What is and textual transmission, and what does it have to do with code?

Before coming to class

The course emphasizes hands-on work, and you are expected to be able to use a computer to follow this basic sequence of tasks on your personal computer, or the computer you are using in a lab:

  • Given a link to a text file on the internet, download the file and save it to the computer.
  • Find the saved file on the computer, and open it with a text editor.

If you are uncertain how to do this or need help, you can get help from Educational Design and Digital Media Services.

1. Assignment: survey form

Please complete this Google form. Your responses will be helpful to the instructors in both courses.

‼️ Note that, exceptionally, this requirement is due on Wednesday, Jan. 24 at 12:00.

2. Assignment: familiarizing yourself with the syllabus

Syllabi are often too long and not terrribly interesting: it’s tiresome to read the same college-wide policies repeated in syllabi for four different courses. Nevertheless, they include important information you need to be familiar with. Please familiarize yourself with the course syllabus handed out in class (or online here).

The syllabus contains identifies two words that together make up a phrase that is a central theme for our course. To encourage you to read the syllabus closely at least once, and to practice the mechanics of submitting course material on our shared Google drive, please complete this assignment by 12:00 on the day of class.

  1. Type the two-word phrase in a document
  2. Save the document as a plain-text file named “theme.txt”. (If you use a word processor like Microsoft Word, you will need to choose an option like “Save as…”, and make sure you save the file as plain text. If you use an editor that saves plain text files, just name it “theme.txt”.
  3. Add the file theme.txt to your personal folder in the course Google Drive.

If you’re not sure how to save a plain-text file or need other technical help, please seek help from Educational Design and Digital Media Services.

This assignment is due at the normal deadline time of noon on Thursday.

3. Class preparation: defining textual transmission

When we pick up a text from the ancient Greek or Roman world in the library or on Amazon, we’re looking only at the last phase of a history reaching back hundreds or thousands of years. We use the term “textual transmission” to refer to the entire history of a text from its creation to the present day. To get a taste of different ways ancient texts have – and have not – survived, please read this brief blog post, illustrated with examples from the British Library in London.

For discussion in class, you should be able to identify at least three different factors that affect the survival of an ancient Greek or Latin text today.

4. Class preparation: preparing to write code

This semester, we’ll explore texts and biological data using the Julia programming language. If you have a computer, before coming to class, follow these instructions to install Julia on your computer. If you don’t have access to a computer, you will be able to use the machines in the Classics Department’s research lab in Fenwick 406. (Please speak with Prof. Smith if you would like to have access to the Fenwick 406 outside of regular work hours when the Classics Department Administrator can let you in.)

In class

Bring a computer with you, and be prepared to open a Julia terminal or REPL.

Classics 199, Papyrus to Pixels. All material on this web site is available under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license CC BY-SA 4.0 on github.