Codex Zacynthius Spectral Imaging Project

2018-2020, Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

A collaboration of EMEL, Cambridge University Library, and the Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing at Birmingham University. The project is led by Professor David Parker (Principal Investigator) and Dr Hugh Houghton (Co-Investigator) and is funded by an Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Grant.

The erased layer of Codex Zacynthius, a palimpsest, preserves a 7th/8th century copy of the Gospel of Luke, which is the oldest Greek New Testament manuscript to contain extracts from writings by early Christian theologians alongside the biblical text.

Recovering these original extracts reveals tantalizing glimpses of lost writings and lost interpretations of the Gospels. A full transcription is being produced, along with an innovative presentation of images of the undertext and overtext, all of which will be openly available online through Cambridge Digital Library.

Similar Projects

  • Enoch Palimpsest Spectral Imaging Project

    2016, State Library of Berlin. EMEL spectrally imaged a palimpsest that preserves rare early Ethiopic texts, including the oldest surviving copy of the Books of Enoch, the oldest non-biblical Ethiopic text, and several yet unidentified texts. Funded by the German Research Council. New Biblical Text Discovered Thanks to a grant from the German Research Council…

  • Vienna Palimpsests Projects

    2013-present, Austrian National Library, Vienna, Austria. EMEL is a long-term partner with the Austrian National Library and the Byzantine Research Division of Institute for Medieval Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences. EMEL provides spectral imaging and image processing to recover erased ancient texts on selected palimpsests. Funded by the Austrian Science Foundation. 2019 to present, the…

  • Next-Generation System for Imaging Fragile Codices

    2006 – 2009, Funded by the Seaver Institute. EMEL worked with Stokes Imaging of Austin, Texas, to develop a computer-controlled cradle which supports fragile manuscripts during digitization and which improves efficiency and lowers costs for the digitization of large collections of precious manuscripts. This system is now installed at: • St. Catherine’s Monastery of the…

  • Integrating Spectral and Reflection Transformation Imaging Technologies

    2013 – 2014, Funded by National Endowment for the Humanities [FAIN: HD-51709-13] This project integrated two proven technologies for imaging cultural artifacts: • Spectral imaging, which collects detailed color data in order to recover information which is indistinguishable to the naked eye, such as unreadable text on a manuscript or stages of revision in a…

  • Vatopedi Palimpsests Project

    2024–present, Vatopedi Monastery, Mt. Athos, Greece. The “Vatopedi Palimpsests Project” is a pioneering collaboration between the Holy Vatopedi Monastery, the UCLA Library, and the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library (EMEL); with the participation of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. This ambitious initiative aims to systematically study and digitally recover the hidden texts within all palimpsest manuscripts housed…

  • Jubilees Palimpsest Spectral Imaging Project

    2017-2020, Ambrosiana Library, Milan, Italy. A collaboration of EMEL and St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, to apply spectral imaging and reflection transformation imaging to palimpsests at the Ambrosiana Library in Milan. Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Multi-spectral imaging recovered texts that included a 5th century copy of the Book of Jubilees, the…