Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin: Scribes and Readers of Magical Texts in Late Antique and Medieval Egypt

Workshop 2021/2022

Scribes and Readers of Magical Texts in Late Antique and Medieval Egypt

19.–20. Mai 2022

In recent years, the study of magical texts from antiquity and the Middle Ages has benefited greatly from new trends and approaches: greater attention is being paid to the materiality of the documents and books containing these texts, their circulation and how they reflect their various readers, and how they transmit technical knowledge from one place to another and from one generation to another. There has also been a much greater focus on how these texts are often the product, especially in Egypt, of a multicultural and above all a multilingual society. It is our profound hope that by opening the scope of our discussions to Medieval, Coptic and Christian texts, as well as the Greek, we will enrich the discussions and provide avenues of progress for all participants.