ERC GRAPH-EAST

The GRAPH-EAST project has received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement n° 948390. The goal is to explore Latin epigraphic writing in the Eastern Mediterranean (7th-16th c.), from Greece and Turkey to Egypt via the coast of Palestine-Syria and Cyprus, in contact, interaction, and competition with Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Armenian, Syriac etc. inscriptions, reflecting the political, religious, social and cultural issues of the area. The project proposes an innovative study of an outstanding body of texts, an estimated 2,500 inscriptions and graffiti, many unpublished, that opens a new field of research. It aims at understanding the representation and practice of the Latin script, alien in the Byzantine and Islamic empires, providing a connected history of epigraphy in this area, and analysing this migrant Latin writing through the prism of cultural transfers between West and East, with an international and pluridisciplinary team.