International workshop, KU Leuven, 30- 31 March 2026

• Conveners: Tiphaine Lorieux and Reinhart Ceulemans
• Invited speakers: Paola Degni (Venice) and Laurence Vianès (Grenoble)

The first session, scheduled at the KBR on the afternoon of March 30, is designed as an introductory seminar and hands-on atelier on Greek palaeography and catenae, intended explicitly for advanced students, doctoral candidates, and early career researchers with an interest in ancient literature and art. The second session, held in KU Leuven on March 31^st, will gather international specialists to present new research on the exegetical catenae preserved in the Bible of Niketas and to explore their editorial logic, sources, and intellectual context in a transverse perspective.

The so-called Bible of Niketas, known under this name since the work of H. Belting and G. Cavallo (1979), consists of three Byzantine manuscripts copied at the end of the 10th century for a high-ranking imperial official named Niketas: Copenhagen, DKB, GKS 6 2° (Sapiential and Poetical Books); Florence, BML, Plut. 5.9 (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel); Turin, BNU, B.I.2 (the Twelve Minor Prophets). This triptych of manuscripts forms a coherent unit, both in terms of iconography and editorial structure. All three present a unified illustration program and are enriched with marginal catenae, as well as various paratexts. While some catenae in the Bible of Niketas already attracted scholarly interest, a large part remains unexplored. In particular, the relationships between the catenae have not yet been systematically analysed. Were they composed together specifically? Or were they assembled from different origins?

Following the workshop Negotiating Catenae and Catena Research held at KU Leuven in June 2025 with the support of LECTIO, this second instalment aims to move beyond the traditional approach that considers catenae in isolation, book by biblical book. While the Clavis Patrum Graecorum classifies catenae according to this logic, we find it relevant to adopt a cross-cutting perspective and to study catenae on different biblical books in conjunction. Such an approach can bring to light shared features (such as the sources used, the methods followed, the intended aims and audiences) and thereby help identify specific production environments, or even particular workshops or figures of catena compilers. The prologues and interventions of the catena author throughout the text offer valuable clues in sketching a ‘composite portrait’ of these compilers.

Registration and payment

Registration required before 20 March. Participation fee for non-students (catering): €35. Registration and payment via this link.

If you have any questions, please write to Tiphaine Lorieux.

Programme :

30 March 2026

Brussels : hands-on session with Greek manuscripts

KBR – Kunstberg 28, room Atelier

• 14:00-15:30 Paola Degni – Università Ca’ Foscari, Introduction to Palaeography
• 15:30-17:00 Reinhart Ceulemans, Tiphaine Lorieux, Introduction to Catenae

31 March 2026

Leuven : colloquium

Leercentrum AGORA – Edward Van Evenstraat 4, room Couvreur

• 9:00 Welcome coffee
• 9:30-9:45 Introduction

Key-note papers

• 9:45-10:50 Paola Degni (Università Ca’ Foscari), Revisiting Nicetas’ Bible: the Writing, the Manuscripts and the mise en texte
• 10:50-11:55 Laurence Vianès (Université de Grenoble-Alpes), Les chaînes sur les prophètes du manuscrit Firenze, Plut. 5.9

12:00-13:00 Lunch break

Session 1 : The Bible of Niketas

• 13:00-13:45 Barbara Villani (Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), Different Approaches of Catena Compilers
• 13:45-14:30 Raffaele Tondini (Università degli Studi di Torino), Grammatical Scholia in the Catena on the Twelve Prophets (CPGC 57.1)
• 14:30-15:15 Tiphaine Lorieux (KU Leuven), The Catena on Daniel in the Bible of Niketas

15:15-15:45 Coffee Break

Session 2 : Transverse Approaches to Catenae

• 15:45-16:30 Cordula Bandt (Berlin- Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften), On the Bible Text of Catenae
• 16:30-17:15 Matthieu Cassin (IRHT, Paris), La Bible de l’autre Nicétas : les manuscrits des chaînes de Nicétas d’Héraclée
• 17:15-18:00 Barthélémy Enfrein (Université d’Angers), D’un Nicétas à l’autre : parcours chronologique et méthodologique dans les chaînes de Nicétas d’Héraclée

18:00-18:15 Concluding remarks

Source : KU Leuven