The Coptic Book: Codicological Features, Places of Production, Intellectual Trends. Introduction

The theme section of this issue of Adamantius collects the proceedings of the international conference The Coptic book between the 6th and the 8th centuries: codicological features, places of production, intellectual trends (Rome, “Sapienza” Università di Roma – Academia Belgica, 21-22 September 2017)1, organized within the scientific activities of the ERC project “PAThs - Tracking Papyrus and Parchment Paths: An Archaeological Atlas of Coptic Literature. Literary Texts in their Geographical Context: Production, Copying, Usage, Dissemination and Storage”, plus two more contributions – respectively dedicated to the Coptic version of the letter of Athanasius to the monk Dracontius, transmitted by a horizontal roll, and to the Coptic tradition of John Chrysostom’s homilies on the Epistle to the Hebrews – that, although exceeding the chronological limits dealt with the conference, are extremely relevant for the reconstruction of the development of the Christian Egyptian book and literary tradition.