At the end of February, Adam and I were in Rome for this international conference, the third conference organized in the framework of the ERC PAThs Project (“Tracking Papyrus and Parchment Paths. An Archaeological Atlas of Coptic Literature. Literary Texts in Their Original Context. Production, Copying, Usage, Dissemination and Storage”) under direction of Paola Buzi.
The conference started with a dinner in the beautiful Palazzo Ferrajoli at Piazza Colonna on Sunday night. Monday morning, we gathered in the ‘Odeion’ of the Gipsoteca (Museo dell’arte classica), housed in the main building of Sapienza University.
The programme can be found here. The first day was devoted to the results and the ongoing research of the PAThs Project. The team members reported on their research and highlighted specific topics. On the second and third day, invited speakers drew attention to the (archaeological) background of manuscripts and literary production. Adam spoke of Nubian literature (“Literacy of Christian Nubia in context”). Unfortunately, Artur Obłuski, his co-presenter, was unable to attend. I focused on the relationship between literature and images in “Colouring words, imagining narratives: the visualization of literature.”
During the conference, the Paths’ digital Archaeological Atlas of Coptic Literature was launched. An ambitious and immense task, this atlas aims to put the literary production in Coptic into a geographical and archaeological context. In other words, where exactly in Egypt were books created, used and/or found? The chronological timespan of this Coptic literary production is the 3rd to 13th century. This approach yields unexpected and sometimes surprising cross references and new insights. The atlas is still under construction and new texts and places will be added.
Organizers, speakers and discussants.
It was, again, an inspiring meeting, which was very well organized (with attention to detail) by Paola and her team. Thank you!