Double ERC Laureate Revolutionizes Work with Ancient Texts
Together with international teams, Peter Riedlberger develops groundbreaking tools for
Latin and Ancient Greek
Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Peter Riedlberger has already recorded many thousands of downloads for three new online tools that he developed together with international teams. They bear the names Amanuensis, Titivillus, and Cursor and facilitate everyday work with Latin and Ancient Greek texts. “The tools are not only of interest to scholars, but also to teachers, pupils or students, for example," explains Peter Riedlberger, a double ERC grantee who is Professor of Late Antique History and Culture at the University of Bamberg. The three applications are free of charge and available for download to anyone interested:
Amanuensis is a fast, powerful and convenient program for searching an extensive database of Latin and Greek sources on Roman law. The core of the database is the text collection “Romtext” compiled by the University of Linz. It also contains the complete Latin and Greek Novels of Justinian, numerous extant unabridged constitutions and several other texts. In addition to the text collection, the program includes the complete Latin-German dictionary of legal Latin by Heumann-Seckel. Unknown words in the database can thus be looked up directly via the context menu. "For legal Latin, this application is a game changer," says Riedlberger.
Titivillus adds spellchecking for Latin and Ancient Greek to Microsoft Word on Windows. As with modern languages, this permits an automatic correction of orthography mistakes.
Titivillus not only displays errors, but also makes suggestions for possible corrections and
allows adding entries to a personal dictionary. “Spelling errors in printed works are always a nuisance. Instead of going through numerous correction loops, errors can now be detected directly in Word,” says Riedlberger.
Cursor was designed to facilitate work with texts adhering to “cursus mixtus.” Such texts are characterized by a complex rhythmic system, which was used in the art prose of a limited period towards the end of antiquity. Cursor automates the recognition of prosodic patterns and presents them visually. “The potential user base of this piece of software is limited, but it makes the work immensely easier for those who deal with this particular genre of text," says Peter Riedlberger.
Prestigious ERC grants and international collaborations allowed the development of these tools
“Digital humanities play a key role in my work,” says Peter Riedlberger. “Unlike what is often the case in this field, it is not just about making texts available by digitizing them and putting them online, but also and above all about tools that make everyday work easier. The fact that the new tools have already achieved such widespread diffusion is very unusual for humanities applications, and it is something we are proud on.” All three projects are the result of international collaborations. Key roles had: mathematician and software developer Günther Rosenbaum, software developer Philippe Basciano, Dr. Marjorie Burghart, medievalist and digital humanities expert at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France, philologist Dr. Federico Boschetti from Italy, Dr. Daniele Fusi, classical philologist and software developer from Italy, and Dr. Lorenzo Livorsi, research associate in Riedlberger’s research team.
The development of these tools was supported by the European Research Council (ERC)
under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. Due to the
rigorous selection process, enormous competition and extraordinary requirements for
candidates, ERC grants are considered the most prestigious individual research grants.
Further information on all three tools as well as download links for application can be found at: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/spant/digital-humanities .
Wissenschaftlicher Ansprechpartner:
Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Peter Riedlberger
Professur für Geschichte und Kultur der Spätantike
Tel.: 0951/863-2053
peter.riedlberger@uni-bamberg.de
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