'And the Word Was Made Flesh.' Greek and Aramaic Inscriptions as Substitutes for the Physical Presence of Benefactors in Eastern Christian Sanctuaries (original) (raw)

Introduction: Defining the field : The epigraphic cultures of Late Antiquity

2017

The aim of this book – and of the conference on which it was based – is to document and discuss the diversity and wealth of the epigraphic cultures of Late Antiquity. It is an attempt at understanding the various political, cultural and religious structures that characterized this period, and the special place occupied by inscriptions in the societies that produced and lived with them. Our goal is, therefore, to put these inscribed artefacts in their wider socio­political and physical contexts, illustrating the ways in which monuments and texts were related to the world around them. The chapters that follow propose to explore the geographic and typological diversity of late antique epigraphy as well as the many textual forms and material supports through which these epigraphic practices have come down to us. One of the central arguments pursued here is that, although marked by essential continuities, late antique epigraphy differed from that of previous periods in many important way...

Inscriptions and the Epigraphic Habit. The Epigraphic Cultures of Greece, Rome, and Beyond

2023

Inscriptions are a major feature of the Greek and Roman worlds, as inhabitants around the Mediterranean chose to commit text to stone and other materials. How did the epigraphic habit vary across time and space? Once adopted, how was the epigraphic habit variously expressed? The chapters of this volume analyze the epigraphic cultures of regions, cities, and communities through both large-scale analyses and detailed studies. From curse tablets in Britain to multilingual communities in Judaea-Palestine, from Greece to Rome to the Black Sea, and across nearly a millennium, the epigraphic outputs of cities and individuals underscore a collective understanding of the value of inscribed texts.

Reading Epigraphic Culture, Writing Funerary Space in the Roman City

Chapter 3, Written Space in the Latin West, 200 BC to AD 300 (Bloomsbury Publishing) 49-64, 2013

The presence of inscriptions in funerary contexts tests the boundaries of our understanding of what it meant to be a part of an oral-literate society and a participating member of a pervasive epigraphic culture. To appreciate the significance underpinning this juxtaposition of social and cultural issues, we should consider the implications of a single question: Who made these inscriptions? Determining ‘who’ calls for the inquirer to examine how possible it was for any member of the ancient population to formulate – articulate, produce, and transmit – a written message within the extra-mural spaces of Rome’s funerary environment. The extent to which inscriptions seem to address interpretative issues of concern to the composer, the ancient society, and the modern researcher – for instance, the manner and subject of public commemoration – is a necessary addendum to the questions of literacy, epigraphic technique, and the sociolinguistic system in Classical antiquity. This finding must also address how accessible the location chosen was for any individual, and the degree of significance which that person attached to the context of memorialization. These points of inquiry lead the investigator to a discussion of modes of social mobility, kinds and numbers of intended audiences, and the thought processes, values, and beliefs shared by members of different communities under Roman rule.