L’Orientale Unit the PRIN 2020 project “Cultural interactions and language contacts: Iranian and non-Iranian languages in contact from the past to the present” is delighted to announce the Summer School “Aramaic and Iranian Scripts on the Silk Roads”.
The Summer School focuses on a significant quota of manuscript finds in Iranian and Semitic languages stemming from the oasis of Turfan/Turpan on the upper branch of the Silk Road, mainly resulting from the activity of the four German expeditions (1902-1914) organized by the then Museum für Asienkunde (today Museum für Asiatische Kunst) in Berlin.

The Manichaean and Christian MSS, in different writings, ultimately derived from the Aramaic script, and in Syriac and multiple Middle Iranian languages (Parthian, Middle Persian, Manichaean and Christian Sogdian, Bactrian) represent both a variety and quality of extraordinary interest for the instruction and entertainment of younger scholars interested in disciplines as diverse as Iranian philology, Semitics, Christian literature and missionary activity in Asia, Manichaeology, History of Religions, Languages and Cultures in Contact. Furthermore, an overview of the Jewish-Iranian languages is offered in order to draw attention to one of the modern survivors deeply rooted in Central Asia in view of audiences particularly interested in Asian ethnology and religious history. The legacy of Buddhist culture is beyond the scope of the Summer School.

L’Orientale Unit of the PRIN Project “Cultural interactions and language contacts: Iranian and non-Iranian languages in contact from the past to the present” is delighted to announce that registration is now open for the Summer School “Aramaic and Iranian Scripts on the Silk Roads” that will be held at “L’Orientale” University on 16-18 September 2024. The fee is 50 euros,