Verzeichnis der Orientalischen Handschriften VOHD-Band XVIII,4 (Mitteliranische Handschriften, Teil 4)

• Applicant: Dr. Hartmut-Ortwin Feistel
• Subject Area: Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies
• Term: Funded in 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 217256863

The collection of manuscripts brought from Chinese Turkistan to Germany by the four German Turfan expeditions of 1902 to 1914 includes a significant number of Christian manuscripts in Syriac. Uygur Turkish, Sogdian. Middle Persian and New Persian. So far none of these Christian manuscripts have been catalogued, although catalogues already exist for much of the Buddhist and Manichaean material found by the same expeditions. The present work, the first ever catalogue of Christian texts from the Turfan oasis, covers all the Iranian manuscripts in Syriac script. In total nearly 500 fragments ranging from complete folios (or even double-folios) to tiny scraps. Most of the texts dve in Sogdian a few in New Persian. In the catalogue, all of the fragments have been sorted according to their handwriting, format and contents, and are presented in a systematic sequence, beginning with biblical and liturgical texts and ending with miscellaneous and secular material. It is shown that in some cases a large number of fragments belong to a single manuscript, and that many of them can be joined together to form more substantial units. Most of the texts being translated from Syriac, the Syriac originals are identified wherever possible. In the case of fragments which have been wholly or partially published, full bibliographical details are given, and wrong readings found in published sources are systematically corrected. The catalogue ends with a large number of indexes and concordances, including a complete index of names of people and places mentioned in the fragments. Thus this volume will provide a mass of material for scholars interested in church history and Syriac literature as well as in Middle Iranian languages and the history of Central Asia and Western China.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants