In starting the Demotic Palaeographical Database Project, we intend to build up an online database which pays special attention to the actual appearance of Demotic papyri and texts down to the level of the individual sign. Our idea is to analyse a papyrus with respect to its visual nature, inasmuch as it shall be possible to compare each Demotic sign to other representations of the same sign in other texts and to study its occurrences in different words. Words shall not only be analysed in their textual context but also by their orthography and it should be possible to study even the papyrus itself by means of its material features. Therefore, the Demotic Palaeographical Database Project aims for the creation of a modern and online accessible Demotic palaeography, glossary of word spellings and corpus of manuscripts, which will not only be a convenient tool for Egyptologists and researchers interested in the Demotic writing system or artefacts inscribed with Demotic script but also will serve the conservation of cultural heritage. In our paper, we will present our conceptual ideas and the preliminary version of the database in order to demonstrate its functionalities and possibilities.

The hieratic script has never been studied systematically regarding its peculiarities in abbreviations, orthography, functions or historical development, nor in comparison with cursive and monumental hieroglyphs as well as Demotic signs. After Möller’s Hieratic Palaeography volumes I to III, being based on merely 32 sources, Egyptologists compiled several more or less complete palaeographies on single texts, groups of texts or time spans. However, the comparability of signs is often hindered or impossible due to the heterogeneity of writing surfaces, the quality of facsimiles and photos or the choice of examples and the degree of detail. Furthermore, the word or sign context is often lacking. Since April 2015 a long-term project for a possible maximum of 23 years is located at the universities of Mainz and Darmstadt, being financed by the Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities. The lecture presents the aims and methods of this project and discusses the state of affairs with regard to the development and structuring 1) of a digital palaeography of the cursive scripts, including all stages of hieratic, abnormal hieratic and cursive hieroglyphic scripts from the Early Dynastic period through to Roman times, and 2) of a database with extensive metadata that allows the study of various topics among which the emergence, development, regional use, context and economy of scripts as well as the identification of individual scribes’ hands. The project shall be understood as being decisively open for any cooperation among international experts.

Coptic is the latest stage of the indigenous Egyptian language written in the Greek alphabet with some additional characters taken from the Demotic script. Due to climatic conditions many manuscripts have survived from Egypt. The bulk of Coptic manuscripts of the 1st millenium A. D. is preserved in fragmentary condition and the remains are scattered – often as single leaves or small groups of leaves – over collections on three continents. So a major aim of scholarly work is the virtual reconstruction of codices. Assigning a fragment to a specific manuscript is often not easy. It’s not only necessary to compare the script for similarities but also to take into account the contents in order to identify the manuscript of origin and the position of the leave therein. In the case of known texts which have been recorded in a manuscript as full texts a mathematical approach can be used to estimate the position of a fragment. Special problems arise with manuscripts of uncertain arrangement, e.g. liturgical codices that do not have one continuous text. They combine texts from the scriptures, hymns, prayers, or lifes of saints. In these cases reliable estimates can only be given by comparing the identified text / texts on a single leave with a representative amount of data: this means collecting and indexing as much known material as possible and arranging it according to liturgical usage. The lecture presents ways of assigning fragments by use of palaeography to known codices. An important tool is the “palaeography data base” developed in the Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung at Münster (INTF) as a base instrument for virtual reconstructions in the Virtual Manuscript Room (VMR) of the INTF. Furthermore, electronic tools will be shown that are a by-product of the lecturer’s PhD for identifying texts, the order of manuscripts as well as for further research.

In starting the Demotic Palaeographical Database Project, we intend to build up an online database which pays special attention to the actual appearance of Demotic papyri and texts down to the level of the individual sign. Our idea is to analyse a papyrus with respect to its visual nature, inasmuch as it shall be possible to compare each Demotic sign to other representations of the same sign in other texts and to study its occurrences in different words. Words shall not only be analysed in their textual context but also by their orthography and it should be possible to study even the papyrus itself by means of its material features. Therefore, the Demotic Palaeographical Database Project aims for the creation of a modern and online accessible Demotic palaeography, glossary of word spellings and corpus of manuscripts, which will not only be a convenient tool for Egyptologists and researchers interested in the Demotic writing system or artefacts inscribed with Demotic script but also will serve the conservation of cultural heritage. In our paper, we will present our conceptual ideas and the preliminary version of the database in order to demonstrate its functionalities and possibilities.

Coptic is the latest stage of the indigenous Egyptian language written in the Greek alphabet with some additional characters taken from the Demotic script. Due to climatic conditions many manuscripts have survived from Egypt. The bulk of Coptic manuscripts of the 1st millenium A. D. is preserved in fragmentary condition and the remains are scattered – often as single leaves or small groups of leaves – over collections on three continents. So a major aim of scholarly work is the virtual reconstruction of codices. Assigning a fragment to a specific manuscript is often not easy. It’s not only necessary to compare the script for similarities but also to take into account the contents in order to identify the manuscript of origin and the position of the leave therein. In the case of known texts which have been recorded in a manuscript as full texts a mathematical approach can be used to estimate the position of a fragment. Special problems arise with manuscripts of uncertain arrangement, e.g. liturgical codices that do not have one continuous text. They combine texts from the scriptures, hymns, prayers, or lifes of saints. In these cases reliable estimates can only be given by comparing the identified text / texts on a single leave with a representative amount of data: this means collecting and indexing as much known material as possible and arranging it according to liturgical usage. The lecture presents ways of assigning fragments by use of palaeography to known codices. An important tool is the “palaeography data base” developed in the Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung at Münster (INTF) as a base instrument for virtual reconstructions in the Virtual Manuscript Room (VMR) of the INTF. Furthermore, electronic tools will be shown that are a by-product of the lecturer’s PhD for identifying texts, the order of manuscripts as well as for further research.

The hieratic script has never been studied systematically regarding its peculiarities in abbreviations, orthography, functions or historical development, nor in comparison with cursive and monumental hieroglyphs as well as Demotic signs. After Möller’s Hieratic Palaeography volumes I to III, being based on merely 32 sources, Egyptologists compiled several more or less complete palaeographies on single texts, groups of texts or time spans. However, the comparability of signs is often hindered or impossible due to the heterogeneity of writing surfaces, the quality of facsimiles and photos or the choice of examples and the degree of detail. Furthermore, the word or sign context is often lacking. Since April 2015 a long-term project for a possible maximum of 23 years is located at the universities of Mainz and Darmstadt, being financed by the Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities. The lecture presents the aims and methods of this project and discusses the state of affairs with regard to the development and structuring 1) of a digital palaeography of the cursive scripts, including all stages of hieratic, abnormal hieratic and cursive hieroglyphic scripts from the Early Dynastic period through to Roman times, and 2) of a database with extensive metadata that allows the study of various topics among which the emergence, development, regional use, context and economy of scripts as well as the identification of individual scribes’ hands. The project shall be understood as being decisively open for any cooperation among international experts.

Il saggio è dedicato allo studio del Mscr.Dresd.Ob.25 della Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek di Dresda. Il codice, databile alla fine del XIV secolo, contiene le tre cantiche della Commedia di Dante. Nonostante le difficoltà di lettura dovute ai danni subiti durante la guerra, il codice si è rivelato un manoscritto di grande interesse per la tradizione dantesca. Dall’analisi codicologica e paleografica, Ob.25 emerge come un prodotto tipico del suo tempo, trascritto per uso personale e per questo anche letto e annotato da un copista che dimostra di avere una certa cultura e sensibilità. Il saggio, però, ha il suo focus nell’analisi di una delle pagine della prima cantica, molto deteriorata e non più leggibile a occhio nudo, che è stata resa possibile dall’utilizzo del Multispectral Imaging System. Si è quindi inteso evidenziare la complessità di una conoscenza che si può realizzare attraverso il metodo storico proprio delle discipline del libro e grazie alle possibilità offerte dalla tecnologia.