Objective
RSVP aims at reassembling the rich world of scribal practices in Coptic letter writing between the 4th and 11th centuries CE. It offers an ambitious reconstruction of epistolographers’ habits, networks, and cultural identities when Coptic was the vernacular Egyptian language employed alongside official idioms (Greek and Arabic).
Using a multidisciplinary approach combining paleography, digital humanities, and sociolinguistic analysis, RSVP will analyze for the first time a corpus of over 5000 Coptic letters along four axes: 1) Challenge established views on vernacular practices through expanded Coptic letter analysis. 2) Investigate literacy, paleography, and writing practices in relation to cultural and linguistic shifts. 3) Identify dialectal variation and code switching through linguistic analysis, illuminating the period’s complex linguistic landscape. 4) Assess published Coptic letters’ impact on social cohesion and power dynamics on a diachronic and countrywide scale.
RSVP will contribute to papyrology, Coptology, and digital humanities, by reassessing writing culture, multilingualism, and epistolary étiquette, while applying digital approaches for large-scale analysis of ancient documents and open-linked data (e.g. OCR for semi-automatic text encoding and digital paleography for handwriting identification). Social historians of Antiquity and early medieval times will also have access to a nuanced understanding of cultural continuity and change during a crucial period of political and cultural transition between Byzantium and Islam, enhancing understanding of provincial life, local elites, villagers, and women’s roles.
By reconstructing letter-writing practices in Coptic, RSVP will refocus scholarship on overlooked historical sources, shedding new light on epistolographers’ daily matters, cultural identities, and social networks, while providing a view from below. It will amplify long-silenced and forgotten voices.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities languages and literature linguistics
- humanities history and archaeology history ancient history
- humanities philosophy, ethics and religion religions islam
You need to log in or register to use this function
We are sorry... an unexpected error occurred during execution.
You need to be authenticated. Your session might have expired.
Thank you for your feedback. You will soon receive an email to confirm the submission. If you have selected to be notified about the reporting status, you will also be contacted when the reporting status will change.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
-
HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
See all projects funded under this programme
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
See all projects funded under this funding scheme
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-STG
See all projects funded under this callHost institution
Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
69117 Heidelberg
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.