The Laboratory of Digital Recording of the Public and Private Life of the Byzantines

The Laboratory of Digital Recording of the Public and Private Life of the Byzantines (Department of History of the Faculty of History and Archaeology) is aiming at the collection, recording, and study of material relative to the public and everyday life of the Byzantines, such as seals, coins, inscriptions, imperial documents, documents of public servants, private documents, miniatures, narrative sources. Among the objectives of the Laboratory is primarily the scientific support of the academic staff of the Faculty of History and Archaeology, but also of the staff of other Faculties in areas involving teaching and academic work in graduate and postgraduate level. Apart from the focus on academic subjects the Laboratory of Digital Recording puts emphasis on a. Innovative and influential research in collaboration with Research Centers, Greek and foreign Academic Institutions and other outreach specialists b. Offering seminars and resources around the subject of the Public and Private Life of the Byzantines as well as publications featuring projects and work carried out by students and staff.

For the present, the research project conducted by the Laboratory is the scanning and documentation of the files containing the personal Archive of the late professor of History, Sryridon Lampros (1851-1919), so that it can be available to all interested scholars. At the  moment the files containing the Catecheseis of the metropolitan of Athens Michael Choniates (among which fifteen unpublished), the correspondence of Sryridon Lampros and the Synopsis Chroniki of Theodoros metropolitan of Kyzikos can be accessed in the following website, created for this purpose: lamprosarcheio.arch.uoa.gr. The mentioned web site provides full information on the process of the electronic access of the material, as well as of the forthcoming, including a logically organized and very helpful set of a key-words list.

Furthermore, the Lab has created and continues to enrich an archive of images pertaining to the public and private life of the Byzantines; the archive consists of digitized images and maps from the Internet and from collective volumes, as well as photographs of objects from museum exhibitions. It is a useful and functional tool available to faculty members and students (graduate and post-graduate as well) wishing to study issues related to Byzantine life, while the information provided is interactive and cross-referenced; thus, a complete picture of the Byzantines may be available at all times.

The Laboratory’s director is Athina Kolia-Dermitzaki, associate professor of Byzantine History. Its staff is made up of all staff assigned to the teaching of Byzantine history within the Department of History, whose role is to support and implement the laboratory’s work as well as to strengthen alliances with research centers and other scholarly institutes. The Laboratory is also supported by Dr. Angeliki Papageorgiou, who is responsible for researching, indexing codifying parts of the Sryridon Lambros Archive, in collaboration with postgraduate students, as well as the selection, classifying and recording of images, photos and other material concerning the public and private life of the Byzantines.