ISAC Museum Demotic Ostraca Online (ISACM_DO)

Dr. Foy D. Scalf, University of Chicago
Dr. Brian Muhs, University of Chicago
Dr. Jacqueline E. Jay, Eastern Kentucky University

ISACM_DO was developed as a scholarly research tool and a venue for the publication of the collection of nearly 1,000 ostraca inscribed with Demotic texts in the ISAC Museum. These texts provide fascinating insights into the social, culture, and administration of Egypt from the third century BC to the second century AD. The project’s goal is to make accessible all of the Demotic ostraca in this collection, both published and unpublished, to scholars worldwide in a format that will allow for complex searching and sorting criteria as well as quick and easy updating. In addition to the primary editions and metadata of the texts, ISACM_DO uses OCHRE to link information networks between the texts, a corpus-based lexicon, and prosopographical study of attested individuals.

For the philologist, OCHRE offers ready-made tools “out of the box” that can be put to immediate profitable use. OCHRE’s ability to atomize and recombine data allows users to make connections between otherwise disparate evidence that would otherwise be missed. The extensive toolbox available in OCHRE provides an unconstrained and flexible research environment compatible with the most ambitious and creative scholarly inquiry.

Foy D. Scalf

Head, Research Archives and Research Associate, Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures