Marangon, D. (2020), Latin Inscriptions in the Arap Camii, in: Ida Toth and A. Rhoby (eds.), Materials for the Study of Late Antique and Medieval Greek and Latin Inscriptions in Istanbul a Revised and Expanded Booklet, Vienna and Oxford (original) (raw)

The paper examines inscriptional material dating back to a pivotal period in Byzantine writing culture. The seventh century has been identified as the time when inscribed texts diminish in number, and entire inscriptional categories disappear, while much less attention has been paid to the more productive aspects of its epigraphic habit. These include the appearance of twelve-syllable inscriptional verses, strong epigraphic evidence for imperial ideology, warfare and factional strife, and, most outstandingly, the proliferation of inscribed objects associated ever more elaborate religious practices, and, more generally, everyday life and popular beliefs. To some extent seventh-century inscriptions continue late antique traditions, but they also testifying to the introduction of some novel epigraphic practices, and to the messages of beneficence, piety and commemoration as their most prevalent features. This paper explores the epigraphic manifestations and ramifications of this transformation.

The publication of inscriptions has been evolving over the last couple of centuries. The nineteenth century saw progression from individual copies to the great corpora; the twentieth century saw the extensive use of photography, and fuller descriptions of context, both material and intellectual. These developments improved the quality of publications, but created problems of scale; editors trying to manage the enormous volume of material were forced to create categories to allow them to select material, and Byzantine inscriptions have frequently been relegated to appendices or omitted. In the twenty-first century the development of digital publication is offering an opportunity to reunite materials which have been separated by categorisation or location, and for experts to collaborate in new ways: a collaborative online corpus of Byzantine inscriptions, contributed by a range of experts, and covering many geographical areas, could be a scholarly model for other fields.

In spite of the striking abundance of extant primary material, Byzantine epigraphy remains uncharted territory. The volume of the Proceedings of the 49th SPBS Spring Symposium aims to promote the field of Byzantine epigraphy as a whole, and topics and subjects covered include: Byzantine attitudes towards the inscribed word, the questions of continuity and transformation, the context and function of epigraphic evidence, the levels of formality and authority, the material aspect of writing, and the verbal, visual and symbolic meaning of inscribed texts. The collection is intended as a valuable scholarly resource presenting and examining a substantial quantity of diverse epigraphic material, and outlining the chronological development of epigraphic habits, and of individual epigraphic genres in Byzantium.

This volume collects, in a revised, corrected and expanded form, about 1,200 annual notices of publications of Christian inscriptions from the territories of the Byzantine empire that were originally published in the Bulletin epigraphique of the Revues des Etudes grecques between 1987 and 2004, a period when greater and better-informed attention was paid to this material than previously. Denis Feissel was responsible for the majority of the notices, as, continuing in the footsteps of Louis Ro...

Close examination of the apse painting of Christ in Glory in the Pancarlık church in Cappadocia, Turkey, from the ninth or tenth century, reveals the important role of painted inscriptions in this program. The prominent central epigraph has been published previously, but with uncertainty about the reading of damaged letters. With the text of this inscription here confirmed , its significance becomes clear. The epigraph mentions " great fear, " which proves key to interpreting the apse program and the intended viewer response. It can be related to two other Cappadocian inscriptions, heretofore read incorrectly and not connected with the Pancarlık example. I propose that this group of rhythmic but nonmetrical inscriptions represents a local, oral tradition, an element of popular piety generally lost to scholars. The Pancarlık apse inscription draws on this tradition but transforms it to heighten its impact on the viewer. I also present additional dipinti from the apse, including one in an unusual mirror-image script. Together with the Christ in Glory in the apse, the painted inscriptions are active agents that create a space for personal reflection and emotional response by well-educated ecclesiastics and barely literate laypersons alike; it does not require extensive theological or exegetical knowledge. The Pancarlık church therefore encourages us to explore the sophisticated use of words and images in a non-Constantinopolitan context as well as the opportunities for viewer response to a middle Byzantine painted program.