Prometheus – Promoting Universal Values through Digital Epigraphy and Cultural Heritage: PROMETHEUS

Programme(s): Creative Europe Programme (CREA)

Topic(s): CREA-CULT-2023-COOP-1

Type of action: CREA Lump Sum Grants

Project ID: 101130735

Objective: Epigraphic monuments are an important part of cultural heritage and a valuable source of information about the past. They testify to all aspects of human civilization and are a helpful tool for the recognition and promotion of universal human values. In the last decades, epigraphy has significantly evolved as a digital domain. Various digital corpora and initiatives exist that promote the use of digital technology in bringing the content of the inscriptions closer to the wider audience. The Southeastern European and Balkan countries have a significant Greek and Roman epigraphic heritage, nevertheless their digital epigraphy resources are underdeveloped and museums are in need of new models for audience development. The aim of this cooperation is to bring together the existing successful practices of digital epigraphy, and the use of epigraphy for education in order to create digital collection of inscriptions from the regions of North Macedonia, Bulgaria and Serbia accompanied with other digital resources that will serve as a tool for active engagement of the audience in appreciating the stories of epigraphic monuments and the universal values they share. This project will enhance the transnational cooperation in the area of digital epigraphy and cultural heritage between cultural, educational and research institutions in Southeastern European, Balkan and other countries. It will build up their capacities to create digital epigraphic corpora and to implement the existing and develop new resources and models that will engage the audience in a way in which everyone will be able to recognize the universal values as a link between the past, the present and the future. The digital content created as a result of this project will be open access and thus the local epigraphic monuments will become available to diverse audiences from around the world to be studied as a historical source, used for education and appreciated as a European cultural heritage.