Written
Monuments
of the Orient
2(8) 2018

Issued twice a year

Selected materials as a *.PDF file

Introduction by Chiara Barbati — 3

Enrico Morano. Some Сodicological Remarks on the Сorpus of the Berlin Turfan Manichaean Sogdian Manuscripts in Manichaean Script: among Books, Glossaries, Letters, Booklets, Bilingual and Trilingual Texts, Normal, Bold and Cursive Script — 11
The paper gives a survey of the codicological variety of the Sogdian manuscripts in Manichaean script of the Berlin Turfan Collection. Book formats, paper/silk/leather type, re-used paper, scripts and plurilingualism will be examined and commented upon.
Key words: Codicology and palaeography, Middle Iranian languages, Sogdian language, Manichaean texts and literature, Manichaean script, Multilingualism, Writing materials on the Silk Road

Olga Chunakova. Middle Iranian Manichaean Manuscripts. Interpretation and Identification — 39
The present paper provides an interpretation of the Parthian fragment SI 5576 belonging to the Serindian Collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences. The poorly preserved text is a hymn dedicated to Wisdom and, perhaps, is an adaptation of a Mandaean text. Its contents suggest that it was performed during the Bema, the main Manichaean holiday. The fragment’s paper, ink, handwriting, and the Chinese text on the recto side show that it is part of the same manuscript as the fragment M 4590 belonging to the Berlin Turfan Collection, and that the manuscript seems to have been a list of hymns to be performed during the Bema holiday.
Key words: Manichaeism, Manichaean literature, Parthian language, Turfan texts

Christiane Reck. Short Survey on Sogdian Manuscriptology — 51
The catalogue of the Middle Iranian fragments in Sogdian script in the Berlin Turfan collection in three volumes was completed in 2018. These fragments belong to the literature of the Manichaean, Buddhist and Christian communities in Turfan. Some specimens and pecularities of these fragments referring to codicology, illustrations, headlines and numbering of folios will be presented.
Key words: Middle Iranian studies, Manuscriptology, Turfan fragments

Christiane Reck and Adam Benkato. ‘Like a Virgin’: A Sogdian Recipe for Restoring Virginity and the Sanskrit Background of Sogdian Medicine — 67
Among the fragments of Sogdian medical texts is what seems to be a collection of gynaecological prescriptions, including a recipe for the restoration of virginity. In addition to providing an edition and translation of the text, we attempt to set it within a comparative context including recipes for virginal simulation occuring in Arabic, Chagatai, Greek, and Latin medieval works. Finally, we identify the text as, like much of Sogdian medicine, possible Sanskrit origin, and give an overview of the Sogdian medical fragments so far identified.
Key words: Sogdian, medical texts, Turfan, women’s medicine

Chiara Barbati. On the Numbering of Quires in the Christian Sogdian and Syriac Manuscript Fragments in the Turfan Collection (Berlin) and the Krotkov Collection (St. Petersburg) — 92
The present contribution serves two purposes. First, it highlights the quire numbering system as reflected in the Christian Sogdian (in East Syriac script) and Syriac manuscript fragments from the Turfan Collection (Berlin) and the Krotkov Collection (St. Petersburg). The main aim of this part is to offer a tentative typology of the numbering of quires. It shows that not only the Syriac manuscript tradition of the Church of the East, but also the Christian Palestinian Aramaic manuscript tradition offers important clues for understanding this material. Second, this study inserts itself into a trajectory of Manuscript Studies that combines codicology and palaeography with history and cultural history in order to shed light on the social aspects of the production and consumption of manuscripts, and on the dissemination of particular technical aspects between Mesopotamia and Central Asia during late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages.
Key words: Manuscript Studies, Turfan manuscript fragments, eastern Christianity