he Visual Scribe: Tables and Diagrams in Middle Eastern Manuscripts Workshop, Institute for the History of Knowledge in the Ancient World, Freie Universität Berlin, April 10–11, 2025

The workshop will provide a platform to delve into the rich tradition of tables and diagrams in Middle Eastern manuscripts. We invite contributions that examine various aspects of these visual representations, including their historical contexts, symbolic meanings, cultural significance, and methodological approaches.

Topics of interest include but are not limited to, the evolution of tables and diagrams, analysis of specific types of tables and diagrams (e.g., genealogical tables, astronomical diagrams, geometric patterns, tabular data), comparative studies across different manuscript traditions, the role of tables and diagrams in knowledge transmission and dissemination, digital tools and techniques for analyzing and reconstructing tables and diagrams.

This across-discipline workshop aims to cover manuscripts in various languages, including, but not limited to, Arabic, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Hebrew, Persian, and Syriac, in addition to the ancient languages of Egypt and Mesopotamia. All time periods are of interest.

Conveners
George A. Kiraz, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
Mathieu Ossendrijver, Freie Universität Berlin
Sabine Schmidtke, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
Sonja Brentjes, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin

the program will be availbable soon

Link: https://www.ias.edu/sites/default/files/CFP_Visual%20Scribe_April%202025.pdf