Greek School of St. Nicholas

Visit to Hope’s Special Collections

Ortelius, Abraham. Theatrum orbis terrarum. Antwerp: Christophe Plantin, 1584 [Radcliffe B567]

On Saturday 11th November, Archives & Special Collections welcomed children from the Greek School of St. Nicholas, Liverpool, with their teacher, Ms Ioanna Karageorgou, members of the school committee and a few parents, to look at some of the Greek texts we have in the Radcliffe early print collection belonging to Liverpool Cathedral. Naturally, the magnificent Ortelius’ “Theatre of the World” atlas of 1584 had to make an appearance so we could see, not only the Greece of 1584, but also Ancient Greece depicted.

Other books included works by the Greek Tragedians, Aeschylus and Sophocles, (Radcliffe B657 pictured below) the ‘Father of Comedy’, playwright Aristophanes, and poets Pindar, Homer, most famous for his epic Greek Trojan poem The Illiad, and Callimachus. Opposite is Callimachus’ Hymni, cum scholiis nunc primum aeditis. Sententiae ex diuersis poetis oratoribusq ac philosophis collectae, printed in Basel, Switzerland in 1532. [Radcliffe B264]

Sophocles. Tragoediae septem cum commentariis interpretationum argumenti Thebaidos fabularum Sophoclis, authore Ioachimo Camerario. Haguenau (France): Ex officina Seceriana, 1534. [Radcliffe B657]

What an enjoyable morning talking about old books and learning about the history and evolution of the Greek language. My special thanks go to my friend and colleague, Elpiniki Smith, for organising the event and also for acting as my personal interpreter! Elpiniki is the Course Designer at Liverpool Hope (for the next month anyway) and a member of St. Nicholas’ school committee and we wish her all the best as she starts her new position in Manchester in December. Although Elpiniki is leaving LHU our relationship with the Greek school will continue to flourish as we are hoping to establish this as an annual event.

The committee commented,

“On behalf of the Greek school of St. Nicholas, Liverpool, we would like to thank Liverpool Hope University for giving our pupils the opportunity to see these rare books, and enhance their understanding of the development of the Greek language throughout the centuries and the importance of the Greek language itself. We believe this is a culturally enriching activity for our pupils that we would like to continue for years to come.

A big thank-you to the Special Collections Librarian for accommodating us on a Saturday, and for her enthusiastic and engaging delivery of the session.”

Committee of the Greek School of St. Nicholas, Liverpool. 13 November 2023