Author: Anne-Sophie Rouckhout

Since 2010, the Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams team (that is: we) have been growing an online corpus of metrical paratexts, several of which were previously unpublished or unknown altogether, and made them freely available to the scholarly community (that is: you).

A new version of our database (https://www.dbbe.ugent.be) was launched in June 2019. Exactly one year later, we are organising a two-day conference. Together with anyone interested in this particular genre of Byzantine poetry, we want to celebrate and reflect on what we have achieved so far and look ahead at what is – hopefully! – yet to come. Moreover, we want to stimulate communication and collaboration with other projects that are growing online corpora of texts.

 

You can partake in two different types of sessions.

In our demo sessions you can present your project and discuss your experiences in growing your online corpus (10-15 minutes). We are confident this will lead to a lively discussion on challenges we all face, such as data presentation, interoperability, and sustainability.

In our thematic sessions you can present your research on Byzantine book epigrams (20 minutes). Possible topics include:

• editing book epigrams
• theoretical reflections on the concept of book epigrams and other metrical paratexts
• book epigrams as a way to study the history of manuscripts
• visual aspects of book epigrams
• literary texts that function (or may have functioned) as book epigrams
• metre and language of book epigrams
• book epigrams in languages other than Greek

We especially welcome contributions inspired by the Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams.

 

Confirmed speakers include Georgi Parpulov (University of Birmingham) and Andreas Rhoby (Austrian Academy of Sciences).

Interested? Send us an abstract (up to 300 words, PDF) by 15 November 2019 (dbbe@ugent.be, subject “Growing Corpora – abstract”) and we will get back to you early December.

Note that we want our conference to reflect who we are as a team: welcoming and inclusive. Costs will be kept to a minimum and we are working hard to secure funding to support anyone for whom traveling might not be evident, including early career or independent scholars and carers of young children.

For any further information, please visit our conference website (https://www.dbbe2020.ugent.be).

Spread the word! DBBE_conference_2020_CFP

Dear colleagues and friends,

We are excited to release a new version of the Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams als known as DBBE, hosted at the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy of Ghent University, freely accessible at https://dbbe.ugent.be/.

Thanks to the generous support of the Special Research Fund of Ghent University, DBBE has been completely redesigned over the past two years, in close collaboration with the Database, Document and Content Management research group of the Faculty of Engineering of Ghent University and with the Ghent Centre for Digital Humanities.

The corpus of Byzantine metrical paratexts collected in our Database has been consistently enlarged, through the systematic consultation of manuscripts and relevant secondary literature, and it now counts some 10700 single epigrams, over 7000 of which are the result of first-hand inspection of (reproductions of) manuscripts. When compared to the previous version of DBBE, our users are offered the possibility to navigate more easily through the different records, which are now much better linked to each other. The search function of Greek text has been refined and provides users with more accurate results.

While the distinction between Occurrences (unique epigrams as to be found in manuscripts) and Types (normalised texts of similar occurrences) has been retained, a new way to group epigrams has been introduced: the Verse Variants records. These pages display a clear overview of the parallels and deviations of single verse lines. The Verse Variants are accessible by clicking on single epigram verse lines.

The main scope of DBBE is collecting Byzantine book epigrams and offering their texts to the scholarly community. However, we are aiming to make available contextual data as well, and have paid major attention to the improvement of information on Manuscript and Persons. The Bibliography section has been adjusted and it now includes a search path.

We gladly refer to our Help page and Search Tricks and Tips page for more information.

We encourage users to explore the new features of DBBE and are eager to welcome their comments and feedback at dbbe@ugent.be.

For the whole DBBE team,

Floris Bernard
Julián Bértola
Julie Boeten
Cristina Cocola
Sien De Groot
Kristoffel Demoen
Pieterjan De Potter
Ilse De Vos
Rachele Ricceri
Anne-Sophie Rouckhout

The Database of Byzantine Book Epigrams (DBBE, www.dbbe.ugent.be), based at Ghent University, will launch a completely revamped version in the near future, and is therefore seeking a well-qualified collaborator to maintain data and prepare records.

The candidate will be part of a team of pre- and postdoctoral scholars within the project Poetry from the Margins. Literary, linguistic, philological and cultural-historical analysis of a new corpus of Byzantine book epigrams (800-1453), directed by Professor Kristoffel Demoen and generously supported by the Research Fund of Ghent University (within the “Concerted Research Actions” program). It is based at the Greek Section of the Departments of Literary Studies and Linguistics.

 

The successful applicant will start employment on 1 September 2019.

The job includes the following tasks and expectations:

1. to create and maintain the textual records that form the core of the digital database, relying on primary sources and existing publications;
2. to adapt the existing records to the structure of the soon-to-launch database;
3. to consult Greek manuscripts, primarily by way of digital reproductions;
4. to contribute to the scholarly activities of the research group (e.g. organizing events in collaboration with the other members of the team, or participating in co-publications);
5. to come and live in Belgium, work closely together with the other team members, and contribute to a pleasant and stimulating atmosphere.

 

Envisaged profile: the successful candidates will have

1. an MA degree in classics (with an emphasis on Greek) or in Byzantine philology. In order to be eligible, candidates must have obtained their MA degree at the time of application or demonstrate convincingly that they will have that degree in hand by September 2019;
2. excellent knowledge of classical Greek, and at least good notions of medieval Greek;
3. very good knowledge of Greek paleography and editorial techniques, as evidenced by their curriculum studiorum (courses, subject of papers and dissertations, summer schools, etc.);
4. very good knowledge of English and at least good reading skills of several other languages relevant to the field (primarily German, Italian, French, Modern Greek);
5. the attitude to contribute to a research team.

 

We offer:

1. a contract for one year of full-time employment with a status equivalent to that of a doctoral bursary;
2. a competitive salary that corresponds to the salary scales for PhD students as established by the Flemish government (ca 2,000€ net / month);
3. office space at the University, full membership of both the Department of Literary Studies (http://www.letterkunde.ugent.be) and the DBBE research team and a solid and engaging academic working environment with a strong international profile.

 

The project is related to the academic interests of several other colleagues at Ghent University. The successful candidate will be able to interact with scholars and students affiliated with various departments and research institutes at the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, such as the Department of Literary Studies, the Department of Linguistics, the Ghent Institute for Classical Studies, and the Pirenne Institute for Medieval Studies. S/he can receive support to apply for PhD funding in Gent in the future.

Applications should include a full curriculum vitae (including accurate information on grades and study results), a motivation letter, and two letters of reference. Applications must be sent electronically (preferably as pdf) to Floris Bernard (floris.bernard@ugent.be), no later than June 21, 2019.

Shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete a small written assignment by July 5, and will be invited for a Skype interview around July 10.

Please address any queries to Floris Bernard (floris.bernard@ugent.be).