IFAO

Workshop Overview

The Institut français d’archéologie orientale (Ifao) is pleased to announce a two-day joint papyrology workshop organized in collaboration with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. This event marks the official launch of the new Ifao Papyrology Seminar series, which will be held on a monthly basis beginning in September 2025. The Seminar is coordinated by Khaled Younes, Laura Aguer, and Ahmad Nakshara and is the first of its kind to dedicate sustained scholarly attention to papyrology in the three ancient languages—Greek, Coptic, and Arabic.

Since its foundation in 1880, the Ifao has placed papyrology at the heart of its research agenda. The institute has played a pivotal role in the development of the discipline and in fostering the emergence of related fields, such as the archaeology of Late Antiquity and the study of administrative, legal, and social transformations in post-Pharaonic Egypt. The Ifao's long-standing engagement with documentary and literary papyri has contributed significantly to our understanding of the linguistic, cultural, and religious shifts that shaped Egyptian society from the Greco-Roman period through the early Islamic centuries.

By launching this seminar series, the Ifao reinforces its commitment to interdisciplinary and multilingual papyrological research and provides a platform for advanced training and scholarly exchange among Egyptian and international researchers. The present workshop, “Papyrology in Dialogue,” inaugurates the series by bringing together a group of Egyptian academics and ten advanced students from the University of Ljubljana for two days of lectures, practical sessions, and collaborative study.

The event will be followed by a three-day hands-on workshop focused specifically on Coptic documentary papyrology, offering extended training opportunities for Egyptian and Slovenian participants specializing in this area.

Instructors

• Laura Aguer (Ifao)
• Khaled Younes (University of Sadat City / Ifao)
• Maher Eissa (Fayoum University)
• Ahmad Nakshara (Ain Shams University / Ifao)
• Mohamed el-Maghrabi (Alexandria University)
• Farouk Bouaziz (University of Tunis / Ifao)

Keynote Speaker Jan Ciglenečki (University of Ljubljana)

Download the programme