Reunited after One Millennium – the Fruit of Digital Detective Work

The Graz researchers Ephrem Aboud Ishac and Erich Renhart of our collaboration partner Vestigia were able to attribute the top half of a parchment sheet, which is now in the Mesrob Maschtots Institute for Ancient Manuscripts (Matenadaran) in Yerevan in Armenia, to a 1000 years old Syriac manuscript from the British Library. Without accessible digitized libraries and repositories this would have been unthinkable.

Digitization

The pages of the London “mother” manuscript have been digitized and are accessible online.

“Successes like this are unthinkable without the digitization of libraries and repositories all over the world. Open access policies and rapid advances in digital humanities enable researchers to work even in these times of travel restrictions and to unearth some age-old treasures”, explains Prof. Erich Renhart, head of the Graz research centre Vestigia.

Yerevan Fragment

The identified fragment belongs to a text about history of the martyrdom of Alexander and Theodulus. The Yerevan fragment is undoubtedly a section of the Passio Alexandri and thus the only Syriac source for this text.

The manuscript originated in what is now northern Iraq and probably came from the northern Mesopotamian area to Deir el Surian, a Syrian monastery in the Egyptian desert in the 10th century. From there, the it later on made its way to London. The Yerevan fragment is believed to have been separated from the manuscript before its long journey and is presumed to have taken its route to Armenia together with other documents.

Syriac Manuscripts

Dr. Ephrem Aboud Ishac, a native of Syria and an expert in the field of Syriac manuscripts, is particularly happy about this find: “Not only has a tiny piece of the puzzle fallen into place, it also enables us to document how cultural objects that have been travelling long distances for centuries can, at least virtually, find their way home and become important witnesses for their culture which has also been scattered around the world.”

The discovery was made as part of the work on a catalogue of the Yerevan Syriaca (E. A. Ishac, E. Renhart, A. B. Schmidt), which is supported by Vahan Ter-Ghevondyan, head of Matenadaran (Mesrob Mashtots Institute for Ancient Manuscripts, Yerevan).

Vestigia

The Vestigia Research Center at the University of Graz / Austria helps to preserve and study handwritten cultural heritage and make it accessible to a broad international public.

 

Visual: Yerevan fragment no 7 (detail) © Matenadaran / Vestigia