On the Numbering of Quires in the Christian Sogdian and Syriac Manuscript Fragments in the Turfan Collection (Berlin) and the Krotkov Collection (St. Petersburg)

Abstract

The present contribution serves two purposes. First, it highlights the quire numbering system as reflected in the Christian Sogdian (in East Syriac script) and Syriac manuscript fragments from the Turfan Collection (Berlin) and the Krotkov Collection (St. Petersburg). The main aim of this part is to offer a tentative typology of the numbering of quires. It shows that not only the Syriac manuscript tradition of the Church of the East, but also the Christian Palestinian Aramaic manuscript tradition offers important clues for understanding this material. Second, this study inserts itself into a trajectory of Manuscript Studies that combines codicology and palaeography with history and cultural history in order to shed light on the social aspects of the production and consumption of manuscripts, and on the dissemination of particular technical aspects between Mesopotamia and Central Asia during late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages.