Professor Malcolm Choat, the head of the project "Knowledge Transfer and Administrative Professionalism in a Pre-Typographic Society: Observing the Scribe at work in Roman and Early Islamic Egypt," which is funded by the Australian Research Council, and Rodney Ast, director of SFB 933 Teilprojekt A02, "Antike Briefe als Kommunikationsmedium," are conducting a 3-day workshop devoted to the investigation of authoritative documents in the Greco-Roman world as artifacts created in accordance with certain inscribing procedures, whether practical or formal. Among issues to be addressed are the methods used to convey authority to a written text (be it letter, contract, decree, etc.), means of authentication of inscribed artifacts, problems related to the practice of copying and publication, as well as the socio-historical circumstances in which inscribed documents involving various agents and professionals were created.

This workshop offers the opportunity for focused intellectual exchange surrounding research topics at various stages of development. The setting is informal, but space is limited. Anyone interested in taking part, whether as observer or speaker, should send an e-mail to Rodney Ast (ast@uni-heidelberg.de) by December 2.