The Seven Sages of Rome is a global medieval narrative tradition that literary scholars have only begun to study. The tale of a ruler's son whose life is fought over for seven days by telling examples in the face of false accusations of rape has been transmitted in numerous languages and versions. In view of this wealth of material, digital and text-statistical approaches to interpretation can shed light on the diversity of the tradition as well as on features of individual texts. This approach will be demonstrated using the example of various versions of the German Sieben weise Meister. 

Nico Kunkel teaches at Universität Konstanz; his monograph Modulares Erzählen. Serialität und Mouvance in der Erzähltradition der "Sieben weisen Meister" has appeared in January 2023 with de Gruyter Verlag.

The AnonymClassic research colloquium promotes a number of international guest speakers in alternation with close reading sessions on manuscript editing and presentations of the team’s research topics. Discussion of methodological approaches and digital humanities issues are at the center of attention.

Colloquium sessions are being held in a hybrid fashion: while the personal encounter is made possible again, the advantages of remote access will not be lost. Participants meet every Thursday from 12:15 to 1:45 pm (CET). Colleagues, visiting scholars, and students (Arabic Studies or related disciplines) are cordially invited to participate. We especially welcome researchers based elsewhere than Freie Universität Berlin to join us for any one (or more) sessions.

For registration, please mail to: oualid.el.khattabi@fu-berlin.de