Strengthening small disciplines: New Perspectives on Byzantine Studies through Digital Humanities

In our contribution, we discuss how “small disciplines” can be supported and strengthened with the help of digital tools and workflows. We report on two projects at the intersection of Byzantine Studies and Digital Humanities at the University of Cologne: one aiming to digitally enhance four major fields of Byzantine Studies (Numismatics, Sigillography, Epigraphy, and Greek Manuscript Studies), and the other focusing on digitizing four collections of lead seals to make them available online. Specifically, we intend to outline the initial results of the projects in building digital infrastructures, workflows, and tools for Byzantine Studies with a focus on sigillography and to discuss our further plans with the Digital Humanities community.