site.btaSofia University Contributes to International Prometheus Digital Epigraphy Project

Sofia University is part of the international Prometheus digital epigraphy project. Leading experts from Sofia University are participating in cooperation with academic and cultural institutions from the region, such as the Archaeological Museum of the Republic of North Macedonia in Skopje, the Institute of Balkan Studies in Belgrade, the University of Belgrade and the University of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Skopje, the Bulgarian university said on Thursday.

Epigraphy is a philological and archaeological discipline that studies old inscriptions that are not written with a pen, but carved (most often carved with a chisel or some other sharp instrument) or painted with a brush on old frescoes and icons. 

The project aims to use existing practices and available resources in the field to create a digital epigraphic collection of ancient Latin and Greek inscriptions from Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Serbia. The collection will serve as a tool for education and promotion of the cultural discipline among modern audiences. According to scholars, ancient written monuments are an important part of cultural heritage and in many ways can provide important information about human civilization and an opportunity for another perspective on universal human values throughout the ages.

The first event of the project's two-year programme, an open-access online workshop on digital epigraphy, is taking place between April 15 and 19, 2024. It is taught by Dr Dimitar Iliev and a team of digital epigraphers from the Department of Classical Philology at Sofia University - Elina Boeva and Kristian Simeonov, both of whom have considerable experience in the technical processing and encoding of inscriptions using modern technologies.

In recent decades, digital epigraphy has been developing intensively as a discipline worldwide and there are already teams working in Bulgaria to digitize the written heritage of Bulgarian lands. But there is still much to be achieved against the backdrop of the significant epigraphic heritage in the Balkan region. This is precisely the mission of the Prometheus project - to contribute in an accessible way to the development of ancient epigraphy in the Balkans as part of the common cultural heritage of Europe and the world.

The list of guest lecturers includes specialists from the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts and the University of Helsinki, the Sofia University noted.