The ERC Starting Grant Project 'Reviving the Ascetic Ideal in the Eastern Mediterreanean. Entangled Memories of Early Egyptian Monasticism in Medieval Syriac, Arabic, and Armenian Christianity (969-1375 CE)' ( RevIdEM, PI Adrian Pirtea) combines new insights from Cultural Memory Studies, Mediterranean Intellectual History, and Manuscript Studies, in order to provide the first comprehensive analysis of the monastic revival in the Eastern Mediterranean between 969 and 1375 CE. Challenging traditional avenues of research, RevIdEM will focus on the metanarratives ('myths') about the origins of Christian monasticism in Egypt (4th century CE), and their later reception in the culturally complex environment of the Medieval Mediterranean. The project reappraises this ample medieval engagement with late antique asceticism as an original intellectual endeavour spanning linguistic and political boundaries. To the same end, RevIdEM will tap the enormous potential of the large number of Syriac, Arabic, and Armenian ascetic manuscripts produced in this time frame as new sources for the religious, cultural and social history of the region. Essential information on the scribes, readers, users and circulation of these documents will be collected in an online database.
