Via Coptist and International Association for Coptic Studies:

An International Summer School in Coptic Papyrology, the fourth one of its kind after Vienna 2006, Leipzig 2008 and Strasbourg 2010, will be held in Heidelberg from 26 August to 9 September 2012. It will be organized by the Institute for Papyrology and the Institute for Egyptology of the University of Heidelberg. Advanced Students and graduates from fields such as Coptology, Egyptology, papyrology, religious studies, ancient history, Arabic studies, or Byzantine studies are invited to participate, provided they have acquired a solid knowledge of Coptic. There will be four classes to apply for (Coptic legal documents, Coptic letters, late Coptic documents, and Coptic magical texts). Students will have the opportunity to work on unpublished original papyri. A fee of € 450, – will include accommodation for 15 nights, daily breakfast and lunch, and expenses for site seeing offers. The number of places is restricted to 20.

Page from the Heidelberg Papyrus Cop. 1 (perhaps 6th century AD), containing the apocryphal Acts of Paul in Coptic (source of the image)

How to apply? Applications should contain:
1 – The applicant’s CV.

2 – Two letters of reference from teachers; one of them should comment on the applicant’s language skills in Coptic.

Please send applications to:

Dr. Georg Schmelz
Institut für Papyrologie
Marstallstr. 6
D-69117 Heidelberg
e-mail: georg.schmelz@urz.uni-heidelberg.de

The deadline for applications is 30 April 2012. Applicants will be informed whether they have been successful by the end of May 2012.

What is going to happen?
This summer school will provide an introduction to Coptic papyrology within its setting in the fields of Egyptology, ancient history, early Christianity and archaeology.  Classes will be taught on language, palaeography, and decipherment of documentary Coptic, on different types of Coptic documentary texts and their Sitz im Leben within the society of Byzantine and early Islamic Egypt, and on the relationship of Coptic papyri to other textual and archaeological evidence. For practical exercise, each student will be given an unpublished papyrus to work on. The intention is to offer a mixture of taught classes and workshops in which students can learn to appreciate the manifold information which the different kinds of papyri provide, and get acquainted with the wide range of technical and intellectual issues raised by the papyrological
material. The programme will offer insights into the late antique and early Islamic culture of Egypt.  Main instructors of the summer school will be Anne Boud’hors (Paris), Alain Delattre (Brussels), Eitan Grossman (Jerusalem), Tonio Sebastian Richter (Leipzig), Gesa Schenke (Oxford), and Georg Schmelz (Heidelberg).
Speakers will include Rodney Ast (Heidelberg), Lajos Berkes (Heidelberg), James Cowey (Heidelberg), Andrea Jördens (Heidelberg), Claudia Nauerth (Heidelberg), Joachim Friedrich Quack (Heidelberg), Maren Schentuleit (Heidelberg) and Kirsten Dzwiza ().
Classes will be taught in English.
Besides the working sessions, a site seeing program including Heidelberg and environs is on the schedule.

Looking forward to receiving your application,
Prof. Dr. Andrea Jördens
Prof. Dr. Joachim Friedrich Quack
Prof. Dr. Tonio Sebastian Richter
Dr. Georg Schmelz