On Wednesday, October 16, 2024, the Historical Library hosted a course by Professor Stefanos Kaklamanis to philology students of the University of Athens, on Greek literature of the 16th century.
The course presented old and rare editions from the collections of the Historical Library, from the 15th to the 21st century. Mr. Kaklamanis used both the incunabula of the exhibition “Ancient Greek literature in early literature” and other selected publications from the old material of the Historical Library to introduce students to the cultural and historical environment of the Renaissance. Among them, Landmark editions of classical literature, such as those of Aldus Manutius, as well as characteristic editions of Italian literature of the 15th and 16th centuries, such as Dante’s Divine Comedy.
It was thus discussed how typography as a whole and Western literature of the time influenced the first samples of Modern Greek literature, and more specifically Erotokritos, which is a central theme of the course. On this occasion, a selection of various editions of the work was presented, with examples from the 18th century to… the 21st.
The students were given a tour of the Historical Library and had the opportunity to examine up close the books used in the course under the supervision of the curators of the old and rare material of the Library.
