Thu, 16.01.2025 9:00

Scriptoria in the Eastern Mediterranean

International Workshop focusing on scribes, scriptoria and the production of Greek, Latin, Syriac, Armenian and Arabic manuscripts in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Matthew the Evangelist, The Jaharis Lectionary, fol. 43r (Ms. Acc. No. 2007.286, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) (c) Public Domain.
Byzantine Lectionary (donation Jaharis)

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

THURSDAY, 16 JANUARY 2025

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

Freitag, 17 Jänner 2025

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

Information

 

start
16. Jänner 2025, 900

End
17. Jänner 2025, 1630

 

Location

Austrian Academy of Science

Institute for Medieval Research

PSK, Conference Room 3A,
3rd Floor, Georg-Coch-Platz 2, 1010 Vienna

 

Programme

Poster