Scribal habits. A case study from Christian Medieval Central Asia

What do scribal habits and practices tell us about the production, dissemination and use of manuscripts in eastern Christian communities along the Silk Road, and what can we learn from their study about those communities? The project aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of scribal habits and attitudes as reflected in the Sogdian and Syriac manuscript fragments that were discovered at the beginning of the last century along the Silk Road. Those fragments belong to the religious and cultural heritage of eastern Christianity. Christian communities came into existence in Central Asia as the result of missionary activities of the Church of the East since the 5th century. Along the Silk Road, Syriac speaking Christian monks and missionaries from Mesopotamia encountered peoples from different cultures, languages, and religions; among them the Sogdians, speakers of Sogdian, an eastern Middle Iranian language, who were the main caravan merchants of Central Asia. The project focuses on circa 1000 fragments in Sogdian and Syriac languages and scripts that were produced and used in Christian Sogdian communities between the 9th and 11th centuries. Very little is known about these communities. The existence of a monastery at Bulayq in the Turfan oasis is assumed because many Christian manuscript fragments were discovered there, but it has not been archaeologically investigated. The organization of this monastery and of its library and scribal atelier is unknown, assuming that there existed such a library and atelier. It is unclear in what terms we can discuss the production, the use, the circulation and the patronage of the religious works inside and outside the monastery. Moreover, due the fragmentary character of the manuscripts very little is known about the scribal activities in these communities. On the other hand, it is well established that within the religious tradition of the Church of the East the scribal activity was important not only for the transmission of a specific religious message. It was also considered a spiritual exercise that would provide expiation of sins for the copyist himself, for his relatives and for the patron. Therefore an accurate investigation of any elements which can be related to the habits and approaches of scribes is the only possible way to substantially expand our knowledge on the Christian communities in late antique and early medieval Turfan. The project aspires to undertake the first full analysis of all elements that are due or related to scribal activities and of all palaeographic features. It will provide new tools for the understanding of the written legacy of Christian medieval communities in Central Asia which without this documentation would be virtually unknown.

The project resulted in fundamental scientific publications on the palaeography and analysis of the main material and graphic aspects of the ca. 1000 Christian Sogdian and Syriac manuscript fragments that were found at the beginning of the last century along the Silk Road and belong to the religious and cultural heritage of Eastern Christianity. The fruitful cooperation between the Institute of Iranian Studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Departament of Civilizations and Forms of Knowledge at the University of Pisa, and the very constructive involvement of researchers at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts at the Russian Academy of Sciences allowed to realize an innovative study that hightlights the importance of scribal practices and activities for the transmission of a specific religious message, thus making fundamental contributions to the understanding of Christian communities who lived in early medieval Central Asia,. The project also represented a turning point in the careers development of three women researcher involved, i.e. the principal investigator and two young ressearches.