Les manuscrits grecs

Greek manuscripts

A symposium and concert

Thursday 25 May 2017

Wellcome Library

On Thursday 25 May 2017 the Wellcome Library will host a one-day symposium on its Greek manuscripts, aiming to explore hitherto unknown or very little studied medical texts. Topics will include the diagnosis and therapy of diseases, and the ownership of manuscripts by physicians. Other papers will reflect on the interrelationship between medicine and astronomy, poetry and divinatory texts. There will also be an opportunity to view a selection of the Library’s Greek manuscripts.

The symposium will be followed by a concert of Byzantine hymns on medicine. These are unique medical texts which are preserved in one of the manuscripts of the collection and will be performed for the first time in the United Kingdom. Participants will be able to explore the connections between music, memory and medicine in 13th-century Byzantium through a live performance.

The event is free to attend. To register, please contact Petros Bouras-Vallianatos (petros.bouras-vallianatos@kcl.ac.uk) by Monday 22 May.

Symposium

Venue: Mendel 1, Wellcome Trust Gibbs building, 215 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE

10:20–10:40: Registration

10:40: Opening: Elma Brenner (Wellcome Library, London)

10:50: Introduction: Petros Bouras-Vallianatos (King’s College London)

11:00: History of the collection: Vivian Nutton (First Moscow State Medical University)

11:30–12:30: Session I: Greek Medical Texts

Chair: Ronit Yoeli-Tlalim (Goldsmiths, University of London)

Orly Lewis (Hebrew University of Jerusalem):

‘The medical theory of the Anonymous of Paris’

Caroline Petit (University of Warwick):

‘Galenic diagnostic and prognostic in the Wellcome Library’s Greek manuscripts’

12:30–13:30: Lunch break

13:30–14:30: Session II: Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Medical Texts

Chair: Dimitrios Skrekas (University of Oxford)

Barbara Zipser (Royal Holloway, University of London):

‘MS. MSL. 14 as a therapeutic handbook’

Marjolijne Janssen (Independent Researcher):

‘The language of MS. 4103’

14:30–15:00: Coffee/Tea

15:00–16:30: Session III: Byzantine Poetry, Astronomy and Divination

Chair: Peregrine Horden (Royal Holloway, University of London)

Marc Lauxtermann (University of Oxford):

‘The poetry in Wellcome Library, MS. 498’

Anne Tihon (Université Catholique de Louvain):

‘Jewish astronomy in Byzantium: texts and manuscripts’

Georgi Parpulov (British Museum, London):

‘Eschatological prophecy in the age of the Phanariots: Wellcome MS. 413’

16:30–17:00: Showcase of selected Greek manuscripts, Library Viewing Room

17:00–18:00: Reception, Henry’s Space

Concert: Singing Byzantine Medicine

Venue: Reading Room, Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE

18:00: Petros Bouras-Vallianatos (King’s College London):

‘The medical context’

18:05: Dimitrios Skrekas (University of Oxford):

‘The musical context’

18:10: Concert: Byzantine hymns chanted by Dimitrios Skrekas, Athanasios Charalampopoulos and choir

Stichera and canon on the examination of blood and urines attributed to Nikephoros Vlemmydes

18:45: Interactive discussion with the audience, including brief provocations by Helen King (Open University/University of Warwick) and Dionysios Stathakopoulos (King’s College London)

MS. MSL. 60 (a late Byzantine bilingual glossary of pharmacological plants in Greek and Arabic; the Arabic term is given in Greek transliteration), folio 71v. Image credit: Petros Bouras-Vallianatos.