Training a Specialised HTR Model for Fourteenth-Century Greek Manuscripts: An Athonite Case Study

Starting from the homilies of Gregory Palamas in Vatopedi 134, this project expanded into a broader corpus of 14th-century Athonite Greek manuscripts — revealing how palaeographic coherence, not just chronological proximity, is the decisive factor in HTR model quality. With an initial CER of 12.9% and a clear path to improvement, this case study contributes concrete evidence to the ongoing debate between specialisation and generalisation in HTR for Byzantine manuscripts.