The Norwegian Institute of Philology
Norwegian Institute of Philology (PHI)
P.O. Box 2709
0204 Oslo
Gydas vei 4, 0363 Oslo
w/ MF Norwegian School of Theology,
Religion and Society
Telephone: +47 954 01 754
Email: institute@philology.no
The Norwegian Institute of Philology (PHI) was founded in March 2003 as an international research center based in Oslo. The purpose of PHI is to conduct research within the various fields of comparative and historical philology, with special reference to palaeography and conservation, textual criticism, interpretation, translation, and comparative conceptual history. The institute also offers a comprehensive program of language instruction and methodological training for students of classical languages and historical philology.
The general aim of PHI is to make philology relevant to the comparative study of texts as expressions of the intellectual and cultural heritage of the world, and to place historical philology in a dynamic relation to the modern world.
Editing newly discovered texts and providing close readings of traditional texts in their original languages, in the light of modern methods and perspectives, remains the very basis of all studies on the development of human culture. During the last two centuries, the study of human history has been enriched by a number of important new methods, from disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, linguistics, and most recently from biology. We welcome these new perspectives as a necessary enrichment of the philological tradition.
Read more about the Norwegian Institute of Philology and the tradition of historical philology in Norway (document in Norwegian).
Institutional collaboration with MF Norwegian school of theology, religion and society
Starting in January 2019, the Norwegian Institute of Philology has joined forces with MF Norwegian school of theology, religion and society (MF vitenskapelig høyskole) in a close institutional collaboration to provide higher education in a number of historical and classical languages and written traditions. Read more about the PHI-MF collaboration (in Norwegian).
Norwegian Institute of Philology's General Objectives
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Promote the publication of a series of monographs making hitherto unpublished manuscripts available.
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Establish electronic databases, published openly on the Internet, which facilitate the comparative study of cultural history.
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Promote the dissemination of books and other content for the general public.
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Promote the training of outstanding young scholars to work within textually orientated comparative philology;
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Develop up-to-date technological tools and methodological principles for historical philology.
Norwegian Institute of Philology's Main Activities
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Introductory courses in a number of ancient and classical languages.
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Weekly research seminars reading and discussing ancient and classical texts.
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Workshops and conferences.
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Individual and group research projects.
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Public talks and events (see announcements on the Institute homepage and the News page)
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Digital publication of mainly multilingual historical texts.
See the News page (with Activities and Events Archive) for a synoptic history of PHI activities.
People and Network
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See the list of Institute Fellows and Associated Fellows.
Statutes and Mission Statement
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Read the Norwegian Institute of Philology's statutes and mission statement (both in Norwegian).
THE BOARD
Chairman of the Board
Professor Emeritus,
Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo
Board Member
Professor Emeritus, Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, University of Bergen
ADVISORY BOARD
Michael Puett
Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology at Harvard University.
Advisory Board Member
Lutz Edzard
Professor, Lehrstuhl für Arabistik und Semitistik, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Advisory Board Member
Christoph Harbsmeier
Professor Emeritus, Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo
Advisory Board Member
Kazunobu Matsuda
Professor, Buddhist Studies, Bukkyo University, Kyoto
Advisory Board Member
Jens-Uwe Hartmann
Professor für Indologie und Iranistik, Lehrstuhl für Indologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU)
Advisory Board Member
Jan Terje Faarlund
Professor emeritus in linguistics, University of Oslo
Advisory Board Member
Andrew George
Professor of Babylonian, Department of the Languages and Cultures of Near and Middle East, The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
Advisory Board Member
Dag Trygve Truslew Haug
Professor of Classics and Linguistics, University of Oslo
Advisory Board Member