Inscriptions in the Private Sphere in the Greco-Roman World (original) (raw)
2015
When one thinks of inscriptions produced under the Roman Empire, public inscribed monuments are likely to come to mind. Prominent dedicatory inscriptions on building architraves, statue bases listing the achievements and cursus honorum of an honorand, funerary monuments recording years lived and relationships left behind – these are the concrete results of an explosive interest in monumentalizing text that is commonly referred to as the epigraphic habit. Hundreds of thousands of such inscriptions are known from across the breadth of the Roman Empire, preserved because they were created of durable material or were reused in subsequent building. This volume (to be published by Brill in 2014) looks at another aspect of epigraphic creation and explores the presence of inscriptions in the private sphere. The types of inscriptions that occurred in private spaces tend to be far more portable, fragile, or ephemeral, and as such they are preserved in a much smaller quantity; in most instances, it is remarkable that they have survived at all. Yet from handwritten messages traced on wall-plaster to letters and symbols scratched on pottery, from domestic sculptures labeled with texts to displays of official patronage posted in homes, a range of inscriptions appeared within the private sphere in the Greco-Roman world. Chance finds, such as the graffiti etched into the floor in a house in classical Attica or a group of inscribed potsherds from a workshop in sixth century Crete, offer glimpses into the type of inscriptions that might be found in the private sphere in the Greek world. Archaeological sites of the Roman Empire present a wider variety, with inscribed domestic sculpture, bronze tablets, and graffiti written on the walls of homes; all together these offer a look into the types of text that might surround an individual at home. The chapters within this volume represent a spectrum of private spaces – from the household latrines that feature graffiti privatissimi to the patronage tablets that straddle the private/public divide, produced in duplicate copies so that one could be displayed in the home of the patronus while the other went on public display in the issuing city. The geographical areas included here as well, from Spain to Italy to Dura Europus, further reveal that writing in private spaces was very much a part of the epigraphic culture of the Roman Empire.
Related papers
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.
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.
Ancient Graffiti in Pompeian Domestic Spaces (2014)
In W. Eck, P. Funke et al., eds., Öffentlichkeit – Monument – Text. Akten des XIV Congressus Internationalis Epigraphiae Graecae et Latinae, 2014
An overview and discussion of conventions for writing on the walls in domestic residences in the early Roman Empire. Writing inside homes differs in form, function, and audience from writing in public spaces. This work discusses size, audience, and nature of handwritten inscriptions in the highly inscribed residences of Pompeii (first century AD/CE).
Roman inscriptions. Millenarian messages in the Eternal City
2020
On the streets of Rome there are not only posters, advertising hoardings or plaques bearing the names of avenues, but you can also read texts that were written two thousand years ago. For example, you can find the name of Agrippa on the Pantheon’s façade, or that of the Emperor Titus on the triumphal arch in the Forum. The Romans were the first to use these types of texts engraved on stone consistently. They called them tituli and today they are known as inscriptions. They were engraved on durable materials to ensure their survival and they were placed in public spaces to maximize the circulation of their message. The Romans even developed the ideal script for writing on stone, capitalis quadrata, which is characterized by its elegance and legibility. This monumental form of writing was used to create solemn timeless messages, that became so popular they ended up inundating the city of Rome. This book explains why the Romans used these inscriptions and what they were used for. To do so it draws on the views of the Romans themselves – Cicero and Pliny amongst others – , which are illustrated with some of the most renowned inscriptions that can still be found on the streets of Rome. PEAI project: Public Epigraphy in Ancient Italy (III-I BC) This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement Nº 794476 This publication provides a didactic summary of the theoretical aspects within this project, specifically, the concept of public epigraphy, accompanied by examples of inscriptions in the ancient period that visitors may find within the city. Nine inscriptions were selected as illustrative instances of Latin inscriptions still visible in Roman streets: 1. Pons Fabricius, 2. Caecilia Metella funerary monument, 3. funerary monument to Gaius Cestius, 4. the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, 5. the Arch of Titus, 6. the Arch of Septimius Severus, 7. the Arch of Constantine, 8. Pantheon and 9. Trajan’s column. See also the Instagram account @writtenrome Epigraphein 1 Ignacio Simon Cornago 2020 Arbor Sapientiae Editore - Roma ISBN: 978-88-31341-26-4
Inhabiting a lettered world: Exploring the fringes of Roman writing habits. (BICS 59 (2016) 26-41).
Based on a survey of the evidence for perishable and liminal Roman material writing habits that might appropriately be described as ‘fringe epigraphy’, this paper invites a conceptual re-evaluation of writing and the role of letters, words, and texts – including their perception – in the Roman world. It thus challenges recent attempts of an all too narrow disciplinary, institutional view of what might constitute Latin epigraphy. Much rather, it is argued, it seems appropriate to think of the Roman world as a fundamentally lettered one – a world that is not only described and perceived, but, in actual fact, even imagined and explained in such terms, allowing for fluid transitions from monumental to informal, from serious and communication-driven to playful, pointless, and sensational, and ultimately from real to imagined.
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.