During the last years, Arabic papyrology has continued to contribute significantly to Arabic and Islamic studies: we now dispose of a number of high standard editions of documents; scholars working on the Islamic World up to the 16th century counterbalance literary tradition with documentary evidence; and cooperation with Demotic, Greek, and Coptic papyrology, as well as with Genizah Studies has steadily improved.

The Seventh International Society for Arabic Papyrology Conference (ISAP VII) in 2018 will both provide a platform to show the state of the art, and a purview of the many kinds, genres and languages of Early Islamic documents (including Arabic, Coptic, and Greek papyri, inscriptions and coins) within the wider historical context of the time's manuscript production. For this, we will have access to the very rich holdings of the Berlin Papyrus Collection and the Manuscript Collection of the Berlin Staatsbibliothek. About one third of the contributions will be devoted to this wider perspective.

The conference will start on the morning of Tuesday, 20 March 2018, and continue through the morning of Friday, 24 March, 2018. The program will include 20-minute presentations and an evening lecture, as well as workshops in the Berlin Papyrus Collection and the Manuscript Collection of the Berlin Staatsbibliothek. Conference languages will be English, German, French and Arabic. However, all lectures will be given in English.

Giving a lecture and/or presenting a poster:

Please send a 400-word abstract to Andreas Kaplony (andreas.kaplony@lmu.de) no later then 1 November, 2017 (deadline extended). Notification regarding the acceptance of proposals will be made by 1 December, 2017.

Participation with no lecture:

Please send a notice of intent to participate to Andreas Kaplony (andreas.kaplony@lmu.de) no later then 1 January, 2018.

Conference Fees:

There will be a conference fee charged of 75 Euro. Participation it the Conference will also require membership in the ISAP (annual fee of 25/15 Euro). Information on membership can be found on the ISAP website (www.naher-osten.lmu.de/isap).

Travel Subsidies:

It is hoped that the Conference will be able to offer grants for scholars not able to obtain institutional funding for travel to Berlin and accomodation. Please let us know soon whether you will apply for such sponsorship.

Conference Organizers:

Lajos Berkes (New Testament Studies, HU zu Berlin)
Beatrice Gruendler (Chair of Arabic Studies, FU Berlin)
Konrad Hirschler (Chair of Islamic Studies, FU Berlin)
Andreas Kaplony (Chair of Arabic and Islamic Studies, LMU Munich/ISAP)
Verena Lepper (Egyptology, Egyptian and Oriental Papyrus Collection of the Egyptian Museum, National Museums Berlin/HU Berlin)
Michael Marx (Corpus Coranicum, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy)
Johannes Niehoff-Panagiotidis (Chair of Byzantine Studies at the Institute for Greek and Latin Philology, FU Berlin)
Tonio Sebastian Richter (Chair of Egyptology, FU Berlin).

If you have any further questions about the Conference, please contact Beatrice Gruendler (beatrice.gruendler@fu-berlin.de) or Andreas Kaplony (andreas.kaplony@lmu.de).