ADVANCED Coptic
Download the Application Announcement (pdf)
About the course
The Advanced Coptic course introduces participants to Coptic literature through direct readings of original material in the Sahidic dialect (and some closely related dialects). Each class session focuses on a specific Coptic text representative of its genre.
Please note that this is not an introductory grammar course, and as such, a prerequisite is required. Students interested in enrolling in this course must be confident in comprehending simple Coptic texts. A good command of English, the working language of the Summer School, is essential.
There are no required books for this course; all materials related to the Coptic readings will be provided by the instructors.
The Coptic Language Summer School 2024 provides a dynamic learning experience with a combination of online sessions and an in-person residency in Rome.
The in-person residency classes in Rome are flexible and can be attended online. Local students may choose to attend the course in person, whereas non-local students have the option to participate entirely online. The weekly in-person sessions will be livestreamed via Zoom, allowing students who join remotely to actively participate and pose questions during the live feed.
The preferred typology of attendance must be indicated when filling out the registration form.
Online Sessions, May-June 2024
The virtual component will encompass eight sessions on Friday, commencing on May 3, 2024, as per the following schedule:
Fri, May 3, 2024, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom
Alberto Camplani (Sapienza University of Rome)
“In the Image of God he Created Him; Male and Female he Created Them". The Debate on the Human Being in Some Coptic Texts from the Fourth to the Seventh Centuries.
Fri, May 10, 2024, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom
Tito Orlandi (Sapienza University of Rome)
Prayer in Coptic Literature
Fri, May 17, 2024, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom
Andrea Annese (Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna)
Mystical Vision and Heavenly Ascent in the Dialogue of the Savior (NHC III,5) and Other Texts Preserved in Greek and Coptic
Fri, May 31 2024, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom
Marta Addessi (Sapienza University of Rome)
The transmission in Coptic of the homily De ieiunio I by Basil of Caesarea
Fri, June 7, 2024, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom
Francesco Berno (Sapienza University of Rome)
For a Periodization of Coptic Literature
Fri, June 14, 2024, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom
Sebastian Richter (Freie Universität Berlin)
Paleographic typology of Coptic literary scripts
Fri, June 21, 2024, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom
Daniele Tripaldi (Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna)
Locating the Apocalypse of Peter (NHC VII,3) within Early Christian Literature and Groups: an Introduction
Fri, June 28, 2024, 3-5 PM CEST via Zoom
Daniele Tripaldi (Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna)
Prolegomena to The Edition of a Coptic Text: The Beginning of the Apocalypse of Peter (NHC VII,3 70,14-72,4) as a Case Study
In presence in Italy (Rome), July 22–26, 2024
The in-person residency will be held in Rome from July 22 to July 26, 2024. This immersive residency aims to enhance participants' proficiency through interactive sessions and practical exercises. The general schedule of the courses is as follows:
Mon, July 22, 2024, 9-11 AM CEST
Anna Van den Kerchove (Institut Protestant de Théologie de Paris)
James Intercisus, a Persian martyr in Egypt
Mon, July 22, 2024, 5-7 PM CEST
Anna Van den Kerchove (Institut Protestant de Théologie de Paris)
James Intercisus, a Persian martyr in Egypt
Tue, July 23, 2024, 9-11 AM CEST
Grazina Kelmeyte (Vilnius University)
Escatology in the Treatise on the Resurrection
Tue, July 23, 2024, 5-7 PM CEST
Paola Buzi (Sapienza University of Rome)
Coptic literature in a diachronic perspective. Genres, book formats, and digital tools.
Wed, July 24, 2024, 9-11 AM CEST
Dylan Burns (Universiteit van Amsterdam)
Revisiting Gnostic Physics in On the Origin of the World (NHC II,5)
Wed, July 24, 2024, 5-7 PM CEST
Dylan Burns (Universiteit van Amsterdam)
Revisiting Gnostic Physics in On the Origin of the World (NHC II,5)
Thu, July 25, 2024, 9-11 AM CEST
Sebastian Richter (Freie Universität Berlin)
The entourage of God's throne in Coptic apocryphal traditions
Thu, July 25, 2024, 5-7 PM CEST
Sebastian Richter (Freie Universität Berlin)
The entourage of God's throne in Coptic apocryphal traditions
Fri, July 26, 2024, 9-11 AM CEST
Jens Schröter (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)
Selected Readings from The Gospel of Philip (NHC II,3)
Fri, July 26, 2024, 5-7 PM CEST
Jens Schröter (Humboldt Universität zu Berlin)
Selected Readings from The Gospel of Philip (NHC II,3)
Instructors
Jens Schröter
Jens Schröter is professor of New Testament and Ancient Christian Apocrypha at Humboldt University Berlin, Germany. His research areas include the historical Jesus, Paul, the Acts of the Apostles, the formation of the New Testament canon and the ancient Christian Apocrypha.
Anna Van den Kerchove
Anna Van den Kerchove is holding the chair of ancient church history and Patristics in the Institut Protestant in Paris. Among her principal fields of research are the Hermetic and Valentinian texts of Nag Hammadi and Manichaean texts, particularly those preserved in Coptic.
Dylan Michael Burns
Dylan Burns is assistant professor of the History of Western Esotericism in Late Antiquity at the Universiteit van Amsterdam. Co-editor of Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies, his research focuses on ancient Gnosticism, later Greek philosophy, and Manichaeism.
Daniele Tripaldi
Daniele Tripaldi is an associate professor at the University of Bologna. His research interests are particularly focused on Hebrew and Christian visionary texts until the end of the first millennium AD, as well as the origins of Christianity in Egypt.
Andrea Annese
Andrea Annese is Senior assistant professor (RTD-b) in History of Christianity at Alma Mater Studiorum – University of Bologna. He specializes in Christian origins, the Gospel of Thomas, and other texts from Nag Hammadi.
Francesco Berno
Francesco Berno is a researcher at Sapienza University of Rome. His research primarily focuses on early Christianity, Christian history, and literature from the 1st to 5th centuries, with a particular emphasis on the Coptic tradition. He also studies the Nag Hammadi codices and their historical-religious context of production and use.
Gražina Kelmelyte
Gražina Kelmelytė-Ratniece is currently pursuing her PhD at Vilnius University in Lithuania. Her primary research interests lie in the study of early Christian apocrypha and Coptic language. In 2020, she won a grant from the Lithuanian Council for Culture to translate and comment on an anthology of Nag Hammadi Scriptures.
Paola Buzi
Paola Buzi is professor of Egyptology and Coptic Studies at Sapienza University in Rome. She combines historical, literary and codicological interests with archaeological activities. She is principal investigator of the project "Tracking Papyrus and Parchment Paths: An Archaeological Atlas of Coptic Literature". She currently works on behalf of the Akademie der Wissenschfaten zu Göttingen at Hamburg University cataloguing the Coptic manuscripts preserved in the German collections.
Alberto Camplani
Alberto Camplani is professor of Early Christian Literature at the Sapienza University of Rome. He also teaches courses on Syriac literature and Greek Patristics at the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum. A member of the “International Association for Coptic Studies”, his research focuses on early Christianity in Syriac and Coptic language, episcopal institutions in Late Antiquity, Gnostic and Hermetic texts, Marcionism in the East.
Tito Orlandi
Tito Orlandi is an internationally renowned Italian scholar, highly regarded for his extensive research on Coptic language and literature. He has made significant contributions to the field of digital humanities, particularly in the development and application of digital technologies for the study of ancient languages and cultures, including the digitization and analysis of Coptic texts. Since 2010, he has been a Professor Emeritus at the Sapienza University of Rome and has served as the Honorary President of the International Association for Coptic Studies.
Marta Addessi
Marta Addessi is a Research Fellow and Teaching Assistant in Egyptology and Coptic Studies at Sapienza University of Rome. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the Bohairic Coptic version of Basil of Caesarea's First Homily De ieiunio, with an appendix concerning the transmission in Sahidic Coptic.
Sebastian Richter
Sebastian Richter is currently a professor at the Freie Universität Berlin, specializing in Egyptology. He has served as a co-editor for several prestigious academic journals, including the Archiv für Papyrusforschung und verwandte Gebiete and the Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde. His research interests include the study of ancient Egyptian language, literature, and legal documents.