Robert Babcock
Professor of Classics (3220)
224 Murphey Hall
Campus Box 3145
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3145
919-962-7638 (phone)
rbabcock@email.unc.edu
B.A. Louisiana State University, 1978
M.A. Duke University, 1981
Ph.D. Duke University, 1983
Freie Universität, Berlin, 1981/2
Research And Teaching Interests
Professor Babcock’s research and teaching interests include Latin paleography, medieval Latin, and the reception of Latin authors.
Courses Offered (As Schedule Allows)
For current course listings, consult the Directory of Classes.
UNC: Juvenal, Cicero, Tacitus/Pliny, Roman Comedy, Medieval Latin (undergraduate and graduate courses), Latin Paleography, Textual Criticism, Survey of Latin Authors of Late Antiquity; directed independent studies in: Latin Historians of Great Britain, Cicero’s Tusculan Disputations.
Yale: Latin Paleography, Textual Criticism, Medieval Latin, Renaissance Humanism, Greek Papyrology.
Bucknell: Latin.
MSU: Latin, Greek, German.
Duke: Latin.
Publications
Books:
A Book of Her Own, 80pp., Robert G. Babcock, ed., (New Haven, 2005).
New Studies on Yale Manuscripts from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Period, 165pp., Robert G. Babcock, ed., (New Haven, 2005).
Catalogue of the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, Volume 4, 459pp. + 150 plates, Robert G.Babcock, Lisa Fagin Davis and Philip Rusche, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies (Tempe, 2005).
Interpretaciones Sompniorum. A Medieval Dream Book, 34pp., Elizabeth Archibald and Robert G. Babcock (New Haven, 2003). Privately hand-printed from a unique 13th century ms.at Yale.
Old Books, New Learning. Essays on Medieval and Renaissance Books at Yale, ed.,188pp. Robert G. Babcock and Lee Patterson (New Haven, 2001).
Learning From the Greeks, 86pp., Robert G. Babcock and Mark Sosower (New Haven, 1994).
Reconstructing a Medieval Library: Fragments From Lambach, 126pp., Robert G. Babcock (New Haven, 1993). Awarded Leab Prize by American Library Association in 1993. Finalista for Premio Internationale Biennale Felice Feliciano, Verona 1993/4.
Beinecke Studies in Early Manuscripts, 140pp., Robert G. Babcock, ed. (New Haven, 1991).
Heriger of Lobbes and the Freising Florilegium, Lateinische Sprache und Literatur des Mittelalters, 18, viii + 211pp., Robert G. Babcock (Bern/Frankfurt a.M./New York, 1984).
Book Chapters:
“Invented Speeches and the Teaching of Declamation in the Tenth-Century Schools of Liège,” in: Millennio medievale, Società Internazionale per lo Studio del Medioevo Latino, Florence, in press for 2011.
“Codicological Reconstruction” in: Kevin Wilkinson, ed. The Yale Epigram Codex, submitted to American Studies in Papyrology in 2010.
“A Ninth-Century Reader of Alcuin’s Poem on York,” in press in the proceedings of the conference ‘Alcuin and Charlemagne’ (York University Press).
“Häresie und Bibliothek: Die fuldische Handscrift von Origenes’ Peri archon,” in:Kloster Fulda in der Welt der Karolinger und Ottonen, ed. Gangolf Schrimpf (Fuldaer Studien, 7)Frankfurt a.M., 1996, pp. 299-313.
“Un nuovo manoscritto dalla abbazia di San Zeno di Verona,” with Walter Cahn, in: Studi in memoria di Mario Carrara (Verona, 1995) 38-47.
“Statuta de l’ordre cistercien,” in Saint Bernard et le monde cistercien (Paris, 1990) 211.
Reviews:
E. Gregory, H. D. and Hellenism: Classic Lines (Cambridge UP, 1997), in: Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 2000.
H. Hoffmann, Handschriftenfunde (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, 1997), in:Speculum 74
(1999).
O. L. Franca and C. C. González, edd., Catálogo de manuscritos de la Biblioteca Universitaria de Salamanca (Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, 1997), in: Reference Reviews Europe, 1998.
A. Lehner, Florilegium Frisingense. Testimonia divinae scripturae (Brepols, 1987), in: Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 28 (1993).
J. Hamacher, Florilegium Gallicum (Lang, 1974) and R. Burton, Classical Poets in the
Florilegium Gallicum (Lang, 1983), in: Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 22 (1987).
Refereed Articles:
“Ein Buchgeschenk Wilhelms von Hirsau an Kloster Reichenbach,” in press,Deutsches Archiv,2010.
“Alexander Monachus and the Library of St. Peter’s in Merseburg,” Scriptorium64 (2010) pp. 275-80, pl, 42-44.
“The Engelberg Manuscript of the <Waltharius>: Joseph von Laßberg, Johann Caspar Orelli and Jacob Grimm,” Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 45 (2010) pp. 405-418.
“Heriger or Notger? The Authorship of the Gesta Episcoporum Leodiensium, theVita Remacli, and the Vita Landoaldi,” Latomus 68 (2009) 1027-1049.
“Heriger of Lobbes and the Theological Tractates of Boethius,” Latomus 68 (2009) 458-461.
“Plato and the Worms: The Lobbes Manuscript of Calcidius’ In Timaeum Platonis,” In Monte Artium: Journal of the Royal Library of Belgium 1 (2008) 11-21.
“The Description of Aquitania by Heriger of Lobbes and the Passio Sancti Dionysii of Hilduin of St. Denis,” Latomus 67 (2008) 1010-1016.
“Aegidius Beneventanus and the Epistulae of Matthew of Vendôme,”Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 40 (2005) 397-405.
“Angelomus and Manuscripts from the Luxeuil Library,” Aevum 74 (2000) 431-440.
“A Papyrus Codex of Gregory the Great’s Forty Homilies on the Gospels,”Scriptorium (2000) 14-22.
“Gassner (Buchbinder)” with Holger Nickel, Einband Forschung 7 (2000) 34-35.
“A Mirror Text of Thucydides VII 33-35,” with Stephen Emmel, Archiv für Papyrusforschung 43 (1997) 239-45.
“Verses, Translations, and Reflections from ‘The Anthology’: H.D., Ezra Pound, and the Greek Anthology,” Sagetrieb 14 (1996) 201-16.
“Fragments of Classical Manuscripts in the Bindings of Sixteenth‑Century Venetian Books,” Scrittura e Civiltà 18 (1994) 309-24.
“The Appian Papyrus from Dura‑Europus (P.Dura 2),” with William A. Johnson,Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 31 (1994) 85‑8.
“Demosthenes De chersoneso PCt.YBR 1348,” Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 100 (1994) 45‑6.
“A New Papyrus of Demosthenes’ Contra Timocratem,” Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists 30 (1993) 19‑22.
“The Luxeuil Prophets and the Gallican Liturgy,” Scriptorium 47 (1993) 52‑5.
“Ein neu entdecktes Fragment aus einer Handschrift der mittelalterlichen Bibliothek des Klosters Fulda,” Fuldaer Geschichtsblätter 68 (1992) 156-9.
“Amplius in coitu phantasia: Avicenna’s De Almahad and Pound’’s ‘Cavalcanti’,” with Matthew Little, Paideuma 20 (1991) 63‑75.
“Two Romanesque Manuscripts from Lambach,” with Lisa Davis, Codices manuscripti 15 (1990) 137‑47.
“H.D.’s ‘Pursuit’ and Sappho,” H.D. Newsletter 3,2 (1990) 43‑7.
“New Fragments of the Arno Sacramentary and Lectionary,” Archiv für Liturgiewissenschaft 32 (1990) 297‑306.
“A Preliminary Inventory of the Vasari Papers,” with Diane Ducharme, Art Bulletin 71,2 (1989) 300‑04.
“The Fulda Manuscript of Origen’s Peri archon,” Yale Univ. Lib. Gazette 64 (1990) 83‑5.
“A Newly Discovered Leaf of a Lost Ninth‑Century Manuscript from Nonantola Abbey,” Scrittura e civiltà 13 (1989) 535‑46.
“Augustine’s De Genesi ad litteram and Horace’s Satire 1.2,” Revue des étudesaugustiniennes 3 (1987) 265‑68.
“The proverbium antiquum in Acca’s Letter to Bede,” Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 22 (1987) 53‑5.
“Astrology and the Pagan Gods in Carolingian Vitae of St. Lambert,” Traditio 42 (1986) 95‑113.
“Sigebert of Gembloux and the ‘Waltharius’,” Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 21 (1986) 101‑05.
“A Revival of Claudian in the Tenth Century,” Classica et Mediaevalia 37 (1986) 203‑21.
“Heriger and the Study of Philosophy at Lobbes in the Tenth Century,” Traditio40 (1984) 307‑17.
“Two Unreported Uncial Fragments,” Scrittura e Civiltà 9 (1983) 299‑307.
“On the Vita Ursmari,” Mittellateinisches Jahrbuch 18 (1983) 105‑06.
Other:
“Conrad of Hirsau,” “Bernhard of Utrecht” entries for Virgil Encyclopedia, edd. Richard Thomas and Jan Ziolkowski, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, in press.
“A Papyrus Codex of Exodus,” Yale University Library Gazette, 71 (1997) 163-67.
“A New Manuscript from the Abbey of San Zeno at Verona,” with Walter Cahn,Yale University Library Gazette 66 (1992) 105‑16.
“The Wild Life and Tragic Death of Niccolo Spinelli,” Yale Univ. Libr. Gazette 65 (1991) 20-5.
The Spinelli Family. Florence in the Renaissance, 1430‑1535 (New Haven, 1988). Awarded Leab prize by American Library Association in 1988.
Selected Recent Papers:
“Invented Speeches and the Teaching of Declamation in the Tenth-Century Schools of Liège,” Ohio State University, Oct. 2010.
“The Temple of Wisdom and the Temple of Solomon in Prudentius’Psychomachia,” UNC (MEMS) March, 2009.
“Teaching the Bible in Medieval Liège,” Belgian Royal Academy, Brussels, Sept. 2008; Duke University, Nov. 2008.
“The Nogarola Sisters and their Manuscript of Justinus,” Ohio State University, Oct. 2005; APA, Neo-Latin Studies Group, Jan. 2007; UNC, Feb. 2008.
“The Codicological Reconstruction of a Fourth-Century Papyrus Codex,” Manuscripta Conference, St. Louis University, October, 2005.
“A Ninth-Century Reader of Alcuin’s Poem on York,” York (England), September 2001; University of Toronto, February 2002.