About

About the project

This database was created as part of the AHRC-DFG UK German collaborative research projects in the humanities: The Seven Sages of Rome: Editing and Reappraising a forgotten premodern classic from global and gendered perspectives, jointly funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

It assembles existing research on the Seven Sages of Rome and the Book of Sindbad tradition, verified and updated as far as possible. We have prioritised capturing the transmission before 1600, but entered information on later manuscripts and print editions when readily available.

How to cite: Bonsall, Jane, Bettina Bildhauer and Maximilian Nöth (eds), The Seven Sages of Rome Database (2024–2026) https://db.seven-sages-of-rome.org/index.php?title=Main_Page&oldid=8394

Team: The database is largely the work of Jane Bonsall (University of St Andrews, United Kingdom). It was designed by Bonsall, Bettina Bildhauer and Maximilian Nöth at the Zentrum für Digitalität und Philologie at the University of Würzburg (Germany). Nöth and his team set up the user interface and web architecture. Individual entries were authored by Elisabeth Böttcher (Freie Universität Berlin), Alfie Watkins (Oxford), Marjolijne Janssen (Freie Universität Berlin), Ava Byrne (St Andrews). Additional data was entered by Jack Kornowske, Ana Ross, Annabel Lloyd Wrafter and Sining Yun. Jutta Eming as co-investigator on the AHRC-DFG project and Ida Toth contributed further contacts and information.

Background, Sources, Priorities

To populate the Seven Sages of Rome Database, we have relied on existing secondary research material. While we have tried to verify information where possible (e.g. using library catalogues, digitisations, and editions), we have not always conducted primary research to confirm this information, but instead have worked to capture the state of the field. To do so, we have relied on Seven Sages/Book of Sindbad scholarship, both focused studies exploring the different language traditions, and a few large, multi-lingual overviews of the whole narrative transmission, including a few key sources:

Runte, Wikeley and Farrell (1984) and The Society of the Seven Sages Portal:

The Seven Sages of Rome and the Book of Sindbad: an Analytical Bibliography, edited by Hans Runte, Keith Wikeley, and Anthony J. Farrell (1984), has been an important starting point for understanding the existing scholarship across the tradition. The continuation of the Analytical Bibliography published online as part of The Society of the Seven Sages portal demonstrates the way digital methods might be used to work across this literary tradition, and offers an updated bibliography of scholarship until 2014.

Runte, Wikeley and Farrell divide the tradition into 32 languages, and use language grouping as their primary way of organising the tradition (rather than Versions or narrative patterns). We have usually followed their language divisions, with some exceptions:

- We have designated Scots as distinct from English

- We have renamed 'Provençal' as 'Occitan'

- We have omitted Norwegian. While Runte et. al. refer to Vogt (1931) who mentions a Norwegian version (p. 145), it is not an adaptation of the complete Seven Sages narrative, and therefore does not meet our minimum requirements for inclusion in the database.

Nishimura (2001):

Using the database

The database is chiefly into version, manuscript, print and inset stories sections.

Versions: The versions page offers an overview of the Seven Sages of Rome and Book of Sindbad traditions. Further information of each of the version is available by clicking on its title. Click the plus sign to the left of each title to expand and make visible any secondary versions. Some versions have subversions in different.

Languages: If you are interested in a particular language, navigate to the languages page and select this language. This page then displays all versions, manuscripts and prints in that language.

Manuscripts and prints: Manuscripts and prints are collected in two separate lists. Each can be filtered by language, date of production, version, existence of illustration etc. by clicking on the filter button in the top right corner of the page. You can select more than one filter at a time. To sort the overall manuscript or print list by date, language, location etc., click the arrows in the respective column.

Inset stories: This gives summaries of the Latin and English titles of the stories embedded in the Seven Sages/ Book of Sindbad frame narrative. The motifs are tagged on each story page. Clicking on that tag will show all stories with that motif.

Location map: All places of production of manuscripts and prints, locations of libraries and modern research literature places of publication are visualised on this page. You can filter to see only locations of manuscript production, early modern printing locations and places of text composition by clicking the respective tab at the top of the map.