Multispectral imaging was performed in Berlin (November 2019) and Warsaw (December 2021) to assist preparing a first published edition of all papyrus leaves identified as belonging to P. Berol. inv. 15998.  These are the remnants of a codex containing copies of letters written by Mani or Manichaeus in a Coptic translation, as circulated amongst the Manichaean communities of Egypt in late antiquity.  The artefact was acquired for the Berlin state museums (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin) in the early 1930s.  The print edition of these remains was published by Iain Gardner as Mani’s Epistles in 2022.  The images can be viewed here as listed according to the page numbers assigned to them in the publication, and also referenced to the inventory numbers utilised by the museums in Berlin and Warsaw where they are now housed. 

For all further details refer to:

I. Gardner, Mani’s Epistles. The Surviving Parts of the Coptic Codex Berlin P. 15998, (Manichäische Handschriften der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Band II), W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2022.

High resolution, color and processed TIFF images can be viewed in the viewer or downloaded for viewing.

Complete multispectral datasets, as well as the brief explanation of MSI datasets can be found and downloaded at the bottom of the list.

The research for this project was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany's Excellence Strategy – EXC 2176 'Understanding Written Artefacts: Material, Interaction and Transmission in Manuscript Cultures', project no. 390893796. The research was conducted within the scope of the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) at Universität Hamburg.