Scriptoria in the Eastern Mediterranean

How did medieval book production function in the Eastern Mediterranean? Were there even "scriptoria" comparable to those in Western Europe and how can they be identified? With these questions in mind, the international workshop “Spaces of Book Production and Scribal Activity in the Eastern Mediterranean” explores the diverse spaces and networks of book production in Byzantium and the Christian East from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. Scholars from Austria and abroad, including experts from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, examine the production of Greek, Latin, Syriac, Armenian, and Arabic manuscripts through exemplary case studies. The focus lies on the material, institutional, and cultural contexts of these scriptoria.
Programme
9:00 – 9:15 Welcoming Address & Introduction | Claudia Rapp, Andreas Rhoby, Alice Croq, Giulia Rossetto, Adrian C. Pirtea
9:15 – 11:30 Session 1: Greek Documentary and Literary Production in Late Antiquity | Chair: Bernhard Palme
Dan Batovici| The Greek Biblical Pandects of the Fourth and Fifth Century and Their Scriptoria
Christian Gastgeber | Collaboration in Manuscript Production. The Case of Early Greek Manuscripts
Lajos Berkes | Bridging the Gap between Documentary and Literary Production: A Case Study on Greek Papyri from Eighth-Century Egypt
11:30 – 12:00 Coffee Break
12:00 – 13:30 Session 2: Scriptoria in the Early Medieval West | Chair: Giulia Rossetto
Cinzia Grifoni | Scribes and Scriptoria in the Early Medieval Latin West: The Case of Carolingian Wissembourg
Bernhard Zeller | The St Gall Scriptorium in the First Half of the Ninth Century
13:30 – 15:00 Lunch and Coffee Break
15:00 – 16:30 Session 3: Scribes and Scriptoria in the Syriac and Armenian Worlds| Chair: Andy Hilkens
Grigory Kessel | In Quest of a Scriptorium: Some Codicological Features of Syriac Manuscripts as Possible Indicators of Their Common Origin
Emmanuel Van Elverdinghe | Copying Centers and Scribal Networks in the Armenian World
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee Break
17:00 – 18:15 Keynote Address | Introduction: Alice Croq
André Binggeli | Book Production and Monastic Libraries in the Eastern Mediterranean
19:00 Dinner for Invited Guests
9:00 – 11:00 Session 4: Scribes and Scriptoria in Syro-Palestine and Sinai | Chair: Benedetta Contin
Giulia Rossetto | Spaces of Greek Book Production between Jerusalem and Sinai. An Overview
Peter Tarras | Christian Arabic Scribes at Work: Evidence for Institutionalisation from the Earliest Colophons
Adrian C. Pirtea | Scribes and Scriptoria in Byzantine Antioch. A Survey of Greek, Syriac, and Arabic Manuscript Production
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee Break
11:30 – 13:00 Session 5: Scribal Networks in Medieval Syria and Egypt | Chair: Adrian C. Pirtea
Alice Croq | Coptic Scribes and their Collaboration in Damascus, Cairo and the Monasteries of the Egyptian Desert in the 13th-14th Centuries
Vevian Zaki | Thriving in Hard Times. A Coptic Scribe in the Mamluk Era
13:00 – 13:15 Conclusions
13:30 – 15:00 Farewell Lunch (At Own Expense) - Optional
15:30 – 16:30 Guided Tour of the Papyrus Collection of the Austrian National Library – Optional