Outreach by Damianos Kasotakis
Spektrum der Wissenschaften, 2023
[Article at the Spektrum der Wissenschaften Magazine about the Sinai Palimpsests Project mentioni... more [Article at the Spektrum der Wissenschaften Magazine about the Sinai Palimpsests Project mentioning the work of Claudia Rapp, Giulia Rossetto and Damianos Kasotakis among other collaborators of the project.]
Seit Jahrhunderten werden im Katharinenkloster am Berg Sinai wertvolle Handschriften aufbewahrt, insgesamt mehr als 4500 Stück. Unter manchen Texten verbergen sich alte ausradierte Schriften, die Fachleute mit Hilfe digitaler Multispektralfotografie wieder sichtbar machen - und dabei verlorene Göttergeschichten der Antike entdecken.
Smithsonian Magazine, 2018
[Article at the Smithsonian Magazine about the Sinai Palimpsests Project mentioning the work of D... more [Article at the Smithsonian Magazine about the Sinai Palimpsests Project mentioning the work of Damianos Kasotakis among other collaborators of the project.]
A new project to scan manuscripts at the world's oldest monastery is exposing amazing ancient texts.
ΤΑ ΝΕΑ, 2019
ΤΑ ΝΕΑ - Ροββά Κατερίνα
tanea.gr > Ελλάδα > Χειρόγραφα-θησαυροί... αμύθητης αξίας ψηφιοποιούνται ... more ΤΑ ΝΕΑ - Ροββά Κατερίνα
tanea.gr > Ελλάδα > Χειρόγραφα-θησαυροί... αμύθητης αξίας ψηφιοποιούνται και διασώζονται.
Lectures - Talks by Damianos Kasotakis
University of Vienna (2023W) - Lecture 090124
Guest lecture at the class of Dr. Giulia Rossetto:
090124 UE Digital Resources for Classicists an... more Guest lecture at the class of Dr. Giulia Rossetto:
090124 UE Digital Resources for Classicists and Byzantinists (2023W)
09.01.2024 - Digitization A-Z
University of Vienna (2023W) - Lecture 070269
Guest lecture at the class of Elisabetta Magnanti:
070269 UE Methodological course - Digital Appr... more Guest lecture at the class of Elisabetta Magnanti:
070269 UE Methodological course - Digital Approaches to Medieval Manuscripts (2023W)
17.11.2023 - Overview of Multispectral Imaging
UNESCO Chair on Digital Methods for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Lecture at Athens Univers... more UNESCO Chair on Digital Methods for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Lecture at Athens University of Economics and Business, as part of the Digital Work seminar series. In collaboration with Papyrology and Palaeography Laboratory, Department of Greek Philology of Democritus University of Thrace.
Topic:
Sinai Library: How spectral imaging discovers erased writings in palimpsest manuscripts.
Abstract:
The lecture "Sinai Library: How spectral imaging discovers erased writings in palimpsest manuscripts.", presents the technical and technological approach to spectral photography as well as the latest notable discoveries from the Sinai Palimpsests Project (2011-2016), which restored ancient lost texts from the Library of the Holy Monastery of Sinai. The Sinai Monastery of St. Catherine’s was founded by Emperor Justinian in the middle of the 6th century AD. The library still preserves one of the most important collections of manuscripts, both in Greek and more than ten other languages. At St. Catherine’s monastery, about 160 palimpsest manuscripts have been discovered, which are a treasure for scholars and scientists around the globe.
The Cultural Heritage of the Sinai: History, Art, and Manuscripts Meet Digital Humanities
Two lectures at the Comenius University of Bratislava, titled "History of Photography at St. Cath... more Two lectures at the Comenius University of Bratislava, titled "History of Photography at St. Catherine’s Library (Sinai) and Its Impact on Scholarship and Monastic Life". Part of lecture series of Dr. Giulia Rossetto "The Cultural Heritage of the Sinai: History, Art, and Manuscripts Meet Digital Humanities", hosted by Dr. Jana Grusková, November 2022.
The Explorers Club - Recovering Erased Texts in the World’s Oldest Library.
St. Catherine’s Monastery of the Sinai, though isolated in the rugged interior of the Sinai Penin... more St. Catherine’s Monastery of the Sinai, though isolated in the rugged interior of the Sinai Peninsula, has been a destination for dauntless pilgrims and travelers since the fourth century. Throughout seventeen centuries it has maintained an unbroken spiritual heritage, and today is a place of peace between Christians and Muslims.
The Monastery’s library, one of the world’s oldest, preserves manuscripts dating from the 4th to the 19th century. Among its treasures are numerous palimpsests, that is, manuscripts written on recycled parchment where an older layer of writing has been erased. The prospect of discovering unknown ancient texts among the erased layers of palimpsests brought scholars to the Monastery beginning in the late 19th century. Though they made every effort to read the erased texts, some texts seemed lost forever.
Beginning in 2011, the Monastery worked with a team of scientists and scholars assembled by the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library (EMEL) to use multi-spectral imaging to render the erased texts legible. To date, the team has recovered more than 300 erased texts. They are written in ten languages and range in date from the 5th to the 12th century. The recovered texts include previously unknown Christian, Jewish and classical texts, notably lost works of ancient science, philosophy and mythology. The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) is hosting the results of the project online as part of a digital library of the Monastery’s palimpsests – sinai.library.ucla.edu.
Conference Presentations by Damianos Kasotakis
A series of workshops at Princeton highlights the recent, spectacular findings of the Sinai Palim... more A series of workshops at Princeton highlights the recent, spectacular findings of the Sinai Palimpsests Project, illustrating the methods of multi-spectral imaging and image-processing, along with cataloging and paleographic work with Arabic, Greek, Latin, and Syriac manuscripts. Leading experts in their fields give presentations followed by hands-on sessions with participants.
The History of Photography at St. Catherine’s Library (Sinai) and Its Impact on Scholarship and Monastic Life, 2022
The goal of this paper is to systematically retrace the history of the expeditions which were dev... more The goal of this paper is to systematically retrace the history of the expeditions which were devoted to the photography of manuscripts at the Monastery of St. Catherine (Sinai) from the 19th to the 20th centuries. This is possible thanks to the analysis of so far neglected archival material such as the private correspondence of the – sometimes unknown – organizers of photographic projects and interview with the various members of the Monastery. In addition to offer new material for the study of the evolution of manuscripts photography (from a technical point of view), this paper also contributes to look into the human side of the cholars’ and monks’ interactions and not just the final product of their expeditions.
[TITLE]
St. Catherine’s Library (Sinai) Through a Photographic Lens: Between Scholarship and Mona... more [TITLE]
St. Catherine’s Library (Sinai) Through a Photographic Lens: Between Scholarship and Monasticism
[ABSTRACT]
Saint Catherine’s Monastery of the Sinai is a refuge for cultural heritage treasures, with an
uninterrupted history of more than 1500 years. Today we know of the existence of 4500
manuscripts in the monastery library. This knowledge was not widely available to the public one
hundred years ago. The hard work of scholars and monks establishing a relationship of
collaboration made possible the promotion and advancement of scholarship through the study of
this ancient library.
The remote location of the monastery contributed to the survival of the manuscripts, but it also
posed difficulties for scholars wanting to reach and study the physical objects. By the end of the
19 th century a new technology was used to assist the scholarly effort: still image capturing by
photographic means. The photography and reproduction off-site of manuscript images allowed
the better and broader study of many objects, without the limitation of time or difficulties of long
travel. In the 20 th century this technology advanced even more; expeditions were now made
specifically to the Sinai desert for the reproduction of manuscripts in St. Catherine’s library.
This paper deals with the history of photographic expeditions at St. Catherine’s that focused
specifically on manuscript photography, the unknown contributors who made access to the
library possible, and the effects these interactions had on the local monastic community from the
19th to the 21st century. It is the first time that an attempt has been made to document the
photographic record at St. Catherine’s library by collecting information not only from well
known publications, but also from the private correspondence of the organizers of photographic
projects and the monastery’s leadership. This approach enables us to look into the human side of
the scholars’ and monks’ interactions and not just the final product of their expeditions.
The Early Illustrated Apollonius of Tyre: Perspectives on the Palimpsest Fragment in Sinai, Arabic NF 8. A Workshop of the Andrew W. Mellon-funded “The Book and the Silk Roads” and the SSHRC-funded “Apollonius of Tyre in Italy”
19-20 April 2021
[TITLE]
Recovery of the Sinai Fragments of Apollonius of Tyre
[ABSTRACT]
In spr... more 19-20 April 2021
[TITLE]
Recovery of the Sinai Fragments of Apollonius of Tyre
[ABSTRACT]
In spring 2014, the Sinai Palimpsests Project—a collaboration of St. Catherine’s Monastery of the Sinai, the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library (EMEL), and the UCLA Library—spectrally imaged Arabic New Finds 8, a palimpsest codex in the Monastery library. By early 2015, participating scholars Michelle Brown and David Ganz recognized among its erased texts unexpected fragments of Apollonius of Tyre that featured a 6th or early 7th century illustration.
[TITLE]
The Sinai Palimpsests Project: recovering texts erased 1,000 years ago through the system... more [TITLE]
The Sinai Palimpsests Project: recovering texts erased 1,000 years ago through the systematic application of non-destructive spectral imaging techniques
[ABSTRACT]
The Sinai Palimpsests Project, a collaboration of St. Catherine’s Monastery of the Sinai, Egypt, and the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library (EMEL), is the most extensive application to date of spectral imaging to recover obscured information from historical source materials. Over its five-year course, the project spectrally imaged more then 6,800 palimpsest pages, generated multiple innovations, and managed a successful workflow including scientists, technicians and scholars on three continents . This talk will review the history of the project, its structure and procedures, selected contributions, and future directions.
This project was the first systematic effort to spectrally image a large and diverse collection of palimpsests. Notably, when spectrally imaging a manuscript collection of such volume, most of the effort goes largely unnoticed: cataloging, materials handling, data management, and quality control. All of these considerations defined the day-to-day operations of the project, in order to ensure consistently high-quality data across five years of imaging. The project team accumulated unparalleled experience in implementation of an end-to-end spectral imaging workflow. Protocols and procedures were established that suggest best practices for other spectral imaging programs.
Project results are now online, hosted by the UCLA Library in collaboration with the Monastery. For this purpose, UCLA developed a unique branch to Mirador (IIIF compliant) that supports the comparison of multiple images of the same folio, either side-by-side or in layers.
3rd International Conference on Natural Sciences and Technology in Manuscript Analysis and the workshop OpenX for Interdisciplinary Computational Manuscript Research - Hamburg Germany
12-14 June 2018
University of Hamburg, Germany, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures
International Conference Vienna, New Light on Old Manuscripts: Recent Advances in Palimpsest Studies
25-27 April 2018 - Vienna, Austria
[TITLE]
Implementing Spectral Imaging in the Sinai Desert
[ABS... more 25-27 April 2018 - Vienna, Austria
[TITLE]
Implementing Spectral Imaging in the Sinai Desert
[ABSTRACT]
This paper gives a detailed presentation of the Spectral Imaging system (built by Mega
Vision and Equipoise Imaging, along with modifications suggested by EMEL) that was
installed at St. Catherine’s M onastery for the spectral imaging of the Sinai Palimpsests
Project. An explanation of the workflow will be given, as well as the way that the
technology and the system evolved and were upgraded through the years, as we
5/22
transitioned from the E6 digital back to the E7 digital back of Mega Vision. This also
included the addition of auxiliary light sources, which had the effect of better quality
photos with more light and more data available for the image processing scientists.
Problems and creative solutions in the middle of the Sinai desert were always a
challenge, but also unexpected discoveries in the dark imaging rooms were made, which
gave beautiful flowery images to the scholarly community for future generations to study
in depth, after their preliminary study by the author of this paper.
PhD thesis by Damianos Kasotakis
Dissertation, 2022
Saint Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai was built in the 6th century as a Byzantine fortress, pr... more Saint Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai was built in the 6th century as a Byzantine fortress, protecting both the monks and their liturgical artifacts. The Sinai Monastery is characterized by its remoteness, isolation, and continuous monastic life in the last 15 centuries. These factors have greatly contributed not only to the formation of an ascetic spirituality, but also the preservation of treasured relics. Particularly, the Sinai Library is considered as second only to the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana in significance and number of manuscripts. The location of the Monastery has protected manuscripts from warfare and pillaging and the dry climate of the desert has preserved the objects in low levels of relative humidity.
This dissertation focuses on the photographic expeditions and projects that took place among the walls of the Sinai Monastery between the 19th and the 21st century. Divided in two parts, the first deals with the historical expeditions up to modern times (1894-2010). The second part investigates the most recent digitization projects (2011-2021) that include spectral photography of palimpsests, digitization of the entire Sinai manuscripts collection, and a forgotten 20th-century glass plates collection. This is the first time all documented photographic expeditions of Sinai manuscripts are investigated and described in one place. The historical aspect provides a platform of comparison and education from the experiences of different expeditions through different times. The technical dive into three modern digitization projects, all different from each other, gives a broad perspective on the contents of the Sinai Library collections. From erased and re-written texts to dry fragile parchment manuscripts, and forgotten glass plate photographs, the Sinai Library is a treasured research center. The concluding results of the dissertation offer new information based on research material not published before, and contribute to the better understanding of the history of Saint Catherine’s Monastery and its Library.
https://www.didaktorika.gr/eadd/handle/10442/51267?locale=en
Published Papers by Damianos Kasotakis
The Sinai Palimpsests Project: A View from the Imaging Room
New Light on Old Manuscripts, 2022
[Forthcoming Paper]
Kasotakis, Damianos, The Sinai Palimpsests Project: A View from the Imaging ... more [Forthcoming Paper]
Kasotakis, Damianos, The Sinai Palimpsests Project: A View from the Imaging Room, in: Claudia Rapp, Giulia Rossetto, Jana Grusková and Grigory Kessel (eds.), New Light on Old Manuscripts: The Sinai Palimpsests and Other Advances in Palimp-sest Studies (Vienna, forthcoming)
Insights into the Digital Recovery of the Scythica Vindobonensia
Le livre manuscrit grec : écritures, matériaux, histoire. Actes du IXe Colloque international de Paléographie grecque. Paris, 10-15 septembre 2018. Ed. par M. Cronier et B. Mondrain (Travaux et mémoires 24/1), Paris, 2020
J. Grusková, G. Martin, O. Kresten, F. Mitthof, K. Kaska, Ch. Hofmann, W. Kreuzer, M. Phelps, K. ... more J. Grusková, G. Martin, O. Kresten, F. Mitthof, K. Kaska, Ch. Hofmann, W. Kreuzer, M. Phelps, K. Boydston, R. L. Easton, Jr., K. T. Knox, D. Kelbe, D. Kasotakis, W. A. Christens-Barry, D. Stewart, I. Rabin, O. Hahn, L. Glaser, J. Garrevoet, I. Shevchuk, S. Klumpp, D. Deckers, J. Buck,
Insights into the Digital Recovery of the Scythica Vindobonensia.
In: Le livre manuscrit grec : écritures, matériaux, histoire. Actes du IXe Colloque international de Paléographie grecque. Paris, 10-15 septembre 2018. Ed. par M. Cronier et B. Mondrain (Travaux et mémoires 24/1), Paris 2020, pp. 945-967.
ABSTRACT: The article provides insights into the digital recovery of the Scythica Vindobonensia, the new fragments on Gothic incursions into Roman provinces in the Balkans in the 3rd century AD, which were discovered some years ago in four palimpsest folios of the Greek manuscript Hist. gr. 73 of the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The fragments come most probably from the lost work Scythica by the 3rd-century AD historian Dexippus of Athens. In order to render the palimpsested writing of the 11th-century copy of the ancient text visible, the involved scholars invited several technical and scientific teams who provide state-of-the-art expertise in the field of digital recovery of erased writings to apply non-invasive imaging and advanced image processing on the Vienna palimpsest.
manuscript cultures 15, 2018
Cover MARKK, Inv.-Nr. 942:08; Schriftartefakt bestehend aus einer bearbeiteten und geschnitzten h... more Cover MARKK, Inv.-Nr. 942:08; Schriftartefakt bestehend aus einer bearbeiteten und geschnitzten halben Kokosnussschale und 17 Bambusstreifen, die mit Baumwollfäden angebunden wurden. Es diente als Divinationsinstrument, um die Zukunft vorherzusagen; Katalog Nr. 22. | MARKK, inv. no. 942:08; a written artefact composed of 17 bamboo slips tied to a carved and reshaped coconut shell by cotton threads. The artefact was used as a divination instrument for predicting the future; catalogue no. 22.
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Outreach by Damianos Kasotakis
Seit Jahrhunderten werden im Katharinenkloster am Berg Sinai wertvolle Handschriften aufbewahrt, insgesamt mehr als 4500 Stück. Unter manchen Texten verbergen sich alte ausradierte Schriften, die Fachleute mit Hilfe digitaler Multispektralfotografie wieder sichtbar machen - und dabei verlorene Göttergeschichten der Antike entdecken.
A new project to scan manuscripts at the world's oldest monastery is exposing amazing ancient texts.
tanea.gr > Ελλάδα > Χειρόγραφα-θησαυροί... αμύθητης αξίας ψηφιοποιούνται και διασώζονται.
Lectures - Talks by Damianos Kasotakis
090124 UE Digital Resources for Classicists and Byzantinists (2023W)
09.01.2024 - Digitization A-Z
070269 UE Methodological course - Digital Approaches to Medieval Manuscripts (2023W)
17.11.2023 - Overview of Multispectral Imaging
Lecture at Athens University of Economics and Business, as part of the Digital Work seminar series. In collaboration with Papyrology and Palaeography Laboratory, Department of Greek Philology of Democritus University of Thrace.
Topic:
Sinai Library: How spectral imaging discovers erased writings in palimpsest manuscripts.
Abstract:
The lecture "Sinai Library: How spectral imaging discovers erased writings in palimpsest manuscripts.", presents the technical and technological approach to spectral photography as well as the latest notable discoveries from the Sinai Palimpsests Project (2011-2016), which restored ancient lost texts from the Library of the Holy Monastery of Sinai. The Sinai Monastery of St. Catherine’s was founded by Emperor Justinian in the middle of the 6th century AD. The library still preserves one of the most important collections of manuscripts, both in Greek and more than ten other languages. At St. Catherine’s monastery, about 160 palimpsest manuscripts have been discovered, which are a treasure for scholars and scientists around the globe.
The Monastery’s library, one of the world’s oldest, preserves manuscripts dating from the 4th to the 19th century. Among its treasures are numerous palimpsests, that is, manuscripts written on recycled parchment where an older layer of writing has been erased. The prospect of discovering unknown ancient texts among the erased layers of palimpsests brought scholars to the Monastery beginning in the late 19th century. Though they made every effort to read the erased texts, some texts seemed lost forever.
Beginning in 2011, the Monastery worked with a team of scientists and scholars assembled by the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library (EMEL) to use multi-spectral imaging to render the erased texts legible. To date, the team has recovered more than 300 erased texts. They are written in ten languages and range in date from the 5th to the 12th century. The recovered texts include previously unknown Christian, Jewish and classical texts, notably lost works of ancient science, philosophy and mythology. The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) is hosting the results of the project online as part of a digital library of the Monastery’s palimpsests – sinai.library.ucla.edu.
Conference Presentations by Damianos Kasotakis
St. Catherine’s Library (Sinai) Through a Photographic Lens: Between Scholarship and Monasticism
[ABSTRACT]
Saint Catherine’s Monastery of the Sinai is a refuge for cultural heritage treasures, with an
uninterrupted history of more than 1500 years. Today we know of the existence of 4500
manuscripts in the monastery library. This knowledge was not widely available to the public one
hundred years ago. The hard work of scholars and monks establishing a relationship of
collaboration made possible the promotion and advancement of scholarship through the study of
this ancient library.
The remote location of the monastery contributed to the survival of the manuscripts, but it also
posed difficulties for scholars wanting to reach and study the physical objects. By the end of the
19 th century a new technology was used to assist the scholarly effort: still image capturing by
photographic means. The photography and reproduction off-site of manuscript images allowed
the better and broader study of many objects, without the limitation of time or difficulties of long
travel. In the 20 th century this technology advanced even more; expeditions were now made
specifically to the Sinai desert for the reproduction of manuscripts in St. Catherine’s library.
This paper deals with the history of photographic expeditions at St. Catherine’s that focused
specifically on manuscript photography, the unknown contributors who made access to the
library possible, and the effects these interactions had on the local monastic community from the
19th to the 21st century. It is the first time that an attempt has been made to document the
photographic record at St. Catherine’s library by collecting information not only from well
known publications, but also from the private correspondence of the organizers of photographic
projects and the monastery’s leadership. This approach enables us to look into the human side of
the scholars’ and monks’ interactions and not just the final product of their expeditions.
[TITLE]
Recovery of the Sinai Fragments of Apollonius of Tyre
[ABSTRACT]
In spring 2014, the Sinai Palimpsests Project—a collaboration of St. Catherine’s Monastery of the Sinai, the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library (EMEL), and the UCLA Library—spectrally imaged Arabic New Finds 8, a palimpsest codex in the Monastery library. By early 2015, participating scholars Michelle Brown and David Ganz recognized among its erased texts unexpected fragments of Apollonius of Tyre that featured a 6th or early 7th century illustration.
The Sinai Palimpsests Project: recovering texts erased 1,000 years ago through the systematic application of non-destructive spectral imaging techniques
[ABSTRACT]
The Sinai Palimpsests Project, a collaboration of St. Catherine’s Monastery of the Sinai, Egypt, and the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library (EMEL), is the most extensive application to date of spectral imaging to recover obscured information from historical source materials. Over its five-year course, the project spectrally imaged more then 6,800 palimpsest pages, generated multiple innovations, and managed a successful workflow including scientists, technicians and scholars on three continents . This talk will review the history of the project, its structure and procedures, selected contributions, and future directions.
This project was the first systematic effort to spectrally image a large and diverse collection of palimpsests. Notably, when spectrally imaging a manuscript collection of such volume, most of the effort goes largely unnoticed: cataloging, materials handling, data management, and quality control. All of these considerations defined the day-to-day operations of the project, in order to ensure consistently high-quality data across five years of imaging. The project team accumulated unparalleled experience in implementation of an end-to-end spectral imaging workflow. Protocols and procedures were established that suggest best practices for other spectral imaging programs.
Project results are now online, hosted by the UCLA Library in collaboration with the Monastery. For this purpose, UCLA developed a unique branch to Mirador (IIIF compliant) that supports the comparison of multiple images of the same folio, either side-by-side or in layers.
[TITLE]
Implementing Spectral Imaging in the Sinai Desert
[ABSTRACT]
This paper gives a detailed presentation of the Spectral Imaging system (built by Mega
Vision and Equipoise Imaging, along with modifications suggested by EMEL) that was
installed at St. Catherine’s M onastery for the spectral imaging of the Sinai Palimpsests
Project. An explanation of the workflow will be given, as well as the way that the
technology and the system evolved and were upgraded through the years, as we
5/22
transitioned from the E6 digital back to the E7 digital back of Mega Vision. This also
included the addition of auxiliary light sources, which had the effect of better quality
photos with more light and more data available for the image processing scientists.
Problems and creative solutions in the middle of the Sinai desert were always a
challenge, but also unexpected discoveries in the dark imaging rooms were made, which
gave beautiful flowery images to the scholarly community for future generations to study
in depth, after their preliminary study by the author of this paper.
PhD thesis by Damianos Kasotakis
This dissertation focuses on the photographic expeditions and projects that took place among the walls of the Sinai Monastery between the 19th and the 21st century. Divided in two parts, the first deals with the historical expeditions up to modern times (1894-2010). The second part investigates the most recent digitization projects (2011-2021) that include spectral photography of palimpsests, digitization of the entire Sinai manuscripts collection, and a forgotten 20th-century glass plates collection. This is the first time all documented photographic expeditions of Sinai manuscripts are investigated and described in one place. The historical aspect provides a platform of comparison and education from the experiences of different expeditions through different times. The technical dive into three modern digitization projects, all different from each other, gives a broad perspective on the contents of the Sinai Library collections. From erased and re-written texts to dry fragile parchment manuscripts, and forgotten glass plate photographs, the Sinai Library is a treasured research center. The concluding results of the dissertation offer new information based on research material not published before, and contribute to the better understanding of the history of Saint Catherine’s Monastery and its Library.
https://www.didaktorika.gr/eadd/handle/10442/51267?locale=en
Published Papers by Damianos Kasotakis
Kasotakis, Damianos, The Sinai Palimpsests Project: A View from the Imaging Room, in: Claudia Rapp, Giulia Rossetto, Jana Grusková and Grigory Kessel (eds.), New Light on Old Manuscripts: The Sinai Palimpsests and Other Advances in Palimp-sest Studies (Vienna, forthcoming)
Insights into the Digital Recovery of the Scythica Vindobonensia.
In: Le livre manuscrit grec : écritures, matériaux, histoire. Actes du IXe Colloque international de Paléographie grecque. Paris, 10-15 septembre 2018. Ed. par M. Cronier et B. Mondrain (Travaux et mémoires 24/1), Paris 2020, pp. 945-967.
ABSTRACT: The article provides insights into the digital recovery of the Scythica Vindobonensia, the new fragments on Gothic incursions into Roman provinces in the Balkans in the 3rd century AD, which were discovered some years ago in four palimpsest folios of the Greek manuscript Hist. gr. 73 of the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The fragments come most probably from the lost work Scythica by the 3rd-century AD historian Dexippus of Athens. In order to render the palimpsested writing of the 11th-century copy of the ancient text visible, the involved scholars invited several technical and scientific teams who provide state-of-the-art expertise in the field of digital recovery of erased writings to apply non-invasive imaging and advanced image processing on the Vienna palimpsest.