Exchange with the MPCD team - Carlo Marchetti as a guest at CERES

Dr. Carlo Marchetti from La Sapienza University in Rome has been visiting CERES for one and a half weeks. On May 15, Marchetti gave a lecture on interdisciplinary approaches in Middle Persian research as part of the MPCD Guest Lectures. Using concrete examples from his research practice, he explained why it makes sense not only to evaluate Middle Persian manuscripts one-dimensionally as literary evidence, but also to consider them simultaneously as material cultural evidence. In this respect, Marchetti demonstrated the important insights that can be gained for understanding the text by examining palaeographical aspects or the framework conditions of Zoroastrian manuscript production and transmission.

Marchetti's observations are directly related to his research activities, his in-depth examination of various Middle Persian manuscripts and the history of their production and transmission. He received his doctorate with a critical edition of selected Pahlavi texts from the Codex MK. The Codex MK is the oldest surviving collection of Pahlavi writings, compiled by the Zoroastrian priest and copyist Mihraban Kayhusraw in 1322. Marchetti continued his work with Pahlavi codices after completing his doctorate and in recent years has focused on paleographic studies.

Marchetti, who has also researched and published on the historical geography of the ancient land of Media, on Middle Persian and Parthian inscriptions and on various aspects of royal representation in the eastern Iranian lands from the Greco-Bactrian period to early Islam, also works as an epigraphic consultant for the Italian Archaeological Mission in Iraqi Kurdistan (MAIKI). He also heads the editorial board of the journal Sēnmurw - Journal of Iranian Studies, which is dedicated to textual research, history and archaeology of the Iranian world from antiquity to modern times and is published by the Istituto per l'Oriente C. A. Nallino in Rome.

Carlo Marchetti's visit was also linked to an exchange with the members of the MPCD project. The main aim was to explore prospects for future collaboration and to introduce the guest from Rome to the technical details of the MPCD platform. We would like to thank Dr. Carlo Marchetti for his interest in the work of the MPCD team and the insights into his research. It will be interesting to see what opportunities for future collaboration will open up.

Link to the MPDC portal:: MPCD - Middle Persian Corpus and Dictionary (mpcorpus.org)

Further information on Carlo Marchetti's lecture: MPCD Guest Lectures - CERES - Ruhr-Universität Bochum (rub.de)

Website of Dr. Carlo Marchetti at the University La Sapienza in Rome: CARLO MARCHETTI | PHILOLOGY AND HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD (uniroma1.it)