Syriac Codicology and Paleography, University of Pisa, June 8–13, 2020

The summer school will enable students and scholars who already know Syriac, and/or have a basic knowledge of codicology, to study, analyze and describe Syriac manuscripts, from Late Antique age to the present, in a comparative perspective (with respect to Arabic, Coptic, Armenian manuscript culture), as cultural products, both material and immaterial. Skills in cataloguing and art historical analysis will be attained.

Topics to be covered:

• Codicology of Syriac Manuscripts from Late Antiquity to the present: the making of the Syriac book (materials, tools, layout; the scribe at work).
• The book and its content: typology of Syriac book production.
• The art of the Syriac book: illustration and decoration.
• Syriac paleography.
• Cataloguing Syriac books: old catalogues and new web tools.
• A comparative perspective: Arabic, Coptic, Armenian codicology and illustration.