Prof. Baukje van den Berg spent two months of the summer teaching break at the Seeger Center for Hellenic Studies at Princeton. As a visiting fellow, she worked on little-studied texts related to the teaching practice of John Tzetzes (ca. 1110–1180), one of the most prolific grammarians and polymaths of the Byzantine era. This research will soon culminate in a book exploring how Tzetzes’ scholarly and didactic works redefine the cultural value of canonical authors such as Homer and Aristophanes for new contexts and new audiences. This book will offer the first English translations of the texts in question and shed light on the pedagogical strategies and processes of scholarship underpinning Tzetzes’ work. It will be published in late 2025, following close on the heels of her soon-to-be-published volume on Poetry in Byzantine Literature and Society (1081-1204).
Her teaching at CEU draws on and builds on this research, focusing on Byzantine literature and culture. Courses taught this academic year include Alexander the Great: A Global Medieval hero (co-taught with Prof. Eloise Adde) and a medieval Greek reading seminar on A Journey through Byzantine Life. She also supervises students with topics as diverse as digital humanities (relating to twelfth-century Byzantium), late antique liturgy, and Renaissance humanists. In the words of PhD student Anja Bozic, “Baukje brings Byzantium to life”.
This academic year will also see Baukje organizing two major academic conferences: Teaching and Learning Greek in Byzantium and Education and Literature in a Medieval Eurasian Context, to be held at CEU in June 2025. Next academic year, she plans to continue to teach on Byzantine literature from the fourth to the fifteenth century, as well as offering a reading seminar in medieval Greek, and a new course on Greek mythology. As always, she welcomes enquiries from prospective MA and PhD students on our funded programs in the Department of Historical Studies.