MF CASR Lunch with Liv Ingeborg Lied

From the Bird’s Eye View: The Christian Manuscripts that Preserved 4 Ezra

This MF CASR talk presents, for the first time, a comprehensive overview of the manuscripts that preserved the apocalyptic text, 4 Ezra. Surviving in nine languages, in manuscripts spread across Asia, Africa, Europe and eventually the Americas, in a variety of text forms, from the seventh to the twentieth century, the manuscript transmission of 4 Ezra invites new questions as to how texts ascribed to antiquity survived: who preserved them, in which forms did they circulate, and how were they perceived by those who produced and engaged with the manuscripts? The talk also moves beyond 4 Ezra, asking how humanities researchers tackle “big data.”  What do we spot from the bird’s eye view that we do not see from other angles?  

Image source: Library of Congress, published under CC BY-SA 3.0 Copyright law