Seminars

The Centre hosts the following lecture in Trinity 2026:

Roberta Mazza (University of Bologna): Beyond Provenance: Publishing Papyri and Other Manuscripts from Egypt in 2026

A critical reflection on the history of papyrology and papyrus collecting, discussing problems and issues in current policies and practices in the field. Prof. Mazza’s book, Stolen Fragments: black markets, bad faith, and the illicit trade in ancient artefacts, was a winner of the 2025 Independent Publisher Book Awards. Her scholarly detective skills were instrumental in the important  revelation of the provenance of items purchased for the Green Collection and Museum of the History of the Bible, Washington, DC.

The Centre hosts the following lecture in Hilary 2026:

Thibaut d’Hubert (Institut für Indologie und Tibetologie, LMU, Munich): Al-Maʿná fī Baṭn al-Shāʿir: On the text-critical relevance of Fayḍī’s autobiographical comments

Abstract: Fayḍī Fayyāḍī (1547–1595), the poet laureate of the Mughal emperor Akbar, was a celebrity of his time. In addition to having prompted praises and criticism from his contemporaries throughout the Persianate world, he left a substantial body of writings on his life (prefaces in Arabic and Persian, letters, qaṣīdas) and comments about himself scattered in his poetry (rubāʿīs, ghazals, and mathnawīs). In this lecture, Thibaut d’Hubert will discuss the generic background of these autobiographical writings, how they can help us shed light on the history of the compiling of his dīwān, and what they teach us about the way Fayḍī fashioned his persona, envisioned his oeuvre, and composed his poetry.