TeTra | Michael Erdman "Copies of a 19th c. Silk Production Manual in Ottoman and Armeno-Turkish" YouTube video by TeTra | Text and Transmission Research Seminar

If you missed Michael Erdman's paper last week, here is the recording!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvBg...

Thank you, Daria, for making us think about corrections in the light of ancient text production and circulation!

Education in Religious Contexts of Late Antiquity Cambridge Core - Religion: General Interest - Education in Religious Contexts of Late Antiquity

🧯Hot off the press: Education in Religious Contexts of Late Antiquity (Cambridge Element) > free download until April 8!

www.cambridge.org/core/element...

Tomorrow!

Ursulorum parvulorum convivium (Teddy Bears Picnic) in the crypt of St-Peter-in-the-East YouTube video by Henrike Lähnemann

Had lots of fun recording this with the St Edmund Hall (nickname: Teddy Hall) Director of Music Carlos Rodríguez Otero in the crypt of St-Peter-in-the-East. Lyrics in the info box! youtu.be/JeHQP-Avdhs

Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin 11, 2025

#NewPublication #OpenAccess #ChristianEast #ManuscriptStudies #BookHistory #ArabicBible
“Monastic Literature in Early Islamic Palestine and Sinai: Manuscripts, Scribes, Translators, Authors, and Later Readers”, COMSt Bulletin Special Issue, ed. by Adrian C. Pirtea

No. 8: MARV 2.22 On this unsealed tablet Saggiu the steward is named as the recipient of (mahir) a series of amounts totalling just over one homer of two kinds of oil on different occasions, over a period of at least 8 months. The oil is either "myrtle oil" (IÀ a-si) or "purified oil" (IÀ ma-su-ú), used apparently interchangeably, and totalled together as just "oil" (IÀ.MES = samnu) at the end of the document. The summary reads as follows: SU.NÍGIN 1 ANSE 3 ½ qa IÀ.MES Sa SU munsGIS.TUKUL-ti-sa-AN-e mu-ra-qi-te tal-pi-tu sa is-tu ITI a-pu-MAN.MES-ni UD.2.KÁM li-me 'MAS-DUMU.ÚS-SUM-na a-di ITI al-la-na-te UD.20.KÁM li-me 'ra-gis-sá-ni a-na tal-pi- ti É'.GAL'"-lim 'sa-gi-ú AGRIG ma-hi-ir "Total: 1 homer 3½ qû oil, in the charge of Tukulti-ja-same, the perfumer, expenditure for the period from the month of Apu-sarrani, 2nd day, eponymate of Ninurta-apla-iddina until the month of Alla-natu, 20th day, eponymate of Ragissanu, for the expenditure of the palace(?), 15 Saggiu, the steward, has received".

For the word nerds out there, the word in Akkadian for "expert in aromatics" is muraqqītu.

This was the technical domain of women. As another random example, a woman named Tukulti-sha-shamê "the muraqqītu", provided oil for cultic events for a period of 8 months to a steward named Saggi'u.

Join us next Thursday 26 Feb at 10 AM CET for a paper by Maria S. Thomas (UniVie) on the manuscript production of the Syriac Orthodox monastery of Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem in the twelfth century!
If you are not yet on our mailing list, please register w/ @andyhilkens.bsky.social

Forming a hive: The importance of recognising and organising postdoctoral ‘worker bees’ A recent piece by Welmoed Visser in Ad Valvas describes the struggles of postdocs, “the disposable worker bees of academia”. As postdocs working at Leiden University, we recognise many of the concerns...

Postdocs were recently described as 'the disposable worker bees of academia". @elckerlieke.bsky.social and I added to the conversation. How can we better recognise the contributions of this essential part of the academic ecosystem?

www.voicesyoungacademics.nl/articles/for...

The programme of the 2026 GenAut online seminar, with the general theme "The Followers of the Apostles in Cultic Contexts." It can be found online at https://genaut.univie.ac.at/?page_id=671.

We're thrilled to share with you the programme for the 2026 online seminar of the project! The series is curated by our colleague Maria S. Thomas (@dekayra.bsky.social).

All welcome! Let us know if you'd like to add you to the email list. genaut.univie.ac.at/?page_id=671

Next week we are hosting another paper, this time by Nicolas Atas (KU Leuven) on Syriac lexica! Tune in on Thursday 5 Feb at our regular time of 10 AM CET.
As always, don't forget to register w/ @andyhilkens.bsky.social if you're not yet on our mailing list!

Call for Papers - EABS 2026: Biblical Reception in Eastern Christian Traditions.

We welcome papers on manuscripts, margins, scribes, biblical traditions, and more.

Abstracts can be submitted until 31 January 2026: eabs.my.site.com/s/research-u...

Very exciting to see the new book of Leuven colleague Hanneke van der Schoor has now appeared, who uses Dead Sea Scroll evidence about the mysterious figure of Qahat to think through modern practices of editing and textual classification (brill.com/display/titl...; @dgb-relbibtheo.bsky.social).

Excited to announce this for late April! Join us by zoom, it will be online too. #lateantiquity #earlymiddleages @hebrewuniversity.bsky.social

Pasts Imperfect (1.8.26) This week, we are back from holiday break with a deep dive into the ethics, big business, and myth-peddling of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in higher education. Then, bees in ancient jawbones within t...

Pasts Imperfect is back from break! This week, we focus on AI ethics and labor with @illdottore.bsky.social, Christine Johnston & Leigh Anne Lieberman. Then, ancient bees in jawbones, Roman camels in Basel, a book on temple robbery, new ancient world journals @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social & much more

Happy New Year everyone!
We are starting off 2026 next Friday 9 Jan at 10 AM with a paper by Roman Gundacker (ÖAW/UniVie) on Manetho's Aegyptiaca.
If you're not yet on the mailing list and interested in attending, please register w/ @andyhilkens.bsky.social

Many congratulations, Sabrina!

Bit of news here: genaut.univie.ac.at/?p=1595
@erc.europa.eu #ERCCoG

Part of the recipe in the original manuscript.

Three quinces on a cutting board.

Today, Sid and I are attempting a recipe for “roy marmelaede” with quinces from the Antwerp Annunciates’ recipe book (first half 17th century, with some later additions - @kbrbe.bsky.social).

Quite curious as to how this will go (1/?)
#earlyModern #bookhistory
#womenshistory #foodhistory

To avoid any curses, attending is recommended.

Exiting the theology faculty has become quite the adventure.

Looking forward to hearing about the creative use of an East Syriac text in a medieval Syriac Orthodox context tomorrow!

The next TeTra event is another Book in the Spotlight, this time with Sofia Puchkova. Discussant is Samuel Fernández (Pontifical Catholic University of Chile).
Tuesday 1 July at 4PM CET, don't miss it!
If you are not yet on the mailing list, please register w/ @andyhilkens.bsky.social

Next week we offer the floor to one of the long-term participants in our seminar. Boško Erić (University of East Sarajevo) will be speaking about the Letter of Mara bar Serapion on Thu 5 June, at 10 AM. If you're not yet on the mailing list, please register w/ @andyhilkens.bsky.social

TeTra | Antonietta Castiello "The Memory of the Palmyrene Diaspora through its Inscriptions" YouTube video by TeTra | Text and Transmission Research Seminar

Also now up on our YouTube channel, the recording of Antonietta Castiello's paper on the inscriptions of the Palmyrene diaspora. Enjoy!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_o2...

TeTra | Federico Alpi "Entangled creed(s): The Armenian version of the Didascalia CCCXVIII Patrum" YouTube video by TeTra | Text and Transmission Research Seminar

In case you missed it, the recording of Federico Alpi's talk about the Nicene Creed in the Armenian version of the Didascalia CCCXVIII Patrum is now available on our Youtube channel alongside many other papers and all the lectures!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0cx...

Four-year postdoc in Syriac studies in Vienna.

Join my team in the FWF START Project "Generative Authority: The Followers of the Apostles as Literary Characters," genaut.univie.ac.at/

Deadline June 1st. Happy to respond to any inquiries!

@fwf-at.bsky.social @univie.ac.at

New special issue on practices of authorship edited by Sabrina Inowlocki:
www.mohrsiebeck.com/en/issue/ear...

Thank you for the invitation to be part of this, @sabrinainowlocki.bsky.social!

Thank you, Sabrina! Really looking forward to this.

Proof day! The special issue I edited on Christian authorship is out soon in Early Christianity. Watch out to see the fantastic papers by my distinguished colleagues @danbatovici.bsky.social @gpfewster.bsky.social @worldlyscribe.bsky.social and @jeremiahcoogan.bsky.social