Ahiqar II - Project details (Ahiqar II)
The Syriac and Arabic Ahiqar Texts
The story of the wise Aḥiqar is one of the most significant works of Oriental and world literature. It combines a narrative framework with a collection of wisdom sayings, transmitted in various linguistic and cultural contexts. In the completed project, the Syriac and Arabic versions were comprehensively analyzed, transcribed, translated, and made accessible through a digital edition for the first time. The focus was on identifying and processing 40 manuscripts and developing a technically sustainable infrastructure in collaboration with SUB Göttingen.
The follow-up project builds on these results, addressing newly discovered textual witnesses and the increasing complexity of the transmission. Its aim is to create a technically enhanced edition that not only allows for a more precise presentation of textual variants but also facilitates connections to other linguistic traditions such as Aramaic, Greek, or Old Church Slavonic. In this way, the Syriac and Arabic versions can be made more accessible as central branches of the tradition for international research.
Technically, the project relies on a modular IT architecture that enables multi-layered data processing. The edition adopts standards such as TEI-XML and the TextAPI to integrate transcriptions, translations, annotations, and metadata. The TIDO-Viewer provides a user-friendly presentation of the texts, including manuscript images, variant apparatuses, and annotations. Thanks to its open architecture and open-source software (GNU Affero General Public License), long-term availability and reusability of the results are ensured.
The digital edition provides the research community with a platform that not only integrates existing textual versions but also enables future expansions. Thus, the project establishes a scientifically robust and sustainable foundation for textual and tradition-historical studies, as well as for interdisciplinary research into the transmission of the Aḥiqar material.
Lead/Coordination
Project board at the SUB Göttingen
Project staff at the SUB Göttingen
- Tillmann Dönicke
- Mathias Göbel
- Kay Liewald
- Orlin Malkja
- Paul Pestov
- Kristine Schima-Voigt
- Michelle Weidling
SUB Göttingen departments / units involved in the project
Former project staff of the SUB Göttingen
Rafael Maria Raschkowski