Reflections of Constantinople in the Palatine Anthology

The project is dedicated to the archaeological and art-historical analysis of the inscriptive and literary epigrams collected in the Anthologia Palatina (AP). This significant Byzantine manuscript, which was most likely compiled in Constantinople in the 10th century CE, represents the most extensive surviving Greek epigram collection, encompassing approximately 4,136 poems and epigrams. Its rich content spans a period of about 1,700 years, with the oldest pieces, including works by Archilochus and Sappho, dating from the 7th/6th century BCE, while the most recent epigrams date to the 10th century CE.

The project's focus on the epigram corpus from an archaeological and art-historical perspective not only opens new viewpoints on the content of the manuscript and the processes behind its compilation but also demonstrates the potential of interdisciplinary analysis for such collections of epigrammatic material.

While the first phase of the research, conducted as part of the DFG-funded SFB 933 "Material Text Cultures," concentrated on the epigrams related to Christian sacred buildings within the AP, the second phase of the project will introduce a new and expanded focus on the so-called Constantinople epigrams. Furthermore, the interdisciplinary digitization project for Codex Palatinus Graecus 23, the first part of the Anthologia Palatina, which was initiated in collaboration with colleagues from the University Library of Heidelberg and the University of Montreal, will continue.

Contact: Solvejg-Marie Langer, M.A.