PHI SEMINARS
The Norwegian Institute of Philology organises weekly philological research seminars where we read ancient and classical texts in a number of languages. Please write to seminar@philology.no if you have questions or if you are interested in participating.
The time and place of each weekly seminar is given in the calendar summary to the right and in the full calendar below.
Seminars usually begin in early February and early September. The dates of the first reading are found in the calendar below (or will be posted in due time).
Student participation in these seminars can in most cases be awarded with ECTS credits ("studiepoeng"), based on active participation in the seminar and on submitting a term paper. Students who participate will typically have prior knowledge of the language(s) and cultural tradition(s) in question, equivalent to a minimum of one academic year of instruction. Students are awarded credits based on a written assignment (essay/term paper).
PhD-students can also register for these courses as part of their course requirements, in agreement with their supervisors and home institutions.
WEEKLY CALENDAR
Mon 10:15–12:00 San-Tib-Chi: Avataṃsaka Sūtra
Mon 12:15–14:00 San-Tib-Chi: Mūlasarvāstivādavinaya
Mon 14:15–16:00 Graeco-Arabic: Galen
Tue 08:15–09:45 Syriac seminar
Tue 10:15–12:00 San-Tib-Chi: Prajñāpāramitā
Tue 12:15–14:00 San-Tib-Chi: Candrakīrti
Tue 16:15–18:00 Persian: The Diwan of Hafez
Tue 16:15–18:00 Pashto Landeys
Wed 8:30–10:00 Georgian: Balavariani
Wed 13:15–15:00 Armenian: Eusebius' Chronicon
Thu 10:15–12:00 Greek and Latin: Plato/Herodotus
Thu 12:15–14:00 Greek: Proclus' comm. on Euclid
Thu 14:15–16:00 Arabic: Alexander Romance
Fri 08:15–10:00 North Arabian: Pre-Islamic inscriptions
Fri 10:15–12:00 Arabic: Koran seminar
Fri 13:15–15:00 Sumerian
FULL SEMINAR DESCRIPTIONS BELOW
Course registration
Link to course registration at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society (deadline February 1st and September 1st)
To identify the proper course registration for each seminar, note the title after "COURSE REGISTRATION" under the relevant seminars in the calendar below, then follow the link. When you register for a course, please state which seminar(s) you intend to follow.
See also our introductory courses (in Norwegian).
There are currently 4 formally defined subjects or course codes (emner) for course registration. They are:
The following subjects will be added next year:
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Semitic Philology (Bachelor; Master)
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Indo-Iranian Philology (Bachelor; Master)
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Chinese Philology (Bachelor; Master)
More information about each course code is found at the course registration page. Choose Bachelor or Master according to the level of your current study program.
WEEKLY SEMINARS 2019 Fall
Sanskrit – Tibetan – Chinese readings
MONDAY
Avataṃsaka Sūtra (10:15 – 12:00 )
Mūlasarvāstivādavinaya (12:15–14:00)
FIRST MEETING: September 9th.
PHI Reading room (room 222).
Gydas vei 4, 2nd floor
Oslo, Majorstuen
COURSE REGISTRATION: Indian and Buddhist Philology
Graeco-Arabic
MONDAY
14:15–16:00
FIRST MEETING: September 9th.
PHI Reading room (room 222).
Gydas vei 4, 2nd floor
Oslo, Majorstuen
The Oslo Graeco-Arabic seminar (established in 2008) continues this semester with Hunayn b. Ishaq's Arabic translation of Galen's work The Best Doctor is Also a Philosopher (Greek: Ὅτι ὁ ἄριστος ἰατρός καί φιλόσοφος; Arabic: مقالة جالينوس في أنّه يجب أن يكون الطبيب الفاضل فيلسوفًا). We read the Arabic in Bachmann's 1965 edition, the Greek in Boudon-Millot's 2007 edition. Good translations of the Greek are Boudon-Millot (French), Singer 1997 (English); of the Arabic Bachmann (German).
COURSE REGISTRATION: Arabic and Islamic Philology or Greek Philology
Syriac Seminar (in cooperation with OSS: The Oslo Syriac Society)
TUESDAY
8:30 – 09:45
FIRST MEETING: September 10th.
Norwegian School of Theology
(MF vitenskapelig høyskole)
Gydas vei 4 (behind Chateau Neuf at Majorstuen)
Rom 471a
Sanskrit – Tibetan – Chinese readings
TUESDAY
Prajñāpāramitā (10:15 – 12:00 )
Candrakīrti (12:15–14:00)
FIRST MEETING: September 10th.
PHI Reading room (room 222).
Gydas vei 4, 2nd floor
Oslo, Majorstuen
COURSE REGISTRATION: Indian and Buddhist Philology
Divan of Hafez
EVERY SECOND TUESDAY
16:15–18:00
FIRST MEETING: September 3rd.
Room 471a
Gydas vei 4, 4th floor
Oslo, Majorstuen
Two Tuesdays every month, Finn Thiesen will hold lectures on the Divan of Hafez.
COURSE REGISTRATION: Arabic and Islamic Philology
Pashto Landeys in the Morgenstierne collection
EVERY SECOND TUESDAY
16:15–18:00
Every second Tuesday.
FIRST MEETING: September 10th.
PHI Reading room (room 222).
Gydas vei 4, 2nd floor
Oslo, Majorstuen
During his extensive study of the Indo-Iranian languages in Afghanistan and adjacent areas, the Norwegian comparative philologist Georg Morgenstierne (1892–1978) recorded language materials of various kinds. The collection, now in the National Library of Norway (Nasjonalbiblioteket), also contains specimens of the poetic genre known as landey, collected in Afghanistan in the 1920s.
Landey is a popular genre of Afghan folk poetry, mostly attributed to women. The Pashto word landey (لڼډۍ) means ‘short’ and probably refers both to the simple two-line form of the poems and the succinct imagery often conveyed.
As part of a project to edit and publish Morgenstierne's collected landeys, we read the original poems in Pashto and discuss their meaning and possible English translations. Read more about the Landey Project.
COURSE REGISTRATION: Arabic and Islamic Philology
The Georgian Balavariani
WEDNESDAY
9:45–11:30
FIRST MEETING: September 11th.
PHI Reading room (room 222).
Gydas vei 4, 2nd floor
Oslo, Majorstuen
The Georgian Balavariani is the source text for all Christian versions of the Barlaam and Josaphat romance, a cycle of texts which exists in about one hundred medieval versions in a host of languages. We read the original Georgian text in Abuladze's edition (ილია აბულაძე, ბალავარიანის ქართული რედაქციები, თბილისი, 1957).
COURSE REGISTRATION: Greek Philology
Eusebius of Caesarea’s Chronikon in Armenian
WEDNESDAY
13:15–15:00
FIRST MEETING: September 11th.
PHI Reading room (room 222).
Gydas vei 4, 2nd floor
Oslo, Majorstuen
In this seminar we read the Chronikon of Eusebius of Caesarea, originally written in Greek in the early fourth century, but only preserved in full in Armenian. The second part of the book, the Chronographic tables, was also translated into Latin by Jerome, and had significant impact on Western historiography. We read from the edition of J. B. Aucher (Venice 1818). Participants need only a basic knowledge of Armenian.
COURSE REGISTRATION: Greek Philology
Herodotus' Histories (Greek and Renaissance Latin translation)
THURSDAY
10:15 – 12:00
FIRST MEETING: September 12th.
PHI Reading room (room 222).
Gydas vei 4, 2nd floor
Oslo, Majorstuen
COURSE REGISTRATION: Greek Philology
Proclus' Commentary to Euclid's Elements
THURSDAY
12:15–14:00
FIRST MEETING: September 12th.
PHI Reading room (room 222).
Gydas vei 4, 2nd floor
Oslo, Majorstuen
COURSE REGISTRATION: Greek Philology
The Arabic Alexander Romance
THURSDAY
14:15–16:00
FIRST MEETING: September 12th.
Room 223
Gydas vei 4, 2nd floor
Oslo, Majorstuen
In this seminar we will read parts of the Qissat al-Iskandar (قصة الاسكندر) / Hadith Dhi l-Qarnayn (حديث ذي القرنين), attributed to Umara b. Zayd (d. 815 AD). The aim of the seminar is to read and discuss Håkon Stang's critical edition (in preparation) of the unique MS (British Library, Add. 5928). The Arabic text is part of a great tradition of literary stories told about Alexander the great, found in numerous languages, East and West.
The Arabic tradition is complex, and most works are still in manuscript. Fortunately, Doufikar-Aerts' discovery of the "Quzman" version (Bibliothèque nationale, MS 3687) has given us a text which seems to be a direct translation of the Syriac version (Doufikar-Aerts, Alexander Magnus Arabicus, 2010, p. 59 and passim). We will therefore be in a position to better understand how the Umara b. Zayd-text was composed, since many of its parts seem to stem from the Quzman version.
COURSE REGISTRATION: Arabic and Islamic Philology
North Arabian Seminar
FRIDAY
08:15–10:00
FIRST MEETING: September 13th.
PHI Reading room (room 222).
Gydas vei 4, 2nd floor
Oslo, Majorstuen
The North Arabian Seminar will investigate a number of different, mainly epigraphical, sources to the history of Semitic languages in the North Arabian area. We will begin by reading Al-Jallad's book An Outline of the Grammar of the Safaitic Inscriptions (Brill 2015), inscriptions pp. 221–295. Participants are requested to familiarize themselves with Al-Jallad's book and with literature on the ANA languages.
COURSE REGISTRATION: Arabic and Islamic Philology
The Multilingual Historical Koran (Qoran.xyz)
FRIDAY
10:15 – 12:00
FIRST MEETING: September 13th.
Room 426
Gydas vei 4, 4th floor
Oslo, Majorstuen
The aim of the Koran seminar is to study the Koranic text both as a historical document in its Late Antique Near Eastern context and as a religious document in its subsequent history when it became a foundational text for the religion of Islam.
This seminar is part of the PHI research project Qoran.xyz: The Multilingual Historical Koran.
COURSE REGISTRATION: Arabic and Islamic Philology
SUMERISK-AKKADISK SEMINAR: The Instructions of Shuruppak
FRIDAY
