Identifying Scattered Puzzles of Syriac Liturgy Manuscripts

The goal of my ongoing FWF Project is to construct a digital Syriac Liturgical Corpus (SLC), employing the cutting-edge technology of HTR (Hand-Text Recognition) and other Digital Humanities tools. By identifying and transcribing fragmented Syriac liturgical texts, including those discovered in the Turfan Oasis in China and other important libraries along the Silk Road, SLC aims to contribute valuable data and methodologies to the cluster’s research. The open-access nature of the SLC will be a significant resource to facilitate research on Syriac traditions, manuscript studies, and broader cultural interactions across Eurasia. Furthermore, the identification of linguistic relationships among liturgical texts and their connections to other non-liturgical texts presents opportunities for collaborative research on textual transmission, human mobility, religious identities, and cultural exchange.