references) of your paper to dbbe@ugent.be (subject “Paratexts – abstract”) no later than 15 November 2023.
We are thrilled to announce our upcoming DBBE conference ‘Growing Corpora. Byzantine Book Epigrams and Online Text Collections’, which will take place on 24-25 June 2020 in Ghent!
A new version of our database was launched last June. Exactly one year later, we are organising a two-day conference. Together with anyone interested, we want to celebrate and reflect on what we have achieved so far and look ahead at what is - hopefully! - yet to come.
In our demo sessions you can present your project and discuss your experiences in growing your online corpus (10-15 minutes). In our thematic sessions you can present your research on Byzantine book epigrams (20 minutes).
📄Abstracts should be sent to dbbe@ugent.be by November 15, 2019.
🌐 For any further information, please visit the conference website (https://www.dbbe2020.ugent.be).
This paper offers some reflections on the aesthetics of books as presented in book epigrams. In the first part of the lecture I will present some epigrams that clearly refer to the physical or spiritual beauty of the book in which they are inscribed.
Moreover, I will discuss some book epigrams potentially dealing with images in their double function of pieces of poetry and of “objects” themselves. Firstly, metrical captions frequently explain, comment upon and enhance the presence of manuscript miniatures. These captions are often clustered in cycles that appear in one or more manuscripts featuring similar miniatures. Secondly, epigrams can also replace miniatures and perform a peculiar visual function. Book epigrams can be placed where manuscript miniatures might be expected to be found and describe miniatures that are actually not present in the manuscript.
The relationship between text and image in book epigrams is a bidirectional one. This fluid interrelation makes metrical paratexts a particularly suitable corpus to investigate how words and images coexist on the manuscript folio.
Deze lezing onderzoekt hoe de boeken die Byzantijnen op school gebruikten eruit zagen. Werden er specifieke teksten geschreven voor leerlingen? En wat zijn de belangrijkste kenmerken van Byzantijnse schoolboeken? Door middel van een aantal afbeeldingen zullen we ingaan op de fascinerende wereld van de Byzantijnse boekproductie om inzicht te krijgen in hoe en wat Middeleeuwse Grieken lazen.
The Greek Section of the Department of Literary Studies at Ghent University (Belgium) is seeking a PhD candidate (full-time, fully-funded), to work on a research project investigating the reception of the Psalms as poetry in Byzantine literature. The successful candidate will prepare a dissertation under the supervision of prof. Floris Bernard and dr. Rachele Ricceri (Ghent) and prof. Reinhart Ceulemans (Leuven).
A full version of the job description is to be found here: http://www.letterkunde.ugent.be/en/PhDByzantineGreek
Applications should include a curriculum vitae (including accurate information on grades and study results) and a cover letter. Two reference letters. Applications must be sent electronically (preferably as one pdf) to to prof. Floris Bernard (floris.bernard@ugent.be), prof. Reinhart Ceulemans (reinhart.ceulemans@kuleuven.be), and dr. Rachele Ricceri (rachele.ricceri@ugent.be), no later than June 10, 2018. Referees must send their letter directly to the same addresses (letters are not to be sent by the applicant); the same deadline applies.
As you may know, the DBBE project organises regular online lectures on the topic of book epigrams. These lectures intend to deepen our knowledge of a variety of book epigrams and to broaden our horizon about their contexts of use and production.
The lectures will take place at 4pm (CET) and will be accessible to everyone via Zoom. The recordings of all the previous online lectures are available on the DBBE YouTube channel.
More information and links to the individual lectures can be found on our website: https://www.projectdbbe.ugent.be/lectures.
On 23-24 May 2022, the Greek department of Ghent University offers a two-day course in Greek palaeography in collaboration with the Research School OIKOS. The course is intended for MA, ResMA and doctoral students in the areas of Classics, Ancient History, Ancient Civilizations and Medieval studies with a good command of Greek. It offers an chronological introduction into Greek palaeography from the Hellenistic period until the end of the Middle Ages and is specifically aimed at acquiring practical skills for research involving literary and documentary papyri and/or manuscripts. We will also provide the unique opportunity to read from original papyri in the papyrus collection of the Ghent University Library and become familiar with the ongoing research projects at Ghent University.
Book epigrams continue to elicit many questions, from palaeography to art history, from metrics to the history of text transmission. In this series of lectures, we invite scholars to share their perspectives on this multifaceted genre.
In Fall 2021, we will continue "Speaking From the Margins" with a series of four online lectures. The lectures will take place at 4pm (CET) and will be accessible to everyone via Zoom. For more information, visit https://www.projectdbbe.ugent.be/lectures.
Byzantine manuscripts of all periods and kinds regularly contained colophons, scribal prayers, dedicatory pieces, and other “paratexts” in verse. These small (or sometimes long) poems give us a unique insight into the interests, ideologies and emotions of scribe, patron, and/or reader. They are testimonies to a long and often eventful history of reading and interpretation in Byzantine culture, and at the same time, they are fascinating (but sometimes overlooked) works of poetic art.
The DBBE has greatly improved access to this corpus. Nevertheless, book epigrams continue to elicit many questions, from palaeography to art history, from metrics to the history of text transmission. In this series of lectures, we invite scholars to share their perspectives on this multifaceted genre.
In Spring 2021, we will kick off Speaking From the Margins with a series of six online lectures. The lectures will take place at 4pm (Central European Time) and will be accessible to everyone via Zoom. For more information please contact dbbe@ugent.be or visit https://www.dbbe.ugent.be/pages/outreach#lectures.