A random conversation at a lunch in a canteen at the University of Copenhagen in 1988 eventually lead to a significant increase in the small corpus of edited Syriac-Manichaean fragments. At the time Werner Sundermann (1935-2012) from the Berlin Turfan Collection was in Copenhagen to present his good friend, Jes Peter Asmussen (1928-2002; professor in Iranian Philology) with a Festschrift. During the lunch Sundermann told Pedersen that he had just identified some fragments in the Berlin Papyrus Collection as Syriac written in Manichaean script. Sundermann said that it was a sensation and that he was intended to make an edition of them. Pedersen remembered this, and many years later he started working with these fragments, encouraged by Sundermann. It turned out that the fragments had in fact been found by the conservator, Myriam Krutzsch, in the 1970s, in a cardboard box with no inventory number or information about their acquisition. It was Mrs. Krutzsch who had contacted Sundermann in order to have the script and language identified.
As a new member of the forum, I am thrilled to have found this topic. I recently came across the Manichaean fragments while researching early Christianity. I'm off to research further and hope to contribute to this topic soon. Blessings of Peace, Al
I wonder if anyone has investigated the twine illustrated in the photograph. It looks of "recent" vintage, i.e. past few decades. Biological twine, (hemp, for example) does not have a multi century lifespan, unless protected from sunlight, moisture, and oxygen.
What is the purpose of the twine? Were these fragments in the cardboard box initially in some other container, or is that information also missing?
It is difficult to place a time of origin on something like this, given the history of persecution of Manichaeism. I wonder how photographs of the script compare with comparable photos from the German archives in Berlin from the discoveries in Central Asia?
I wonder if anyone has investigated the twine illustrated in the photograph. It looks of "recent" vintage, i.e. past few decades.
Ha, ha, ha. The conspiracy theorists will of course argue that the evidence was 'planted' there to 'prove' the existence of the heresies. For what reason none of us have ever been able to figure out other - than of course - to help 'disprove' Pete and his army of morons. Top priority in the world of scholarship. They actually have meetings to this very day to figure out ways of undermining the amazing strength of the 'Christianity wasn't invented until yesterday' argument.
