From Monte Cassino abbey to St Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai, and back: the Journey of a Monk and the Encounter of Graphic Cultures

The contribution is focused on the journey of the monk John, future abbot of Monte Cassino’s abbey John III (997-1010), from Monte Cassino abbey to the monastery of St Catherine on Mount Sinai. Leo Ostiensis in his Chronica Casinensis, records John’s trip towards the Arabic East as well as his long stay in St Catherine’s monastery. Through John’s journey, and thanks to new textual and manuscript evidence recently discovered, seems possible to establish a link between Monte Cassino abbey and the monastery of St. Catherine. In particular John’s long stay in the Egyptian monastery might offer a possible key for interpreting a new type of script – the so-called Beneventano-cassinese type – as a result of the encounter of different written culture traditions and aesthetics.