PAThs.docs
Tracking Papyrus and Parchment Paths.
An Archaeological Atlas of Coptic Literature.

Manual for the correct use and reading of the Places section of the PAThs database

A detailed technical description of database schema is published at schema/places.

Ref.: paths.places

Place identifiers

ID

  • The unique stable identifier of each place. The identifier is a sequential integer provided by the database engine.
  • DB id: paths__places.id

SITE NAME

  • English ‘standard’ version of the most common toponym used in the scholarly literature
  • DB id: paths__places.name

Trismegistos GeoID

Pleiades Id

  • Pleiades Id, if available
  • DB id: paths__places.pleiades

Place names

For each place multiple instances of the following group of fields can be filed, each one describing a single toponym form.

These fields are not part of the places table but of the m_toponyms table.

LANGUAGE

  • The language in which the toponym is expressed, e.g.: Egyptian, Greek, Latin, Coptic, Arabic and English.
  • DB id: paths__m_msplaces.language

PLACE NAME

  • The single toponym variant.
  • DB id: paths__m_msplaces.toponym

TRANSCRIPTION

NOTES

  • Possible notes for the toponym variant
  • DB id: paths__m_msplaces.notes

SORT

  • This field is used to manually order the single items.
  • DB id: paths__m_msplaces.sort

Current administrative position

REGION

  • Egyptian macro regions as listed by Baines, J., Malek, J. 1980 (Atlas of Ancient Egypt. Oxford) with the exception of Thebes (divided in Western and Eastern Thebes) and the Fayyum region.
  • DB id: paths__places.region

AREA

  • A coherent modern area if available, eg. Valley of the Queens / Kings, etc.
  • DB id: paths__places.area

Ancient administrative position

NOME

Capital of nome

  • True if the site is the capital of the pertinent nome, false otherwise.
  • DB id: paths__places.isnomoscapital

PROVINCE

  • The pertinent Diocletian province.
  • DB id: paths__places.province

MERIS

  • The pertinent Egyptian Fayyumic meris.
  • DB id: paths__places.meris

Religious administrative position

EPISCOPAL SEE

  • If the site is documented to have been a bishopric or not.
  • DB id: paths__places.episcopalsee

EPISCOPAL SEE FROM YEAR

  • If known, the year from which the site is documented to have been a bishopric.
  • DB id: paths__places.episcopalseefrom

NOTES ON EPISCOPAL SEE

  • Sources or other notations on the episcopal see, if the site is documented to have been a bishopric.
  • DB id: paths__places.notesepiscopalsee

Chronology

DATE FROM

  • The upper chronological limit expressed in years of the ‘Coptic’ phase of the site
  • DB id: paths__places.datefrom

DATE TO

  • The lower chronological limit expressed in years of the ‘Coptic’ phase of the site
  • DB id: paths__places.dateto

DATING CRITERIA AND NOTES

  • Detailed information on which the dating of the site is made.
  • DB id: paths__places.datingcriteria

Description

TYPOLOGY

  • Site typologies has been shaped after (selected from) Pleiades’ Feature (or Place) Categories, with the addition of hermitage unit(s) and castrum.
  • DB id: paths__places.typology

TOPOGRAPHICALLY REFERRED TO

  • An already inserted place (internal reference) to which the current place is topographically linked. Only upwards relations must be recorded. -DB id: paths__places.toporeferredto

NOTES ON TOPOGRAPHICAL REFERENCE

  • Descriptive notes about the (upwards) topographical relation of the site.
  • DB id: paths__places.notestoporeferredto

DOES THE SITE INCLUDE ANY MONASTERIES?

  • True (1) if a site contains one or many monasteries, false (0) otherwise.
  • DB id: paths__places.hasmonastery

NOTES ON MONASTERY

  • Descriptive notes on the monastic nature of the site.
  • DB id: paths__places.monasterynotes

HISTORICAL CONNECTIONS / REFERENCES

  • Historical (textual) evidence of relations between two or more sites.
  • DB id: paths__places.historicalreference

DESCRIPTION

  • A detailed description of the site, limited to the 3rd-11th Centuries CE.
  • DB id: paths__places.description

Other periods

For each place multiple instances of the following group of fields can be filed, each one providing a short description of a specific phase.

These fields are not part of the places table but of the m_placephase table.

PERIOD

  • Specific chronological period, controlled by a vocabulary derived from perio.do. The following items are so far implemented:
    • Predynastic Egypt (4500 BC - 2950 BC)
    • Early Dynastic Egypt (2950 BC - 2670 BC)
    • Old Kingdom Egypt (2670 BC - 2168 BC)
    • First Intermediate Period Egypt (2168 BC - 2010 BC)
    • Middle Kingdom Egypt (2010 BC - 1640 BC)
    • Second Intermediate Period Egypt (1640 BC - 1548 BC)
    • New Kingdom Egypt (1548 BC - 1086 BC)
    • Third Intermediate Period Egypt (1086 BC - 664 BC)
    • Late Period Egypt (664 BC - 332 BC)
    • Macedonian Egypt (332 BC - 304 BC)
    • Ptolemaic Egypt (304 BC - 30 BC)
    • Ptolemaic-Roman Egypt (304 BC - AD 640)
    • Roman, early Empire (30 BC - AD 300)
    • Late Antique (AD 300 - AD 640)
    • Early Byzantine (AD 650 - AD 850)
    • Middle Byzantine (AD 850 - AD 1200)
    • Late Byzantine Period (AD 1200 - AD 1450)
    • Early Ottoman Empire (AD 1453 - AD 1683)
    • Ottoman Empire (AD 1513 - AD 1918)
    • undefined.
  • DB id: paths__m_placephase.fperiod

NOTES ON PERIOD

  • Further verbose notes on the period
  • DB id: paths__m_placephase.fperiodnote

TYPOLOGY

  • Typology of the site in the specific period
  • DB id: paths__m_placephase.ftypology

DESCRIPTION

  • Full description of the site referring to the specific period
  • DB id: paths__m_placephase.fdescription

Editorial information

EDITORS

  • Initials of the person(s) responsible for the record.
  • DB id: paths__places.editors

STATUS

  • If the record has been fully compiled the status is set to complete; if it is under study the status is set to in-progress. If the status is blank it means that the provided information are incomplete, not reliable and liable to change in the future.
  • DB id: paths__places.status

LAST MODIFIED

  • Date of last edit
  • DB id: paths__places.lastmodified

Bibliography

For each place multiple instances of the following group of fields can be filed, each one describing a bibliographic reference.

These fields are not part of the places table but of the m_biblio table.

SHORT REFERENCE

  • Short reference of the bibliographic item as stored in biblio table
  • DB id: paths__m_biblio.short

SPECIFIC DETAILS

  • Pages of the publication if not precised in the reference
  • DB id: paths__m_biblio.details

DETAILS ABOUT IMAGES

  • Pages or figures containing reproductions of (part[s] of) the manuscript
  • DB id: paths__m_biblioimages