From May 28th to 31st, I was able to work at the Asian and African Manuscripts Room of the British Library examining several Coptic Old Testament manuscripts. Ilana Tahan, Lead Curator of Hebrew and Oriental Studies in the British Library, was extremely welcoming and instrumental in the success of my research trip. 

First, Ms Tahan and I finalized the creation of a showcase of BL Ad. 17183, a Coptic-Syriac palimpsest Biblical manuscript. It was decided that our colleague, Theresa Kohl, will create a Collection Items entry for the British Library homepage that will briefly describe the manuscript and also provide a link to our site where visitors could view all of the multi-spectral images of the Book of Ruth and Ms. Kohl’s digital transcription of that Coptic text.
Furthermore, I managed to examine eight manuscripts (most of them in very fragmented forms) that are not fully or at all represented in our photographic records and establish in what form they are; how they are stored; and how relevant they are to our project. 

Most importantly, though, during this visit at the British Library, I was able to start my codicological survey of Or. 5000 (previously published by E. A. Wallis Budge, The Earliest Known Coptic Psalter, 1898). Around 100 years ago the manuscript was taken apart from its original binding (the binding is still there but kept separately) and placed in glass frames, 2 folia in each frame. All together the manuscript can be found now in 154 frames. This division was done in order to preserve the papyrus folia better. Even in the short period I had to work with the first folia of Or 5000 I was able to detect several corrections and possible manuscript preservation attempts by the initial scribe that are not easily visible in our black and white images. I plan to finish the study of the rest of the folia in the near future.

Our partner project, the ERC funded project Tracking Papyrus and Parchment Paths, An Archaeological Atlas of Coptic Literature, invited, on the occasion of the online inauguration of the PATh-website, to a confernce at the Sapienza Università di Roma, from February 25-27, under the heading: Coptic Literature in context - The Contexts of Coptic Literature, Late Antique Egypt in a dialogue between literature, archaeology and digital humanities. The project team of PATh and many international specialistes, among them our team members Heike Behlmer, Alin Suciu, and Frank Feder, presented papers to material, geographical, and text historical aspects with a special focus on the application of digital tools and methods. The papers included topics from the Scientific systematic study of inks (Ira Rabin and Tea Ghigo), about Copic literary rotuli and scrolls: a typological assessment (Alin Suciu), to Literacy of Christian Nubia (Adam Lajtar). More information about the conference and, of course, about PATh is available at: http://paths.uniroma1.it/

On the 22^nd November 2018 I had the pleasure to present my PhD thesis in a short talk at the University of Liverpool. I talked about the early research of my thesis which involves Coptic manuscripts from Touton in the Fayum between the 9^th and 11^th centuries CE. The presentation was done as part of the ACE (Archaelogy, Classics, and Egyptology) department's "Work in Progress" seminar series, organized by Charlotte Sargent and Elaine Sanderson, who are PhD students at the department. The seminar series covers a broad range of topics and students from any related discipline could apply to present their work.

It was a fantastic opportunity to for me to present my thesis in its very early stages to a group of brilliant young scholars and get some feedback from fellow PhD students. I obtained my BA in Egyptology from the University of Liverpool back in 2011, so I was very grateful for the opportunity to go back years later as a PhD student and see how the department evolved throughout the years. The ACE department is now part of th School of Histories, Languages & Cultures, but it's location remains unchanged, just behind the beautiful Abercromby Square.

My short stay in Liverpool was rounded off with a visit to the recently refurbished Egyptian collection of the World Museum, which has a rich range of objects brought from Egypt by explorers and archaeologists, most notably John Garstang. There are a few Coptic objects in the collection, although most of them are not on display.

Last month, members of our Göttingen team participated in a workshop on the Coptic Bible, held at the University of Helsinki from October 22–24. The workshop brought together several different projects from the fields of Coptology and Septuagint Studies: our own project (represented by Frank Feder, Alin Suciu, Troy A. Griffitts, Malte Rosenau, Felix Albrecht), the "Coptic Manuscripts from the Ilves Collection" project (Antti Marjanen, Ivan Miroshnikov), and the Göttingen Septuagint projects on the Books of Samuel (Anneli Aejmelaeus, Tuukka Kauhanen, Elina Perttilä). 

The workshop was perfectly organized by Tuukka Kauhanen and the Academy of Finland's Centre of Excellence Changes in Sacred Texts and Traditions (CSTT) in collaboration with the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities. 

Our meeting was a great opportunity to discuss different approaches in working with digital methods and editing tools, as well as a nice opportunity to get special insights into ongoing research, such as Ivan Miroshnikov's amazing discovery of hitherto unknown fragments of the Letter to the Hebrews in Palaeo-Bohairic, the edition of the Sahidic Twelve Minor Prophets by Malte Rosenau and my own edition of the Greek Twelve Minor Prophets.
All together, nine interesting papers on different topics had been presented. 

We are very thankful for the Finnish hospitality and hope to further establish the (old and new) connections between Göttingen and Helsinki.

Felix Albrecht (currently Visiting Fellow at the CSTT Centre of Excellence in Helsinki)

Studying Coptic can be a lonely affair: there are only a handful of places in the world with ongoing projects devoted to Coptic studies, places where scholars and students can work not in pairs or small groups, but teams. One such place is Göttingen, Germany where the Digital Edition of the Coptic Old Testament project finds its home. Knowing that traveling to Göttingen would afford me a unique opportunity to immerse myself in a pool of Coptic expertise, I applied for a mobility grant from ATTR (Authoritative Texts and their Reception), an international research school funded by the Norwegian Research Council and of which I am a member. After receiving a generous grant, on September 1st, 2018, my wife and I flew from Oslo to Frankfurt and then took a train to Göttingen. 

Our two-month stay only disappointed by feeling too short. Göttingen is a beautiful and historic city with buildings relatively untouched by the destruction of the Second World War. While there, we were treated with warm hospitality: the Chair of the Steering Board, Heike Behlmer, before our arrival and despite being busy, arranged for us accommodation; upon arrival, Malte Rosenau, one of the project staff members, kindly picked us up from the train station; and on our last day, the project staff gathered to listen to me present part of my project and then threw us a farewell party. Our reception in the interim period was no different from these acts of kindness at the beginning and the end. 

Germany academia is sometimes stereotyped as being stuffy and formal, but at Lagarde-Haus – the headquarters of the Digital Edition of the Coptic Old Testament project – the atmosphere is informal, friendly, and even playful, but without sacrificing academic excellence and intellectual rigor. Serious conversations about Coptic linguistics or manuscript studies are often continued over lunch, coffee, and/or after-work beers. 

Being around so many expert Coptologists on a daily basis was invaluable for my own research into Coptic manuscripts dating from the Fāṭimid period and associated with Esna and Edfu. If I had a question about a specific manuscript or manuscript feature, I could, for example, walk into the next room and ask Alin Suciu. Questions about scribal practices could be answered down the hall in Chrysi Kotsifou’s office. Information about Coptic liturgy was no farther away than Diliana Atanassova’s desk, and Malte Rosenau and So Miyagawa were, among other things, great help with anything computer or software related. It was also during my time in Göttingen that I participated in the Summer School in Coptic Literature and Manuscript Production in Hamburg (discussed elsewhere on this blog by Joanna Hypszer) with Göttingen project members Alin, Diliana, Frank Feder, Heike, Malte, Joanna, and So Miyagawa, along with many other graduate students and researchers from around the world.

Readers paying attention to last names may have noticed another felicitous feature of the project in Göttingen: it is, in miniature, a model of the international nature of modern research. Regular project staff and collaborators include those from Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Japan, Poland, Romania, and the United States. The languages spoken by the staff are even more, including Latin which, unlike most academics who can only read it, Julian Delhez can actually speak fluently. 

Also deserving of thanks for their friendship and conversation during September and October, are project members Ulrich Schmid, Troy Griffitts, Uwe-Karsten Plisch, Suzana Hodak, and Theresa Kohl. As the world of Coptology is small, I have faith that I will see all my Göttingen colleagues again and look forward to doing so!

Two members of our team, Frank Feder and Alin Suciu, will curate an exhibit of Coptic manuscripts at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The exhibit is entitled "Written Culture of Christian Egypt: Coptic Manuscripts from the University of Michigan Collection." The opening will take place November 12 at 4:30 p.m. in the Hatcher Library Gallery. In the morning of the same day, Alin and Frank will present a workshop on Coptic manuscripts in the same location.

We would like to thank our colleagues from the University of Michigan for the smooth collaboration and for inviting us to Ann Arbor.

Links to the events can be found HERE and HERE.

From the 17th to 21st September I attended the Summer School in Coptic Literature and Manuscript Production at the centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures in Hamburg. It was a week of intensive study of various aspects of Coptic manuscripts and related fields, such as Ethiopian or Syriac Christianity.

Students not only from the area of Coptic Studies, but also from neighbouring disciplines took part and were able, through lectures given by specialists in their fields, to get a thorough insight into numerous aspects connected with manuscript production in  Egypt. A variety of topics were covered, from the Coptic Bible, via alchemy, to the archaeometric analysis of Coptic inks. A few selected participants were also given the wonderful opportunity to briefly present their own work in progress. The stimulating discussions which ensued after the lectures created the impression of being at a Coptological conference.

Among the lecturers were also colleagues from the Digital Edition of the Coptic Old Testament. On the first day, we heard from Frank Feder about the challenges and problems the project has to overcome. He also made the students aware of the complexities of Coptic dialectology.

Alin Suciu gave comprehensive overviews of the library from the Monastery of Apa Shenute (White Monastery), and of Greek patristics in Coptic. He made the participants aware of the state of research on Coptic literature, as well as the issues, which scholars face while researching early Christianity in Egypt. 

Diliana Atanassova delivered a passionate presentation on “The Primary Sources of Sahidic-Coptic Liturgy,” giving the participants a glimpse of several vital publications which she brought with her, and encouraging students towards research on Coptic liturgy, an area severely underrepresented in Coptic Studies.

Malte Rosenau made sure that participants got to do hands-on exercises, showing us first hand how the Virtual Manuscript Room of the Coptic Old Testament project works. In particular, the participants learnt how to properly index and transcribe a biblical manuscript.

Heike Behlmer and So Miyagawa presented “Bible studies and the Literary Dradition and Digital Text Re-use Research," a topic which combined examples of the use of Biblical quotations in the literary work of Shenute with more general observations on how Digital Humanities methods can be used in philological research.

We were also given the unique opportunity to visit the State and University Library and see original manuscripts as well as watch Thea Ghigo's archaeometry in action, observing how the type of ink on a papyrus is determined using near-infrared photography.

In addition to these, there were just too many other lectures from renowned scholars to mention in this short text, but the full programme can be found here:

https://www.manuscript-cultures.uni-hamburg.de/register_coptic2018.html

The school ended with an important message from Paola Buzi, relevant not only for Coptic Studies but for scientific research in general: nowadays it is vital to share research data. Exchange of research and dialogue among scholars is essential for the progress, a statement no one can argue with.

It was a very intensive, but fruitful week with not only plenty of information, but also new contacts and potential for future collaboration. A huge thanks to Paola Buzi and her PAThs ("Tracking Papyrus and Parchment PAThs: An Archaeological Atlas of Coptic Literature”, Rome) team for the terrific organisation of the event.

Between 1 and 5 October, 2018, Frank Feder and I made a research trip to Montserrat and Barcelona. Our aim was to prepare a complete inventory list of the Coptic manuscripts kept there, since both collections are relatively poorly known. At the same time, we hoped to find new fragments of the Sahidic Old Testament for our project.

Our first stop was at the Montserrat Abbey, home of a large collection of Greek, Latin, and Coptic manuscripts which belonged to Fr. Ramon Roca-Puig.

We were told that Roca-Puig was able to buy most of the valuable manuscripts he possessed with money raised from rich Catalan families. Unfortunately, only a tiny portion of the Coptic fragments has been published. Some years ago, I identified among the unedited Sahidic manuscripts in Montserrat two fragments on the book of Numbers and one Isaiah fragment. During our visit, Frank and I had the possibility to photograph and examine them more closely. Furthermore, we found a new fragment containing portions of Psalms 36-37 (LXX). Finally, we photographed numerous other potentially interesting fragments, some of which may be biblical. We will carefully check these in the following weeks.

After we finished our work at Montserrat, we travelled to Barcelona, in order to study the Palau Ribes manuscripts. This collection was formed by the Jesuit priest José O’Callaghan, with the help of Catholic monks residing in Cairo. Among Coptologists, the Palau Ribes collection is well known for housing the famous Sahidic codex containing the gospels of Mark, Luke, and John (PPalau Rib. Inv.-Nr. 181-183). Nevertheless, we were surprised to find out that they have hundreds of other Coptic fragments, especially Sahidic ones. We identified several new biblical fragments, including fragments of Proverbs, Psalms, and Job.

Unser Teammember Uwe-Karsten Plisch hat gerade eine Neuauflage seines Buches "Was nicht in der Bibel steht - Apokryphe Schriften des frühen Christentums" veröffentlicht. Eine lesenswerte und informative Zusammenstellung frühchristlicher Schriften, die sehr populär waren, es aber nicht in den Bibelcanon geschafft haben.

Das sehr empfehlenswerte Buch kann hier https://www.die-bibel.de/shop/was-nicht-in-der-bibel-steht-5148 zu einem sehr moderaten Preis erworben werden.

Vom 9. bis 12. Juni fanden die alljährlichen Projektetage des Deutschen Archäologischen Institutes (DAI) in Kairo statt. Als Vertreterin des von der DFG und der FWF geförderten Deutsch-Österreichischen Kooperationsprojektes „Sakraltopographie einer Klosterlandschaft und ihre Entwicklung auf dem Hügel von Dra’ Abu el-Naga / Oberägypten: Deir el-Bachît und das thebanische Pauloskloster“ war ich eingeladen, über den aktuellen Stand der Grabungen in Deir el-Bachît und die Arbeit an den Ostrakafunden mit Schwerpunkt der Vorstellung ihres Editionsformates zu sprechen.

Abbildung 1: Introseite der Datenbank

Die Edition der Texte erfolgt nicht im üblichen Printformat, sondern auf einer innovativen Datenbank-Plattform, genannt „Koptische Ostraka online“ (abgekürzt: Koptoo) [Freier Zugang für Benutzer unter folgender URL: http://koptolys.gwi.uni-muenchen.de (fakultativ Eingabe „Koptoo“ in die Suchmaschinen der Internetbrowser)].

Abbildung 2: Beispiel Online-Format der Edition eines Ostrakons

Bei der Datenbank handelt es sich um eine Volltext-Datenbank, die sämtliche an eine konventionelle Printedition gestellten Parameter erfüllt. Sie enthält Metadaten, Abbildungen, Textabschriften, Übersetzungen und Anmerkungsapparate. Darüber hinaus umfasst sie eine detaillierte grammatische und semantische Analyse der Texte. 

Für die Einbindung der Texte in die wissenschaftliche Gesamtauswertung der Klosteranlage wie auch ihrer Auswertung vor dem Gesamtkontext des zeitgleichen weltlichen und monastischen Lebens auf dem thebanischen Westufer sind multiple Suchoptionen von besonderer Bedeutung. Die Analyse der Texte ist weder in der Quantität noch in der Qualität der miteinander kombinierten Suchkriterien begrenzt. Sowohl die Metadaten, die Textabschrift, die Übersetzung als auch die grammatische und semantische Analyse sind suchbar.

Die Datenbank stellt aber auch in anderer Hinsicht das ideale Publikationsformat für das Deir el-Bachît Projekt dar. So sind durch die Implementierung von Korrektur- bzw. Update-Funktionen die Voraussetzungen geschaffen, bereits online gestellte Texte bei Bedarf – etwa bei Neufunden anpassender Fragmente – zu überarbeiten.

Die Datenbank „Koptische Ostraka online“ stellt somit nicht nur, wie bereits erwähnt, eine innovative Editionsplattform dar, sondern darüber hinaus ein „working tool“ für die weitergehende wissenschaftliche Auswertung des Materials. 

Die Datenbank trägt bewusst den Titel „Koptische Ostraka online“ und nicht etwa „Deir el-Bachit Ostraka online“ oder ähnliche Bezeichnungen, die unmittelbar Bezug nehmen auf die Klosteranlage, da sie von Beginn an nicht nur für die Edition des Deir el-Bachît Textkonvolutes konzipiert wurde. Vielmehr soll sie über den singulären Fundkontext hinaus als Editionsplattform für Ostraka aus dem thebanischen Raum zur Verfügung stehen.

Die Textfunde aus Deir el-Bachit sind im Speziellen auch für das CoptOT Projekt von Interesse. So zeugen die Texte von der Existenz von Psalterhandschriften im Kloster und ihrer regen Rezeption (nicht nur) im spirituellen Alltag der Mönche. 

Abbildung 3: Datenbankabfrage nach dem Schlagwort „Psalm“

Dank der Option der Datenbank auch nach Inhalten suchen zu können, lassen sich die betreffenden Texte aus dem bereits umfangreichen Textbestand leicht herausfiltern. So lässt sich ein aus mehreren Fragmenten – bezeichnenderweise nicht nur aus dem aktuellen Grabungsbefund, sondern auch aus zwei Museumsbeständen – zusammengefügtes Ostrakon anführen, dass eine Art „Bibliothekskatalog“ enthält. Dieser Katalog verzeichnet u. a. mehrere Psalterhandschriften auf Papyrus und Pergament. Und tatsächlich konnte aus dem Klosterareal bereits ein fragmentiertes Pergamentblatt mit Passagen aus Psalm 20 identifiziert werden. Im Besonderen hervorzuheben sind die über 50 bereits nachgewiesenen sogenannten „Psalmenostraka“, die durchaus Referenzmaterial für die textkritische Ausgabe des Psalters bieten können. 

Mit Stolz und Freude können wir bekanntgeben, dass die Magisterarbeit unseres Team Members, Theresa Kohl, ein Katalog der "Totendienerfiguren" (Uschebtis) des Römer- und Pelizäus-Museums gerade beim Verlag Gerstenberg als Buch, Band 54 der Reihe Hildesheimer Ägyptologische Beiträge erschienen ist.

Gratulation dazu, Theresa!

A few days ago, the Guardian featured an article about a Qur'an palimpsest whose underlying writing apparently contains portions of the Bible in Coptic. In the meantime, the manuscript was sold by Christie's auction house for GBP 596,750. According to the Guardian article,

"French scholar Dr Eléonore Cellard was looking for images of a palimpsest page sold a decade earlier by Christie’s when she came across the auction house’s latest catalogue, which included fragments from a manuscript of the Qur’an which Christie’s had dated to the eighth century AD, or the second century of Islam. Scrutinising the image, she noticed that, appearing faintly behind the Arabic script, were Coptic letters. She contacted Christie’s, and they managed to identify the Coptic text as coming from the Old Testament’s Book of Deuteronomy – part of the Torah and the Christian Old Testament."

I contacted Eléonore and she told me that, in fact, the Coptic text has tentatively been identified by two French Coptologists. Furthermore, it seems that UV photos of the palimpsest have been taken and they hope to identify soon more of the underlying Coptic text. I add here a few observations concerning the manuscript in question:

1) As our French colleagues adroitly remarked, it seems indeed likely that the Coptic "scriptio inferior" features some passages of Deuteronomy. However, members of our team have been able to decipher also portions of Isaiah in Sahidic. For example, Isaiah 40:26 can be more or less easily deciphered on one fragment. Therefore, it is still not entirely clear to me at this point whether the Coptic manuscript reused in order to accommodate the Qur'an is biblical or, rather, it contains an unidentified literary work that quotes from the Bible. The possibility that the palimpsest reuses more than one Sahidic biblical manuscript should not be excluded either.

2) According to Christie's specialist, Romain Pingannaud, the manuscript, "[i]t’s fascinating, particularly because it’s the only example where you have an Arabic text on top of a non-Arabic text." However, while it is true that such artefacts are rare, this is not the only Coptic manuscript effaced in order to accommodate an Islamic text. I attach here the photograph of a similar palimpsest, whose more recent Arabic text is Islamic, mentioning ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ – the commander of the Muslim army that conquered Egypt in 641 CE – and ʿAbdallāh ibn al-Zubayr. I lack competency in Islamic literature, but an American colleague helped me to identify the content: the text probably belongs to the Muslim historian al-Mada'ini (d. 839 CE). The story relates to the Umayyad governor al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf, who interrogates a Khārijite rebel. Notably, the underneath writing features Matthew 27:29-46 in the Fayyumic dialect of Coptic. This fragment was found, together with other Jewish, Christian, and Muslim manuscripts, at the beginning of the 20th century in the Treasury Dome of the Great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.

3) The fact that the palimpsest contains both Christian and Muslim texts does not necessary imply that it documents the cultural interactions between the two communities, as it is mentioned in the Guardian article. It may well be that the Coptic manuscript was discarded and recuperated from a garbage heap by a Muslim scribe. We have similar examples of Hebrew/Coptic palimpsest manuscripts found in the Cairo Genizah. While I believe that there have been mutual influences among Muslims and Christians, I think bilingual palimpsests in general do not necessarily prove direct cultural interactions between two communities. Since the provenance of the manuscript cannot be traced, we should refrain from speculating about the use of the two texts. 

This leads me to my last point: I am disappointed to see how little is said about the provenance of the manuscript. According to my sources, there is no provenance paper aside from an affidavit from the owner, who apparently bought it in London decades ago. Finally, I want to express my hope that the palimpsest has been purchased by a museum or other professional institution and it has not ended up in private hands. Unfortunately, the fuss around it definitely increased its price and probably made it unapproachable for most institutions.

(This blog is based on a Facebook post I made a few days ago.)

Am 4.4. 2018 durfte ich das Vorhaben an einem Ort vorstellen, der eine lange und bedeutende Forschungstradition sowohl zum antiken Ägypten wie zum Alten Testament hat: der Universität Basel. Auf Einladung der Gastgeberinnen Sonja Ammann, Nesina Grütter und Hanna Jenni (Fachbereich Altes Testament und semitische Sprachwissenschaft) kamen mehr als 30 Zuhörerinnen und Zuhörer, vor allem Studierende und Dozierende der Ägyptologie und Theologie, aber auch ein interessiertes Publikum aus dem Basler Forum für Ägyptologie, das den Vortrag unterstützt hat.

Nach dem Vortrag in historischer Umgebung im Grossen Seminarraum der Theologischen Fakultät (BILD) gab es viele Fragen zu den Problemen der Edition der koptischen Bibel und der digitalen Forschungsumgebung des Vorhabens. Eine Frage möchte ich besonders herausgreifen, da sie einen noch wunden Punkt des Übergangs von analoger zu digitaler Forschung berührt und weiterer Diskussion bedarf: wie stellen wir sicher, daß die Beiträge der Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter eines digitalen Großprojektes so deutlich gemacht werden, daß diese durch ihre Tätigkeit nicht in ihrer zukünftigen Laufbahn behindert werden?

We are proud and happy to announce that our friend, colleague, and team member Troy Griffitts has been awarded the PhD degree in Biblical Studies and Digital Humanities of the University of Birmingham (UK): https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/itsee/news/2018/griffitts-phd.aspx

Warm Congratulations, Troy! 

Vom 26. bis 29. März 2018 durfte ich erneut in der Papyrussammlung der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek forschen, wo ich vom Team herzlich empfangen und bestens betreut wurde.

In der Papyrussammlung werden 22 Typikon-Pergamentblätter aus dem Weißen Kloster (Oberägypten) aufbewahrt. Sie geben Beispiele diverser liturgischer Inhalte. Die meisten Blätter beinhalten die Perikopen-initien für die verschiedenen Feiertage des Kalenderjahres, wie z.B. Wien, ÖNB, P. Vindob. K 211, K 9718, K 9728 – 9729, K 9731 – 9733, K 9738 u.a. Wiederum andere stellen die Anfänge von Psalmenversen als Hymnen der Liturgie dar, wie z.B. Wien, ÖNB, P. Vindob. K 9725 – 9727, K 9734, 9736. Solche Blätter wie z.B. Wien, ÖNB, P. Vindob. G 39789, K 9735, K 9737, K 9739 bieten den vollständigen Text der Trisagia mit Erweiterung für die koptische Liturgie. Das Wiener Blatt K 9175 gibt die Auflistung der Psalmpassagen mit dem Stichwort ⲉⲛⲧⲟⲗⲏ „Gebot“ an, welche während der Fastenzeit vorzutragen waren.

Einige dieser Blätter konnte ich mit meinen Transkriptionen kollationieren und dabei habe ich einige wichtige Verbesserungen vorgenommen, die nur bei dem Vergleich mit dem Original erkennbar werden. Die Methode der Autopsie ist besonders wichtig für die Arbeit mit Handschriften. Die Typikon-Blätter, die ich bei diesem Forschungsaufenthalt untersucht habe, werden demnächst in der ÖNB digitalisiert. Dem digitalen Fotografieren geht jedoch noch die Konser-vierung der Pergamentblätter voran. Dabei wird alles, was keinen historischen Wert hat, wie z.B. doppelt geschriebene oder geklebte Signaturen von den Blättern entfernen, siehe z.B. das Foto des oberen Blattteiles von K 9733r.

Mein Forschungsaufenthalt in Wien wurde vom DFG-Projekt „Die Hymnen in der koptischen Liturgie des Weißen Klosters in Oberägypten“ am Seminar für Ägyptologie und Koptologie an der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen gefördert. Dabei wurde sowohl das Fotoarchiv in Göttingen mit Fotos wertvoller liturgischer Fragmente erweitert als auch die Arbeit an den Typika aus dem Weißen Kloster maßgeblich vorangebracht.

Am 6. April, drei Tage nach Peter Nagels 80. Geburtstag, wurde dem Jubilar die Festschrift „Ägypten und der Christliche Orient“ als Eröffnungsband der neuen Reihe Texte und Studien zur koptischen Bibel in einem Festakt feierlich überreicht. Im gut gefüllten Alten Hörsaal im Löwengebäude der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg eröffnete Mitherausgeberin Ute Pietruschka den panegyrischen Reigen, gefolgt von Peter Nagels früheren Bonner Kollegen Ralf Elger und Verena Böll sowie Videobotschaften verhinderter Weggefährten. Frank Feder, mit Heike Behlmer einer der beiden Göttinger Mitherausgeber der Festschrift, durfte schließlich das druckfrische Werk dem Jubilar überreichen. Alle Festredner hoben, in bemerkenswerter Einmütigkeit, neben Peter Nagels unstrittigem und ohnehin allgemein anerkannten Rang als Wissenschaftler seine besondere Rolle als akademischer Lehrer hervor, deren Bedeutung Peter Nagel selbst in mitnichten gespielter Bescheidenheit für „gar nicht so hoch“ erachtet habe.

In seinen bewegenden Dankesworten würdigte Peter Nagel das Forschungsgebiet „Christlicher Orient“ als kleinen, gewissermaßen untergründigen Beitrag zur europäischen Verständigung in Zeiten des kalten Krieges, ein Beitrag den das Fach, so Peter Nagels Hoffnung, auch jetzt noch, da das „Haus Europa“ erste Risse zeige, spielen könne.

Würdig umrahmt wurde der Festakt durch das wunderbare Spiel auf der Oud durch den syrischen Kirchenmusiker und Theologiestudenten Rolan Tayarah. 

This past February and March, I was fortunate to work alongside the outstanding team of Coptologists of the Complete Digital Edition and Translation of the Coptic Sahidic Old Testament project at the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The purpose of my visit was to gain advice, training, and assistance with my research on Coptic Leviticus, which I am preparing for my PhD dissertation at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia (under the supervision of Heike Behlmer, Malcolm Choat, Victor Ghica, and Alin Suciu). My work focuses on the text of Morgan manuscript 566, which is the oldest, most complete, extant codex of Leviticus in any Coptic dialect; it also examines the other surviving witnesses of Coptic Leviticus. During my stay, I was given special access to the project’s digital repository of photographs which was essential for my work. I extend my special thanks to Diliana Atanassova who greatly assisted me daily with the codicological aspects of my witnesses and with other areas of my research on so many levels. A huge thank you to Alin Suciu for your expertise and assistance with my fragments. Special thanks also to Heike Behlmer and Frank Feder for making this trip possible for me. And thank you to the rest of the CoptOT team: To Felix Albrecht, Julien Delhez, Suzana Hodak, Joanna Hypszer, Theresa Kohl, Chrysi Kotsifou, So Miyagawa, Malte Rosenau and Ulrich Schmid, I am grateful to all of you for your help and for making me feel welcome.

Summer School in Coptic Literature and Manuscript Tradition

Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures, Hamburg
17–21 September 2018

in collaboration with the projects

• PAThs - Tracking Papyrus and Parchment PAThs: An Archaeological Atlas of Coptic Literature, Rome
• Digital Edition of the Coptic Old Testament, Göttingen
• Collaborative Research Centre 1136: Education and Religion in Cultures of the Mediterranean and its Environment from Ancient to Medieval Times and to Classical Islam, Göttingen 
• and Corpus dei Manoscritti Copti Letterari, Rome – Hamburg

Call for Participation:

https://www.manuscript-cultures.uni-hamburg.de/register_coptic2018.html

Hermetica-Tagung vom 23.-25. Februar in Göttingen

Kosmogonie und Kosmologie in hermetischen Schriften

Programm und Informationen unter

http://coptot.manuscriptroom.com/hermetica

Am 23. Dezember 2017 und am 3. Januar 2018 besuchte ich eine der schönsten Bibliotheken Großbritanniens – The John Rylands Library in Manchester.

Enriqueta Rylands ließ die Bibliothek zum Andenken ihres Mannes bauen. Die John Rylands Library wurde 1900 eröffnet und den Einwohnern der Stadt Manchester gewidmet.

Im Lesesaal der Special Collections in der 4. Etage wird man von sehr nettem Personal betreut. Alle Fachleute sind willkommen, mit eigener Kamera Fotos der Objekte für wissenschaftliche Zwecke zu machen.

Mein Interesse an der John Rylands Library wurde durch drei liturgische Blätter aus dem Weißen Kloster, Oberägypten, geweckt, die in Manchester unter der Signatur Nr. 20a aufbewahrt werden. Die John Rylands Library ist eine der vielen Einrichtungen, in denen die zerstreuten Bibliotheksbestände des Weißen Klosters gegenwärtig zu finden sind. Die drei Manchester-Blätter sind Teil des liturgischen Kodex mit Typika MONB.WL, der heute nur noch aus 22 Blättern bzw. Fragmenten besteht. Die Manchester-Blätter sind vollständig mit wenig beschädigten oder verschmutzten Stellen erhalten.

Das UV-Licht machte es möglich, diese Stellen während meines Aufenthaltes zu entziffern. Obwohl die Manchester-Blätter die Seitenzahlen von 21 bis 26 tragen, stammen sie – vorausgesetzt eines Quaternionenaufbaus – aus der Mitte der 17. Lage. Das liegt an der Tatsache, dass im Kodex MONB.WL eine neue Seitenzählung mit der 16. Lage beginnt. Aus dem Kodex MONB.WL sind derzeit vier verschiedene Teile, die inhaltlich einander ergänzen, bekannt. Die Manchester-Blätter gehören zu einem Hymnendirektorium für die Monate Thout/September, Paope/Oktober und Hathor/November, das drei Arten von Gesängen für den Wortgottesdienst beinhaltet. 

Diese Gesänge sollten vor der Lesung der Apostelgeschichte und des Evangeliums sowie vor dem Friedenskuss vorgetragen werden. Sie sind der Gegenstand meines DFG-Projektes „Die Hymnen in der koptischen Liturgie des Weißen Klosters in Oberägypten“ am Seminar für Ägyptologie und Koptologie an der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.

Mein Forschungsaufenthalt in Manchester hat nicht nur das Fotoarchiv in Göttingen erweitert, sondern auch die Arbeit an den Hymnen in der koptischen Liturgie maßgeblich gefördert.