The cyberattack on The British Library in October 2023 knocked out ebooks and almost ever other computer thing there for years.
Ebooks just came back. They were knocked out everywhere using the BL’s license (legal deposit libraries I think? More libraries?)
Distributed physical copies matter.
🧵(3) The availability of these manuscripts improves access to the modern Middle East manuscript collection of Paul Sbath (1887–1945), whose collection was divided between the Vatican and his native Aleppo upon his death. HMML Reading Room (vhmml.org) now has 477 Salem collection objects.
Opening pages of a commentary on Islamic law, copied in 1611 CE. (GAMS 01147)
🧵(1) Digitization & cataloging is complete for 41 manuscripts in the collection of the Fondation Georges et Mathilde Salem in Aleppo, Syria. The collection includes texts by a variety of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish authors on topics ranging from medicine to grammar to poetry and literature.
A bit of background to the new find of 30 lines of Empedocles in a Cairo papyrus.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
This is such a lovely, clear image - fantastic detail 🙂
Some bibliographical notes on the earliest Greek description of Islam, in John Damascene "On Heresies".
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
Only a few more days left for the early bird discount!
I am deeply envious tbh. How lovely to be in Italy.
Well done!
It's tough but someone has to do it.
Happy Easter! - Have a text and translation of Eusebius Gallicanus, Homily 12 (De Pascha 1). Just a snippet, but not in English before, I think.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
The article has a lot more on why Christie’s was so eager to please Epstein and the valuation and fate of the Hercules: www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ma.... But to me the most important info is that provenance info can be vastly less certain than it seems from the catalog listing.
Very kind - thank you!
I've no idea if there's anything in there worth reading today, but there's only one way to find out.
Sermons of Eusebius of Emesa preserved in an ancient Latin translation - starting to read about these.
www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2026/...
Finally made the connection between Imperial #Aramaic לחן 'temple servant', feminine לחנה,* and Biblical and later Aramaic לְחֵנָה 'concubine', 'wench' or something like that.
* That's 𐡋𐡇𐡍 and 𐡋𐡇𐡍𐡄 for my fellow Unicode freaks
A small cream-colored elephant plush toy by Margarete Steiff, decorated with a blue and gold saddle blanket, standing on a blue-draped display inside a framed exhibit.
Visiting the Steiff Museum today! 🧸
When Margarete Steiff made her first little elephant in 1880, she unknowingly sparked a global phenomenon: the world of plush toys.
Born in 1847 and living with the effects of polio, Margarete defied expectations of her time to found what became...🧵1/2
📷 me
btw I have a student who wants to build documentation and resources for cypriot arabic, she's very determined and has already started unearthing a lot of stuff but if anyone here has contacts in the remaining community or is interested in collaborating, please drop me a dm 🐦🐦
Thank you!
48 #Manuscripts digitized this week by the #Vatican, www.wiglaf.org/vatican/2026...
includes a bunch of Coptic biblical fragments, Classics, Bede, and early date for William of Moerbek, liturgical commentary and more!
#MedievalSky #Skystorians
Paywalled.
A Medieval Coptic translator was confronted with a dilemma: the Pericope Adulterae (John 7:53-8:11) is not attested in his exemplar. He visited archives in Cairo & Damascus to collect its versions in Coptic, Syriac, Greek, &Arabic. what did he find? Join his facinating journey in this new article
"Diogenes the Cynic philosopher, seeing a small town with large gates, said shut the gates in case the city escapes."
One of my favourite pseudo-Diogenes aphorisms comes from this papyrus:
"Diogenes the Cynic philosopher, seeing a small town with large gates, said shut the gates in case the city escapes!"
Underwater photograph of a remarkably preserved Roman sword, a so-called gladius, lying in its scabbard on a sandy seabed covered in green algae and sediment. Sand and small rocks surround it.
A remarkable archaeological discovery beneath the waters of Lake Neuchâtel!
In November 2024, the remains of a Roman cargo ship, dating 1st c. AD, was discovered. The wreck contained hundreds of pottery vessels, Spanish olive oil amphorae, tools and weapons, including the #sword shown here.
🧵1/2 🏺
Don't want to criticise the author or this article, but one should probably not publish with MDPI:
www.predatoryjournals.org/news/list-of...
A composite image showing a fragment from the Cotton Genesis captured under standard, infrared and ultraviolet light.
The Cotton Genesis (Cotton MS Otho B VI, 5th century) was left barely legible after the Ashburnham House Fire in 1731.
Multispectral imaging on the MS has now uncovered texts and images unseen for hundreds of years. Join us at our upcoming conference to learn more.
events.bl.uk/events/multi...
Our new article is part III of "At the Dawn of Digital Studies on Arabic Script in France" by Ilyes Mechentel (@unibe.ch). In part III, Ilyed explores why Arabic Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) adoption lags behind Latin scripts despite achieving technical parity.
Read more on our website!
Want to read a watermark but there’s too much text on it? Then use the magic eraser. It’s really simple: you upload a photo and the image appears without the ink. #siteoftheweek
