Current Epigraphy
ISSN: 1754-0909

On January 7, 2012 at the joint annual meetings of the American Philological Association and the Archaeological Institute of America, Garrett G. Fagan (Pennsylvania State University) presented a paper entitled “The Traveler’s Bill?” The paper considers a well-known inscription from Aesernia (modern Isernia in Italy) (EDR 079026 = EDH HD000649 with photo = CIL 9.2689 = ILS 7478).

Although the text begins with a common funerary formula (vivus fecit), Fagan argues against accepting it as an irreverent sepulchral inscription. Rather, he would see a humorous commercial sign for an inn. As evidence, Fagan considers the illustration, the possibility of reading personal names as puns (L. Calidius Eroticus et Fannia Voluptatis = Lucius Hotstuff Lover and Fannia Fuck), and a common literary and visual trope of associating enjoyment and relaxation with death and the brevity of life. Fagan notes that the stone is thin enough (31 cm) to have been fitted into a wall or over a lintel. For comparison, Fagan introduces EDR 030788 = CIL 6.10036(1) — a shop sign from Rome possibly depicting prostitutes for an establishment named “sorores IIII” (the four sisters).

Methone I: inscriptions, graffiti and trade marks in geometric and archaic pottery from the ‘Ypogeio’.

The event will be held on Thursday 19 January, 19:00 at the Megaron (Concert Hall) of Athens, Level “N. Skalkotas”, Room MC2.

Speakers include:

• Yannis Kazazis, Professor of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Chair of the Centre’s Board
• Lina Mendoni, General Secretary of the Ministry of Culture
• Michalis Tiverios, Professor of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Member of the Academy of Athens
• Yannis Tzifopoulos, Associate Professor of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

The work is funded by the Greek Ministry of Education and the European Union and will be available online in a few weeks: http://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/portal/blog/archive/2012/01/10/4039.html

For further information, please contact: glossologia@komvos.edu.gr.

On noon on February 15th, 2012, John Hessler will be giving a lecture entitled “Written in Stone: Roman law, Legal Epigraphy and the Geography of Roman Agriculture” in the Madison Building, LM-240, Multimedia Room of the US Library of Congress. He provides the following details:

The middle of the Bagradas vallley is located southwest of Carthage, between roughly sixty and eighty kilometers from the northern Mediterranean coast, in the region of northern Tunisia known as the Tell interieur. The term Tell designates those areas in Algeria and Tunisia subject to a Mediterranean climate, that is, to at least 400 mm of rainfall each year, sufficient to allow the cultivation of grain and olives without irrigation. The area has been an agricultural zone for thousands of years, and most intensively, with the escalation of Roman agriculture in period between 100 and 500 AD.

Within the region are found many of the most important legal inscriptions relating to the practice of agriculture and tenant farming, all of which provide a window into the how land and estates were managed and how tenant farmers made a living during this time of rapid growth in the Roman population. Inscriptions such as those found at Henchir-Mettich and Souk-el-Khmis provide us with information about the legal system under which this agriculture operated, and also, and perhaps more importantly, gives us hints into the geography and extent of Roman agriculture in North Africa when it was the ‘bread basket’ of the empire.

In this talk will Hessler will discuss his travels in Tunisia and Algeria in search of these and other legal inscriptions, and also talk about what these seemingly dry fragments of Roman law tell us about how the Romans managed their estates and environment, and how sharecroppers took advantage of the Roman system of petition and response to maintain their rights to the land.

A poster version of the above, in PDF format, is attached: Hessler 2012 Lecture.

Reflectance Transformation Imaging of Inscriptions: a workshop at the Manchester Museum; Wednesday 21st September, 10am – 4pm.

Dr George Bevan and Prof Daryn Lehoux (Queen’s University, Canada) will lead a workshop demonstrating the use of ‘reflectance transformation imaging’* in the study of inscribed objects (on metal and stone). The aim of the day is both to provide a general introduction to the technique and its potential, and to provide opportunities for hands-on practice (using material from the collections of the Manchester Museum).

There is no charge for the workshop and all are very welcome, but places are limited: please contact Peter Liddel (peter.liddel@manchester.ac.uk) if you would like to attend (or if you would like any more information).

(*For an overview of reflectance transformation imaging, see http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/ptm/ri.html, and the case-study of its use on the Antikythera Mechanism: http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/ptm/antikythera_mechanism/index.html)

Nikolaos Papazarkadas, Chair of the Advisory Committee of the Sara B. Aleshire Center for the Study of Greek Epigraphy (UCB), would like to announce an international symposium:

The Epigraphy and History of Boeotia:
New Finds, New Developments

September 2-3, 2011
University of California, Berkeley
370, Dwinelle Hall

Friday, September 2

Session 1: The New Epigraphy of Thebes

(more…)

British Epigraphy Society Student Travel Bursaries for the BES Autumn Colloquium 2011

The British Epigraphy Society is pleased to announce a number of student travel bursaries to help with attendance at the BES Autumn Colloquium on 19 November 2011. The value of each bursary is £50. To apply for one of the bursaries, please write to the BES Secretary by e-mail at u.roth@ed.ac.uk, providing the following information:

1. Your name and institutional affiliation
2. Degrees awarded and current programme of study/research
3. A brief description of how attendance at the Autumn Colloquium would benefit your studies/research
4. The name and e-mail address of one referee whom the BES may contact
5. An estimate of travel costs to and from London

The deadline for applications is 1 September 2011.

The programme for the colloquium, and the registration form, can be found on the Society’s website: http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/BES/Events.htm

The BES gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, and the Classical Association towards these bursaries.

Ulrike Roth
Honorary Secretary, The British Epigraphy Society

EpiDoc Training Workshop
5-8 September 2011
Institute of Classical Studies, Senate House, London

An EpiDoc training workshop will be offered by the Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London, and the Institute of Classical Studies in September this year. The workshop is free of charge and open to all, but spaces are limited and registration as soon as possible is essential.

This workshop is an introduction to the use of EpiDoc, an XML schema for the encoding and publication of inscriptions, papyri and other documentary Classical texts. Participants will study the use of EpiDoc markup to record the distinctions expressed by the Leiden Conventions and traditional critical editions, and some of the issues in translating between EpiDoc and the major epigraphic and papyrological databases. They will also be given hands-on experience in the use of the Papyrological Editor tool implemented by the Duke Databank of Documentary Papyri, which facilitates the authoring EpiDoc XML via a ‘tags-free’ interface.

The course is targeted at scholars of epigraphy and papyrology (from advanced graduate students to professors) with an interest and willingness to learn some of the hands-on technical aspects necessary to run a digital project. Knowledge of Greek and/or Latin, the Leiden Conventions and the distinctions expressed by them, and the kinds of data that need to be recorded by philologists and ancient historians, will be assumed. No particular technical expertise is required.

Places on the EpiDoc training week are limited so if you are interested in attending the workshop or have any questions, please contact charlotte.tupman@kcl.ac.uk and gabriel.bodard@kcl.ac.uk as soon as possible with a brief statement of qualifications and interest.

The British Epigraphy Society
Autumn Colloquium and AGM 2011

Saturday, 19 November 2011
Institute of Classical Studies
Senate House, London (G22/26)

10.00-11.00 Registration and Morning Coffee
11.00-12.00 Morning Session I
Prof. Robin Osborne (Cambridge), The epigraphic history of Thespiai

12.00-13.00 Morning Session II
Prof. Silvia Orlandi (Rome), Re-editing CIL VI, Inscriptiones in Amphitheatro Flavio repertae: new methods and results

13.00 Lunch Break

14.00 Epigraphic talks in the British Museum (choice of one):
a) The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, 9th c. BC (Dr K. Radner)
b) The bronze mirror showing Herekele and Mlacuch, 5th c. BC (Dr J. Clackson)
c) The Oscan inscription from the Porta di Nola at Pompeii, 2nd c. BC (Prof. M. Crawford)
d) The ossuary of Nikanor of Alexandria, c. 1st c. BC/ 1st c. AD (Dr M. Williams)
e) Two imperial letters to Ephesus, 2nd c. AD (Dr B. Salway)

14.30 AGM (Members only)

15.00 Afternoon Session I
Prof. Thomas Corsten (Vienna), Epigraphic sidelights on the history of Lycia
16.00 Virtual Epigraphy
- Dr Karen Radner (UCL): ‘SAA Online’
- Prof. Silvia Orlandi (Rome): ‘EAGLE/EDR’
- Dr Gabriel Bodard (KCL): ‘IOSPE (Black Sea)’
16.30 Afternoon Tea

17.00 Afternoon Session II
Prof. Michael Crawford (UCL), Does Diocletian’s Prices Edict tell us anything about the ancient economy?

18.00 Field Epigraphy
- Dr Nicholas Milner (Beckenham): ‘News from Oinoanda’
- Prof. Thomas Corsten (Vienna): ‘Epigraphic news from the Kibyratis’

18.30 Finale: Young epigraphy – Posters and drinks

Programme and registration form

A Practical Epigraphy Workshop is taking place for those who are interested in developing hands-on skills in working with epigraphic material. The workshop is aimed at graduate students, but other interested parties are welcome to apply, whether or not they have previous experience. With expert tuition, participants will learn the practical aspects of how to record and study inscriptions. The programme will include the making of squeezes; photographing and measuring inscribed stones; and the production of transcriptions, translations and commentaries. Space on this workshop is limited by the size of the available study area to eight places, and on this occasion we shall be offering Roman epigraphy only. Instructors will include Roger Tomlin and Charlotte Tupman.

Course fees will be in the region of £70 – £90 but, as in previous years, we hope to be able to offer a number of generous bursaries. Participants on the course will stay in Bed & Breakfast accommodation in Corbridge (we will book this for you but regret that the cost is not included in the course fee).

If you wish to apply for a place on this course, or for further details, please contact Charlotte Tupman by e-mail as soon as possible: charlotte.tupman@kcl.ac.uk

The closing date for applications is 6th May.

The Practical Epigraphy Workshop is sponsored by the British Epigraphy Society, an independent ‘chapter’ of the Association Internationale d’Épigraphie Grecque et Latine.

Registration open for Triennial Conference, University of Cambridge, 25-28 July 2011

Hosted by the Faculty of Classics, the Celebration of Classics will see a remarkable line up of international scholars brought together in a novel format for such an event. There will, of course, be some very distinguished plenary lecturers, and there will also be two outreach evenings with well-known figures from the media and literary world. But the centre of the event is a set of seminars where leading classicists will be presenting their cutting edge work in a seminar format with extensive opportunities for discussion (each paper will have at least 45 minutes for comment and questions). Each day has only two such seminar slots, but there will be papers of interest and relevance to epigraphers on every day:

• Jonathan Prag ‘The spread of epigraphic culture in the Hellenistic West’.
• Kristina Milnor ‘The Epistolary Habit: Letters and Letter-writing in Pompeian Graffiti’.
• Robin Osborne ‘The citizen club and other myths about classical Athens’.
• Peregrine Horden ‘Charity begins at Rome?’.
• Peter van Dommelen ‘Connected Communities: Migration and Rural Settlement in the Ancient Western Mediterranean’.
• Catherine Steel ‘The Senate in late Republican Rome: who, what and why?’.
• Dominic Rathbone ‘Roman economic history: the (ab)use of Egypt’.

There will also be plenty of time for debate as well as meeting old and new friends. We are hoping that you will want to come to Cambridge and participate in this event.

For more information about the conference please go to http://www.classics.cam.ac.uk/faculty/seminars_conferences/triennial_conference/.

Professor Stephen Oakley
Chair, Organising Committee

BERLIN-BRANDENBURGISCHE AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN
SEMINAR FÜR ALTE GESCHICHTE UND EPIGRAPHIK, UNIVERSITÄT HEIDELBERG
KOMMISSION FÜR ALTE GESCHICHTE UND EPIGRAPHIK DES DAI

AUSSCHREIBUNG FÜR EINE

EPIGRAPHISCHE SOMMERAKADEMIE

ROM, 21. BIS 31. JULI 2011

Die internationale Akademie richtet sich an fortgeschrittene Studierende (in der Regel nach der ersten Zwischenprüfung) sowie an Doktorandinnen und Doktoranden der Alten Geschichte und der benachbarten altertumswissenschaftlichen und historischen Fächer. Sie soll der Vertiefung der Kompetenzen von Nachwuchswissenschaftlern in der lateinischen Epigraphik dienen.

Aus dem Programm: Praktische Arbeiten an Inschriften im Museo Nazionale Romano und auf dem Forum Romanum, Epigraphische Spaziergänge durch Rom, Vorstellung großer Inschriftenprojekte, Diskussion über aktuelle Fragestellungen zum epigraphic habit und zur Funktion von Inschriften in der politischen Kommunikation, Besuch von Ostia etc. Ein detailliertes Programm der Veranstaltung (mit Themenliste für Referate) wird den Teilnehmern rechtzeitig zugestellt. Anreisetag ist Donnerstag, der 21. Juli 2011; Abreisetag Sonntag, der 31. Juli 2011.

Leitung und Durchführung: Rudolf HAENSCH (Komm. f. Alte Geschichte des DAI, München), Manfred G. SCHMIDT (CIL, Berlin), Christian WITSCHEL (Universität Heidelberg); in Kooperation mit der Abt. Rom des DAI sowie der Università ,La Sapienza’ di Roma.

Von den Bewerberinnen und Bewerbern werden gute Kenntnisse des Lateinischen erwartet, außerdem Grundkenntnisse in der Epigraphik (in der Regel durch Nachweis der Teilnahme an einem einschlägigen universitären Kurs). Unterrichtssprache ist in der Regel Deutsch (gegebenenfalls aber auch Englisch und Italienisch). Die Teilnehmerzahl ist auf 12 beschränkt. Zu den Reisekosten wird ein Zuschuß (voraussichtlich ca. 80,- Euro pro Person) gewährt; die Übernachtungskosten werden von den Veranstaltern übernommen.

Bewerbungen (mit Lebenslauf, Zwischenprüfungs- oder Abschlußzeugnis, Nachweis über absolvierte Seminare oder Übungen mit epigraphischen Inhalten, Interessensschwerpunkte, ggf. auch Projektskizzen zu Examens-/Magisterarbeiten oder Dissertationen) richten Sie bitte bis zum 15. April 2011 an:

Prof. Dr. Christian Witschel
Seminar für Alte Geschichte und Epigraphik
der Universität Heidelberg
Marstallhof 4
69117 Heidelberg
E-mail: christian.witschel@zaw.uni-heidelberg.de

Over at e-pigraphia, we learn about a seminar on “Epigraphy, society and culture in ancient Rome.” It is organized by the Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica and will be held 2-4 March 2011.

Epigraphic Saturday in Cambridge on 19 March 2011: a day of lectures and shorter presentations in Room G.21 of the Classics Faculty Building, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge.

Full details online.

Could anyone interested in attending please let Dorothy Thompson know by e-mail (djt17@cam.ac.uk).

The first newsletter for the 2012 Congressus Internationionalis Epigraphiae Graecae et Latinae to be held in Berlin (27-31 August, 2012) is being circulated, and includes the call for papers and posters, and a list of suggested panel topics, including:

• Harbours: infrastructure and society
• The world of the Military
• Inscriptions in private space
• Inscriptions and the digital world
• History of epigraphic scholarship
• The measurement of space
• Sanctuaries and cults
• Inscriptions and Christian cult places
• The dialogue of the living and the dead: tombs and their inscriptions
• Space, image and inscription

The deadline for submission of short papers under these topics is March 31, 2011. Full details in the newsletter (below).

Newsletter_01_110216.pdf

Linguaggio politico e lessico storiografico
in età ellenistica

Lunedì 21 febbraio 2011, Aula Odeion, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, Sapienza Università di Roma – piazzale Aldo Moro, 5
Ore 15.00 Saluti delle autorità accademiche e introduzione dei lavori
Ore 15.30-16.30 Relazioni:
Manuela Mari (Università di Cassino) Introduzione
Giovanni Salmeri (Università di Pisa) Storia delle mentalità e lessico politico greco
Guido Schepens (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) Hellenistic Historiography: an Introduction
16.30 Pausa
17.00-17.40 Relazioni:
Leone Porciani (Università di Pavia) Koinos: aspetti della nozione di “comune”, “collettivo” e “generale” tra politica, società e storiografia
Mario Mazza (Sapienza Università di Roma) L’atto di nascita dell’Ellenismo? Considerazioni sulla c.d. “Lettera di Aristotele ad Alessandro sulla politica verso le città”
17.40-18.30 Discussione

Martedì 22 febbraio 2011, Università Europea di Roma – Via degli Aldobrandeschi 190
Ore 9.30 Saluti delle autorità accademiche
Ore 9.45-10.45 Relazioni:
Cinzia Bearzot (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano), Paolo Andrea Tuci (Università Europea di Roma), Il lessico della collaborazione e dell’opposizione politica in Polibio
Andrew Erskine (University of Edinburgh), Expressions of power in Polybius’ Histories
10.45 Pausa
11.15-12.15 Relazioni:
Paolo Desideri (Università di Firenze), Terminologia imperiale in Polibio
Laura Mecella, Umberto Roberto (Università Europea di Roma), Isotimia tra Roma e la Persia: una testimonianza dell’età di Alessandro Severo
12.15-13.15 Discussione
13.15 Pranzo

Ore 15.00-16.00 Relazioni
Giuseppe Zecchini (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano), Aderiton in Polibio
John Thornton (Sapienza Università di Roma), Tragedia, emozioni e verità nella polemica di Polibio contro Filarco
Paola Lombardi (Sapienza Università di Roma), Parole nuove per nuovi equilibri: su alcuni termini del lessico epigrafico politico di età ellenistica
16.00 Pausa
16.30-17.15 Relazioni
Biagio Virgilio (Università di Pisa), Linguaggi e forme della comunicazione e del potere fra re ellenistici e città
Daniela Motta (Università di Palermo), I soldati nelle città: sul lessico della ‘buona condotta’ in decreti ellenistico-romani
17.15-18.00 Discussione

Mercoledì 23 febbraio 2011, Aula Odeion, Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, Sapienza Università di Roma – piazzale Aldo Moro, 5
Ore 9.30-10.40 Relazioni
Pierre Carlier (Université Paris X – Nanterre), Il linguaggio della Pace del Re
Stefania De Vido (Università di Venezia Ca’ Foscari), Stratego, tiranno, re. Le ambigue parole del potere nella Sicilia di IV secolo
Stefano Ferrucci (Università di Siena-Grosseto), L’ambigua virtù. Philotimia nell’Atene degli oratori
10.40-11.15 Pausa
11.15-12.00 Relazioni
Miltiadis Hatzopoulos (K.E.R.A., Research Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity, National Hellenic Research Foundation), Le vocabulaire de la prise de décision dans les sources littéraires et épigraphiques de la Macédoine antique
Anna Magnetto (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa – École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris), Presbeis e presbeis autokratores in età classica ed ellenistica
12.00-13.00 Discussione
13.00 Pranzo

Ore 15.00-15.45 Relazioni
Paschalis Paschidis (K.E.R.A., Research Centre for Greek and Roman Antiquity, National Hellenic Research Foundation), “Being a friend of…”. Philoi and philia between poleis and royal courts in the Hellenistic period
Andrea Raggi (Università di Pisa), Il lessico dei privilegi in età ellenistica e romana
15.45-16.15 Pausa
16.15-17.15 Relazioni
Adolfo La Rocca (Sapienza Università di Roma), Apuleio e gli ekklesiastai
Angelos Chaniotis (Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton), Emotional language in Hellenistic decrees and Hellenistic histories
17.15-18.15 Discussione
18.15 John K. Davies (University of Liverpool), Conclusioni