Nicola Barbagli | Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung (original) (raw)
Papers by Nicola Barbagli
F. Carlà-Uhink, Ch. Rollinger (eds), The Tetrarchy as ideology: reconfigurations and representations of an imperial power (Heidelberger althistorische Beiträge und epigraphische Studien, Bd. 64), Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, pp. 221-246 , 2023
This article deals with hieroglyphic inscriptions dated between Diocletian and Constantius II wit... more This article deals with hieroglyphic inscriptions dated between Diocletian and Constantius II with the aim to shed light on the reception of the emperors and the final stage of Egyptian kingship. The analysis focusses on three funerary stelae of the sacred animals from Hermonthis since, as it is demonstrated, two blocks from Tahta usually ascribed to Maximinus Daia date in fact to Commodus. It is proved that all four emperors of the imperial college are mentioned in the Tetrarchic stela. It is also argued that the author of the text modelled the dating formula after the format occurring in Greek documents in order to fit the rulers in, and borrowed the title pr-aA.w nty xw (‘the kings who are revered’), otherwise attested only in demotic, as to convey their equal status as pharaohs. Finally, it is demonstrated how the two remaining stelae attest to the adaptation of their texts to the changing dating systems used by the local administrations rather than being documents of an alleged pagan reaction to the Christian emperors.
Studi Classici e Orientali LXVII.2 = A. Anguissola, M. Castiglione, F. Guidetti (eds), Munera Musarum: Studi per Lucia Faedo, PIsa: Pisa University Press, pp. 183-197, 2021
The article presents the first published study of a Late Period granodiorite striding male statue... more The article presents the first published study of a Late Period granodiorite striding male statue inscribed with the hieroglyphic titulary of a Roman emperor, which is housed in the Minneapolis Institute of Art (acc. no. 58.14). It argues that the sculpture was produced either for a royal or a private person in the IV-III century BC and that it was reused during the reign of Caracalla (AD 211-217), whose names were carved on four cartouches on the left side of the back pillar’s extension, possibly on the occasion of the emperor’s second visit to Egypt.
F. Guidetti - K. Meinecke (eds), A Globalised Visual Culture?: Towards a Geography of Late Antique Art, Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 91-131, 2020
The Luxor temple was one of the most important temples in Egypt well into the Roman period. Betwe... more The Luxor temple was one of the most important temples in Egypt well into the Roman period. Between the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century AD, the temple underwent significant architectural and decorative alterations: the enclosure wall was rebuilt and equipped with towers and gates; the inner space was newly organized with a grid of streets, whose intersections were decorated with two monumental tetrastyla honouring the emperors. The structure of the temple was altered to accommodate new functions: a vestibule to the sancta sanctorum was partly closed off and painted with frescoes depicting the emperors and other figures involved in various activities. These interventions are usually interpreted as aimed at adapting the abandoned temple to a military camp, so that the painted chamber would have been the shrine of the standards, or a room dedicated to the imperial cult. Much effort has been devoted to the reconstruction and interpretation of the paintings, relying mostly on the watercolour sketches made by John Gardner Wilkinson in 1856 and rediscovered in 1953 by Ugo Monneret de Villard.
Thanks to the restoration led by the American Research Center in Egypt in 2005-2008 and the subsequent publication of a detailed monograph, new materials are available for analysis. The aim of this chapter is to place the temple and its paintings in the framework of late antique visual culture, on both a regional and an empire-wide scale. The new architectural arrangement of the complex is compared to other buildings of the tetrarchic period (fortresses, military camps, palaces) in order to outline a clearer picture of what Luxor would have looked like after the late antique interventions. The analysis of the paintings is focused on the images of the emperors, comparing them to other official representations in an empire-wide perspective in order to highlight the peculiarities of the Luxor frescoes and their meaning. Much emphasis is placed on the reception of imperial images in the Egyptian context, as well as on the interaction between these and local visual traditions, with the aim of defining how much the formal arrangement and iconography of the paintings owes to the temple’s (old and new) functions and the local artistic milieu, and how many features they share with other imperial images in non-Egyptian contexts. Analysis of this unique evidence contributes to understanding the visual culture of the late Roman provinces, as well as visual manifestations of imperial ideology.
G.A. Cecconi - R. Lizzi Testa - A. Marcone (eds.), The Past as Present. Essays on Roman History in Honour of Guido Clemente, Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 43-91, 2019
The fall of Alexandria on the 1st of August 30 BC marks the end of the Ptolemaic kingdom and the ... more The fall of Alexandria on the 1st of August 30 BC marks the end of the Ptolemaic kingdom and the beginning of Augustus’ supremacy. That day is usually remembered as the date of Antony’s death, and as the prologue to the tragic events that led to Cleopatra’s suicide. It is another episode which happened on the very same day, however, which became famous in antiquity: the pardon that the son of Caesar granted to the Alexandrians, announced with a speech delivered in the city’s gymnasium. The reception of this episode crosses different literary genres, spanning the first four centuries AD: it is reported by Plutarch (Ant. 80, Mor. 207a-b, 814c-e), Cassius Dio (li. 16. 3-4), the emperor Julian (Ep. 111. 433d-434a) and Themistius (Or. viii. 108b-c, Or. xiii. 173b-c). Through the analysis of these authors’ use and interpretation of the episode in light of their respective literary agendas and different socio-political environments, this paper provides a reception history of the episode from the high imperial period to late antiquity. It is finally suggested that its value as a historical example of both the emperor’s clemency and the philosopher’s advisory role was the key factor of its success.
G. A. Cecconi, R. Lizzi Testa, A. Marcone (eds.),The Past as Present: Essays on Roman History in Honour of Guido Clemente, Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 27-40 , 2019
Bibliografia del Professor Guido Clemente, con correzioni e aggiornamenti (17.06.2022) Bibliog... more Bibliografia del Professor Guido Clemente, con correzioni e aggiornamenti (17.06.2022)
Bibliography of the late Guido Clemente, with corrections and updates (17.06.2022)
Marilina Betrò, Stefano de Martino, Gianluca Miniaci, Frances Pinnock (a cura di), Egitto e Vicino Oriente Antichi. Studi e ricerche sull'Egitto e Vicino oriente in Italia: I convegno nazionale Pisa 5-6 giugno 2017. Pisa: Pisa University Press 2018, pp. 103-116, 2018
This paper examines the Egyptian royal titulary of Augustus, focusing on the case of the Throne n... more This paper examines the Egyptian royal titulary of Augustus, focusing on the case of the Throne name.
The current view is that changes in its content attest a direct intervention of Augustus aimed at ‘Romanising’ the royal titulary. According to this interpretation, the onomastic element autokrator, which formed the usual content of the Augustan Throne name, marked a dramatic break with traditional kingship: it allegedly substituted the Egyptian gods with the Roman institutions, which granted to Augustus his imperium.
This interpretation heavily depends on the view of Romanisation as an entirely top-down process, and considers neither the authors and the audience of the titulary nor the historical context where it was created and used. Comparing the evidence of the Roman titulary with that of the Late and Ptolemaic periods I challenge this view, arguing that the peculiarity of the Throne name of Augustus is strictly related to inner developments of the hieroglyphic titulary, especially those of the first century BC. In conclusion, Augustus’ reign marked the transition to a new and long-lasting phase of the history of Egyptian kingship.
C. Häuber (edited by), Augustus and the Campus Martius in Rome: the Emperor's Rôle as Pharaoh of Egypt and Julius Caesar's Calendar Reform; the Montecitorio Obelisk, the Meridian Line, the Ara Pacis, and the Mausoleum Augusti - in Honour of Eugenio La Rocca on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday, 2017
The aim of this paper is to sketch a brief outline of the research history of the topic "Augustus... more The aim of this paper is to sketch a brief outline of the research history of the topic "Augustus and the Egyptian Kingship", mainly conceived for the readers of Häuber's book.
Talks by Nicola Barbagli
Abstract of the talk delivered at the international symposium "Reading reuse: Image recycling in ... more Abstract of the talk delivered at the international symposium "Reading reuse: Image recycling in Egypt and beyond" - Cairo, IFAO, 30 October - 2 November 2023
Abstract of the talk delivered at the XIII International Congress of Egyptologists - Leiden 6-11... more Abstract of the talk delivered at the XIII International Congress of Egyptologists - Leiden 6-11 August 2023
Abstract of the talk delivered at the "Simposio Italiano di Egittologia - prima edizione" - Capo ... more Abstract of the talk delivered at the "Simposio Italiano di Egittologia - prima edizione" - Capo di Ponte (BS), 6–8 June
Abstract of the talk delivered at the international conference "Urbes clariores aliis: Urban tran... more Abstract of the talk delivered at the international conference "Urbes clariores aliis: Urban transitions in Roman Egypt from the third to the fourth century CE", Rome, 11–12 May
Abstract of the talk delivered at the international conference "The damned despot: rethinking Dom... more Abstract of the talk delivered at the international conference "The damned despot: rethinking Domitian and the Flavian world" - Rome, 18-21 January 2023
F. Carlà-Uhink, Ch. Rollinger (eds), The Tetrarchy as ideology: reconfigurations and representations of an imperial power (Heidelberger althistorische Beiträge und epigraphische Studien, Bd. 64), Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, pp. 221-246 , 2023
This article deals with hieroglyphic inscriptions dated between Diocletian and Constantius II wit... more This article deals with hieroglyphic inscriptions dated between Diocletian and Constantius II with the aim to shed light on the reception of the emperors and the final stage of Egyptian kingship. The analysis focusses on three funerary stelae of the sacred animals from Hermonthis since, as it is demonstrated, two blocks from Tahta usually ascribed to Maximinus Daia date in fact to Commodus. It is proved that all four emperors of the imperial college are mentioned in the Tetrarchic stela. It is also argued that the author of the text modelled the dating formula after the format occurring in Greek documents in order to fit the rulers in, and borrowed the title pr-aA.w nty xw (‘the kings who are revered’), otherwise attested only in demotic, as to convey their equal status as pharaohs. Finally, it is demonstrated how the two remaining stelae attest to the adaptation of their texts to the changing dating systems used by the local administrations rather than being documents of an alleged pagan reaction to the Christian emperors.
Studi Classici e Orientali LXVII.2 = A. Anguissola, M. Castiglione, F. Guidetti (eds), Munera Musarum: Studi per Lucia Faedo, PIsa: Pisa University Press, pp. 183-197, 2021
The article presents the first published study of a Late Period granodiorite striding male statue... more The article presents the first published study of a Late Period granodiorite striding male statue inscribed with the hieroglyphic titulary of a Roman emperor, which is housed in the Minneapolis Institute of Art (acc. no. 58.14). It argues that the sculpture was produced either for a royal or a private person in the IV-III century BC and that it was reused during the reign of Caracalla (AD 211-217), whose names were carved on four cartouches on the left side of the back pillar’s extension, possibly on the occasion of the emperor’s second visit to Egypt.
F. Guidetti - K. Meinecke (eds), A Globalised Visual Culture?: Towards a Geography of Late Antique Art, Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 91-131, 2020
The Luxor temple was one of the most important temples in Egypt well into the Roman period. Betwe... more The Luxor temple was one of the most important temples in Egypt well into the Roman period. Between the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the 4th century AD, the temple underwent significant architectural and decorative alterations: the enclosure wall was rebuilt and equipped with towers and gates; the inner space was newly organized with a grid of streets, whose intersections were decorated with two monumental tetrastyla honouring the emperors. The structure of the temple was altered to accommodate new functions: a vestibule to the sancta sanctorum was partly closed off and painted with frescoes depicting the emperors and other figures involved in various activities. These interventions are usually interpreted as aimed at adapting the abandoned temple to a military camp, so that the painted chamber would have been the shrine of the standards, or a room dedicated to the imperial cult. Much effort has been devoted to the reconstruction and interpretation of the paintings, relying mostly on the watercolour sketches made by John Gardner Wilkinson in 1856 and rediscovered in 1953 by Ugo Monneret de Villard.
Thanks to the restoration led by the American Research Center in Egypt in 2005-2008 and the subsequent publication of a detailed monograph, new materials are available for analysis. The aim of this chapter is to place the temple and its paintings in the framework of late antique visual culture, on both a regional and an empire-wide scale. The new architectural arrangement of the complex is compared to other buildings of the tetrarchic period (fortresses, military camps, palaces) in order to outline a clearer picture of what Luxor would have looked like after the late antique interventions. The analysis of the paintings is focused on the images of the emperors, comparing them to other official representations in an empire-wide perspective in order to highlight the peculiarities of the Luxor frescoes and their meaning. Much emphasis is placed on the reception of imperial images in the Egyptian context, as well as on the interaction between these and local visual traditions, with the aim of defining how much the formal arrangement and iconography of the paintings owes to the temple’s (old and new) functions and the local artistic milieu, and how many features they share with other imperial images in non-Egyptian contexts. Analysis of this unique evidence contributes to understanding the visual culture of the late Roman provinces, as well as visual manifestations of imperial ideology.
G.A. Cecconi - R. Lizzi Testa - A. Marcone (eds.), The Past as Present. Essays on Roman History in Honour of Guido Clemente, Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 43-91, 2019
The fall of Alexandria on the 1st of August 30 BC marks the end of the Ptolemaic kingdom and the ... more The fall of Alexandria on the 1st of August 30 BC marks the end of the Ptolemaic kingdom and the beginning of Augustus’ supremacy. That day is usually remembered as the date of Antony’s death, and as the prologue to the tragic events that led to Cleopatra’s suicide. It is another episode which happened on the very same day, however, which became famous in antiquity: the pardon that the son of Caesar granted to the Alexandrians, announced with a speech delivered in the city’s gymnasium. The reception of this episode crosses different literary genres, spanning the first four centuries AD: it is reported by Plutarch (Ant. 80, Mor. 207a-b, 814c-e), Cassius Dio (li. 16. 3-4), the emperor Julian (Ep. 111. 433d-434a) and Themistius (Or. viii. 108b-c, Or. xiii. 173b-c). Through the analysis of these authors’ use and interpretation of the episode in light of their respective literary agendas and different socio-political environments, this paper provides a reception history of the episode from the high imperial period to late antiquity. It is finally suggested that its value as a historical example of both the emperor’s clemency and the philosopher’s advisory role was the key factor of its success.
G. A. Cecconi, R. Lizzi Testa, A. Marcone (eds.),The Past as Present: Essays on Roman History in Honour of Guido Clemente, Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 27-40 , 2019
Bibliografia del Professor Guido Clemente, con correzioni e aggiornamenti (17.06.2022) Bibliog... more Bibliografia del Professor Guido Clemente, con correzioni e aggiornamenti (17.06.2022)
Bibliography of the late Guido Clemente, with corrections and updates (17.06.2022)
Marilina Betrò, Stefano de Martino, Gianluca Miniaci, Frances Pinnock (a cura di), Egitto e Vicino Oriente Antichi. Studi e ricerche sull'Egitto e Vicino oriente in Italia: I convegno nazionale Pisa 5-6 giugno 2017. Pisa: Pisa University Press 2018, pp. 103-116, 2018
This paper examines the Egyptian royal titulary of Augustus, focusing on the case of the Throne n... more This paper examines the Egyptian royal titulary of Augustus, focusing on the case of the Throne name.
The current view is that changes in its content attest a direct intervention of Augustus aimed at ‘Romanising’ the royal titulary. According to this interpretation, the onomastic element autokrator, which formed the usual content of the Augustan Throne name, marked a dramatic break with traditional kingship: it allegedly substituted the Egyptian gods with the Roman institutions, which granted to Augustus his imperium.
This interpretation heavily depends on the view of Romanisation as an entirely top-down process, and considers neither the authors and the audience of the titulary nor the historical context where it was created and used. Comparing the evidence of the Roman titulary with that of the Late and Ptolemaic periods I challenge this view, arguing that the peculiarity of the Throne name of Augustus is strictly related to inner developments of the hieroglyphic titulary, especially those of the first century BC. In conclusion, Augustus’ reign marked the transition to a new and long-lasting phase of the history of Egyptian kingship.
C. Häuber (edited by), Augustus and the Campus Martius in Rome: the Emperor's Rôle as Pharaoh of Egypt and Julius Caesar's Calendar Reform; the Montecitorio Obelisk, the Meridian Line, the Ara Pacis, and the Mausoleum Augusti - in Honour of Eugenio La Rocca on the Occasion of His 70th Birthday, 2017
The aim of this paper is to sketch a brief outline of the research history of the topic "Augustus... more The aim of this paper is to sketch a brief outline of the research history of the topic "Augustus and the Egyptian Kingship", mainly conceived for the readers of Häuber's book.
Abstract of the talk delivered at the international symposium "Reading reuse: Image recycling in ... more Abstract of the talk delivered at the international symposium "Reading reuse: Image recycling in Egypt and beyond" - Cairo, IFAO, 30 October - 2 November 2023
Abstract of the talk delivered at the XIII International Congress of Egyptologists - Leiden 6-11... more Abstract of the talk delivered at the XIII International Congress of Egyptologists - Leiden 6-11 August 2023
Abstract of the talk delivered at the "Simposio Italiano di Egittologia - prima edizione" - Capo ... more Abstract of the talk delivered at the "Simposio Italiano di Egittologia - prima edizione" - Capo di Ponte (BS), 6–8 June
Abstract of the talk delivered at the international conference "Urbes clariores aliis: Urban tran... more Abstract of the talk delivered at the international conference "Urbes clariores aliis: Urban transitions in Roman Egypt from the third to the fourth century CE", Rome, 11–12 May
Abstract of the talk delivered at the international conference "The damned despot: rethinking Dom... more Abstract of the talk delivered at the international conference "The damned despot: rethinking Domitian and the Flavian world" - Rome, 18-21 January 2023
Abstract of the talk delivered at the Current Research in Egyptology (CRE) XXII Conference - Mont... more Abstract of the talk delivered at the Current Research in Egyptology (CRE) XXII Conference - Montpellier, 26-30 September 2022
Abstract of the talk delivered at the 110th Annual Conference of the College Art Association, Chi... more Abstract of the talk delivered at the 110th Annual Conference of the College Art Association, Chicago, February 16–19, 2022
Abstract of the talk delivered at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of Amer... more Abstract of the talk delivered at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America (San Francisco, January 5-8)
Abstract of the talk given in the panel "Gods Don’t Die. Resistance, Resilience, Revival of Deiti... more Abstract of the talk given in the panel "Gods Don’t Die. Resistance, Resilience, Revival of Deities and Cult Practices". 18th Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions (EASR): “Resilient Religion”. Pisa, 30 August - 3 September 2021.
Abstract of the talk delivered at the international workshop 'Altering Images: Iconoclasm in Anci... more Abstract of the talk delivered at the international workshop 'Altering Images: Iconoclasm in Ancient Egypt - Chapter II: The Royal Sphere', Liege 12-14 May 2021
Histos, 2023
Review of T. Shahin, Fragmente eines Lebenswerks: Historischer Kommentar zur Universalgeschichte ... more Review of T. Shahin, Fragmente eines Lebenswerks: Historischer Kommentar zur Universalgeschichte des Nikolaos von Damaskus, Bruxelles 2020. The text is fully accessible from "Histos" website: https://histos.org/documents/2023RR05BarbaglionShahin.pdf