Giornale Italiano di Filologia - Bibliotheca
The Collectio Avellana and the Development of Notarial Practices in Late Antiquity
The essays collected in this volume study the competences and status of late antique notaries who from simple stenographers acquired responsibilities and growing importance within the imperial court and in the papal chancellery being charged with drawing up the acts of the consistorium and the ecclesiastical councils and with preserving and often delivering sensitive documents from Rome to Constantinople. The analysis of their multiple activities and of the functions they occupied in the imperial and episcopal archives as well as in the libraries of the great Roman domus also allows us to verify some new hypotheses on the compiler and on the editing of the Collectio Avellana. Since in the Middle Ages the collection was transcribed into two main manuscripts both preserved in Santa Croce di Fonte Avellana the essays also try to understand what role the founder of the Monastery San Pier Damiani played in preserving this collection.
After Ovid
Aspects of the Reception of Ovid in Literature and Iconography
The 2000th anniversary of Ovid’s death in 2017-2018 led to an upsurge in conferences and publications dedicated to the author’s work and afterlife. One of these is the present volume resulting from the conference Dopo Ovidio. Aspetti della ricezione ovidiana fra letteratura e iconografia which was held on 7-8 May 2019 at the Department of Human Sciences (DSU) of the University of L’Aquila and which looked at various aspects of Ovid’s fortune from a diachronic and interdisciplinary perspective. The contributions cover a period of about fourteen centuries from late antiquity until the end of the eighteenth century and range from late Latin to medieval literature from humanistic production to modern English and Italian literature and from linguistics to the figurative arts. All these studies contribute to a collective appraisal of the multifarious impact of Ovid’s works and especially of the Metamorphoses the latter’s treatment of myth having been a starting point for integrations developments (re)interpretations and representations in isolation or included in an iconographic program.
ut pictura poeta
Author Images and the Reading of Ancient Literature / Autorbilder und die Lektüre antiker Literatur
The leitmotif of this volume is the concept of “author images” which is used in modern literary studies to describe processes of production and reading of literary works and is here applied for the first time to the study of ancient works. As a means of analysing ancient literature it captures the aspect of personification which is characteristic of ancient author concepts and at the same time points to the fact that there is a difference between “image” and “author” and that it is only an image and not the author himself that can be seen and grasped by readers.
This makes the “author image” particularly suitable for examining the intersections of material rhetorical and mental representations of literary authorship that form the subject of this volume. Using selected examples from Latin and Greek literature the contributors explore the fields of cultural experience that nourish authorial images. They discuss the manifold possibilities of visualising and representing a person’s quality of being an author in general or being an author of specific works be it physically through artworks or pictures metaphorically through evoked authorial figures through thematised representations of authors in a text or through the combination of authorial images and texts.
These issues are addressed in four overlapping sections each focusing on different areas of the metaphor’s application namely material images in the form of artworks knowledge about persons textual images as authorial strategies and images in reception.
La Vie d’Auguste de Nicolas de Damas
Né en 64 avant J.-C. au sein d’une famille appartenant à l’élite aristocratique de Damas Nicolas fut un polygraphe renommé. La partie sauvegardée de son œuvre mal connue se compose notamment d’une Vie d’Auguste qui constitue le plus ancien compte rendu détaillé conservé non seulement du meurtre de César mais aussi des dix-neuf premières années de la vie d’Octave/Octavien.
Dans la mesure où Nicolas considérait le premier princeps comme le seul Romain digne d’émulation et que sa biographie constitua le moyen par lequel il obtint la confiance d’Auguste a-t-il fait davantage œuvre d’apologète que d’historien ? Sa Vie d’Auguste est-elle digne de foi ? Telles seront les questions qui serviront de fil rouge au présent ouvrage. Ainsi ambitionnons-nous de combler un certain nombre de lacunes historiographiques.
La première section de ce travail retracera la biographie de Nicolas déterminera ses objectifs rédactionnels le situera par rapport à ses modèles littéraires et examinera le contenu de la Vie d’Auguste. Nous insisterons sur le fait que si des similitudes intertextuelles entre les Res Gestae et la biographie d’Auguste ont été constatées elle ne peut avoir dépendu du testament politique de l’empereur car elles trouveraient leur origine dans les Mémoires d’Auguste. La seconde section dépeindra Octave/Octavien tel que présenté dans la Vie d’Auguste. Nous insisterons sur les liens qu’entretenaient César et son petit-neveu. La volonté de Nicolas de rationaliser tout en colorant son récit constitue l’une de ses constantes. Cependant sa biographie fait la part belle aux topoi.
Ritorno alla Flat Tax
Un itinerario di Atene antica fra VII e IV secolo?
Proporzionale o progressiva? Un problema di imposta oggi come in Atene antica. La ricerca muove da un’ipotesi di interpretazione di un lemma di Polluce relativo all’imposizione fiscale non sempre oggetto di adeguato interesse; essa procede in funzione della verifica dell’ipotesi sia attraverso una accurata lettura dei testi particolarmente attenta ai valori lessicali e ai problemi di natura critica-testuale sia attraverso il confronto con vari dati forniti dalla tradizione o desumibili da essa attinenti soprattutto all’ambito demografico e fiscale. In relazione a tale ordine di temi che costituiscono la linea dominante dell’indagine assume un interesse di notevole rilievo il carattere specifico delle cifre che sono elemento essenziale della discussione soprattutto le ‘cifre tonde’ e un ruolo determinante acquisiscono le coincidenze che emergono fra i dati attestati e quelli che risultano dalle premesse ipotetiche (coincidenze esatte o a volte non esatte ma con differenze generalmente irrilevanti). Di conseguenza non appaiono trascurabili gli indizi che potesse esistere un disegno preordinato allo sviluppo della città nelle sue diverse componenti: un disegno di cui le cifre sembrano conservare il riflesso.
Acta Martyrum Scillitanorum
A Literary Commentary
The Acta Martyrum Scillitanorum is the first martyr text in Latin and one of the earliest documents in Christian Latin. This short text presents a group of young Christians facing trial in Carthage before a Roman judge on July 17th 180 A.D. This is the first full commentary on this important text in English. It studies the fiery altercation between the defendants and the Roman proconsul highlighting the rhetorical and narrative aspects of the original Latin (and the Greek translation from late antiquity). Throughout the book much attention is paid to the communication or miscommunication between antagonists. For this dramatic and narrative approach to the text the Acta Martyrum Scillitanorum may be taken as it is: a coherent body of text describing an altercation that either took place exactly like that or was deemed by the author to be probable and natural that is a plausible and convincing dialogue between contrasting characters in a Roman judicial context.
Au-delà de l’épithalame
Le mariage dans la littérature latine (iii e s. av. – vi e s. ap. J.-C.)
Comment les Romains parlaient-ils du mariage ? Cette question a été posée à vingt et un spécialistes de littérature latine archaïque classique post-classique et tardive dans le but de comparer la rhétorique discursive des Romains à propos d’une institution qui occupe une place de choix dans la société. Ce volume collectif offre des analyses du motif du mariage tel qu’il est traité dans les textes littéraires et juridiques au prisme de genres variés (comédie déclamation élégie épigramme genre épistolaire épopée historiographie poésie épidictique satire tragédie textes patristiques traités philosophiques) mais au-delà de l’épithalame c’est-à-dire en dehors ou à la frontière de ces discours de circonstance très étudiés depuis vingt ans tout en tenant compte de leur apport rhétorique poétique et idéologique. Si le mariage est avant tout pour les Romains un moyen de perpétuer par cette alliance une lignée et d’accroître le corps civique sa représentation est plurielle. Elle se montre en constante interaction avec le projet littéraire propre à chaque auteur le genre qui la véhicule les modèles suivis ou encore le contexte socio-politique religieux et juridique de l’époque de production du texte. De ces études variées émerge une vision d’ensemble diachronique sur les permanences et évolutions de la pensée et du discours romains à propos de la notion de couple des relations entre époux du rôle de la femme de la place des enfants de la part de l’eros conjugal et des sentiments dans le mariage.
Livius noster
Tito Livio e la sua eredità
This book stems from a conference on Livy held at the University of Padua on the occasion of the bimillenary of the historian’s death (6-10 November 2017). The aim of the volume is to shed new light on lesser-known aspects of Livy’s historiography by approaching his work from a broad and interdisciplinary perspective. The papers written by established scholars as well as by younger researchers span from classical philology to ancient history and archaeology also incorporating an in-depth investigation of Livy’s reception through the centuries (from the Middle Ages to the Modern Era) and different fields of the humanities (philosophy political thought figurative arts).
Grumentum
The Epigraphical Landscape of a Roman Town in Lucania
About 130 Latin inscriptions shine a fascinating light on the medium-sized Roman town of Grumentum in ancient Lucania. Most of these stones have hardly been studied since the end of the 19th century. They now for the first time appear in a scholarly edition with revised Latin text illustration apparatus criticus translation and extensive commentary. Both the introduction and the edition illustrate the richness of the material: archaeology politics institutions the Roman army economy religion family and life course and Christianity are dealt with. The use learned scholars made of the inscriptions opens a window to Italian intellectual history from the Renaissance on. Written and presented in an accessible way this volume avoids the pitfalls of highly technical epigraphical editions and opens the field to archaeologists (ancient) historians and a more general audience with an interest for Roman sites in general and this hidden gem in Basilicata in particular.
La uirtus, la fides et la pietas dans les Punica de Silius Italicus
Au cours de la guerre d’Hannibal Rome connut d’abord de multiples revers jusqu’à se retrouver au bord de l’effondrement. Elle parvint ensuite à se redresser puis finit par écraser ses ennemis barbares. Pour Silius il existe indubitablement un lien entre les revers subis par les Sagontins Regulus Solimus Varron et les autres protagonistes peu ou prou vertueux et leur mauvaise application ou leur incapacité à lier la fides à la pietas. De même les victoires de Scipion en Hispanie puis en Afrique découlent-elles d’une meilleure compréhension de ces valeurs. Par la manière dont il construit les épisodes centraux des Punica le poète flavien oblige en outre à s’interroger sur le type de vertu affiché par les acteurs historico-épiques et à envisager différentes manières d’interpréter les événements en fonction de leur conduite morale. Si le lecteur doit se poser diverses questions liées à la vertu et à la morale et évaluer les indices fournis par Silius pour finalement comprendre toute l’importance d’un comportement moral et vertueux il lui faut en outre se rendre compte que le schéma vertueux proposé par le poète est loin d’être binaire ; la vision de l’étranger des Romains dans les Punica ne l’est d’ailleurs pas non plus. Silius insiste sur la nécessité de parvenir à un équilibre entre la uirtus la fides et la pietas sans jamais exclure aucune de ces trois valeurs du mos maiorum pour devenir un exemplum moral. Pour ce faire il établit nombre de liens entre l’échec militaire et le manque d’éthique sous-tendant l’incapacité à constituer un exemple de vertu. En fournissant un exemplum moral en la personne de Scipion l’Africain dans le but de montrer au lecteur à quel point il est important de vivre de façon vertueuse Silius comme son modèle historiographique Tite-Live combat le relâchement et participe à l’effort de régénération morale entrepris par Domitien.
Les silences de l'historien
Oublis, omissions, effets de censure dans l'historiographie antique et médiévale
Dans l’écriture de l’histoire les mots ne sont pas seuls porteurs de sens les silences aussi peuvent être signifiants : personnages oubliés événements occultés informations tronquées ou censurées - telles sont les zones aveugles les non-dits sur lesquels se sont interrogés les auteurs des douze articles composant ce recueil consacré à l’historiographie antique et médiévale en langues grecque et latine du Ve siècle av. J.-C. à l’époque des Croisades. L’objectif de cette enquête collective est de mettre en évidence les raisons politiques ou religieuses éthiques ou esthétiques qui peuvent expliquer ces blancs dont la détection et l’interprétation sont riches d’intérêt puisqu’ils contribuent à la construction de l’objet historiographique et participent à l’élaboration du sens - qu’il s’agisse de lacunes imputables au simple désintérêt à l’ignorance ou au contraire d’omissions très concertées obéissant à une stratégie délibérée d’occultation. Le présent volume entend ainsi apporter sa contribution à l’établissement d’une cartographie des savoirs dans les mondes antiques et médiévaux et offrir une réflexion sur le travail de mémoire et de (re)construction du passé propre à toute entreprise historiographique.
The Roman Senate as arbiter during the Second Century bc
Two Exemplary Case Studies: the Cippus Abellanus and the Polcevera Tablet
In the wider context of the border conflicts that involve Rome as a third authority super partes for which there is evidence already in the second century BC two epigraphic documents stand out for the peculiarities distinguishing them from all others: the so-called Polcevera Tablet (concerning a dispute between Genuates and Viturii Langenses) and the Cippus Abellanus (related to a border dispute between Nolani and Abellani and written in Oscan). They make us aware of the political and municipal dynamics underlying the complex principle of Roman arbitration often required to resolve territorial disputes which were gradually evolving as Rome opened up to the East. What role did the Roman Senate play in such disputes? What exactly was the function of the referees sent by the City to settle the disputes with a super partes judgment? What was the importance of the agrarian reform of the Gracchi and the realisation of road axes in the acuity of such antagonisms? These are the questions to which this study tries to provide an answer.
A Primordio urbis
Un itinerario per gli studi liviani
Da duemila anni gli Ab Urbe condita libri di Tito Livio (Padova 59 a.C. - 17 d.C.) non cessano di porre a lettori e studiosi di tutto il mondo enormi e affascinanti interrogativi. L'ambizioso progetto dello storico narrare tutta la storia di Roma dalla sua fondazione all'età contemporanea ha dato origine a un'opera immensa per estensione e complessità. Le Storie di Livio si fondano su un potente intreccio di istanze letterarie storiografiche e ideologiche che ne fa una delle opere più influenti della latinità. I contributi raccolti nel volume provenienti da svariati ambiti del sapere umanistico si confrontano con l'opera di Livio in una prospettiva multidisciplinare integrando competenze suggestioni e punti di vista. A studi di carattere filologico-letterario si affiancano così approfondimenti storici giuridici archeologici e storico-artistici con particolare attenzione alla fortuna dell'opera liviana in età medievale e moderna.
Poeti in Agone
Competizioni poetiche e musicali nella Grecia antica
L’agonismo fu una componente intrinseca pervasiva e connotante dell’attività poetica e musicale nella Grecia antica. Fu uno dei più importanti veicoli di identità condivisione comunitaria e acculturazione interna. Questo volume affrontando la problematica sia da un punto di vista sincronico che diacronico cerca di lumeggiarne gli aspetti particolarmente significativi: in Atene i concorsi tragici come performance rituale e atto politico; le multiformi relazioni genetiche strutturali e funzionali tra le esecuzioni corali drammatiche e i generi della poesia melica; la ‘Nuova Musica’ e il clima di rinnovamento culturale che si affaccia nell’Atene di V sec. a.C. che a partire dal ditirambo investe tutte le forme poetiche; la centralità la vitalità e la varietà degli agoni delfici; l’agonistica poetica e musicale come argomento di interesse narrazione e riflessione nell’opera di scrittori tra l’epoca ellenistica e quella imperiale; l’iconografia di figure mitiche di eccellenza musicale e le riprese dell’antico.
Per i testi latini: Prime riflessioni sul fondo inedito di Robert Marichal
Robert Marichal (1904-1999) was one of the most famous Latin paleographers of the Twentieth Century. His broad production is precious and well-known by scholars from all over the world but his recently discovered Archive at the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Paris) offers a further and impressive contribution to the knowledge we have of ancient Latin texts from Latin papyri from Herculaneum to Latin ostraka from Northen Africa and to Latin graffiti the ancient Latium and Campania.
This volume moves from the pioneer work on this Archive by the ERC project PLATINUM. It collects eight papers from leading specialists and highlights how promising is the work on such an unpublished Archive.
The Strange Death of Pagan Rome
Reflections on a Historiographical Controversy
The end of paganism in antique Rome strongly involves the nature of the relations between pagans and Christians in the fourth century AD. The historical paradigm of conflict has been disseminated by scholars as the Hungarian András Alföldi who in 1934 presented a Christian Constantine in irreconcilable conflict with a pagan Rome and by Herbert Bloch. The latter most notably in 1958 in a seminar conference at the Warburg Institute consolidated the idea of a conflictual model in which the aristocracy of Rome faced with a tightening of measures against traditional cults realized a real ‘pagan revival’ and led against Theodosius I «the last pagan army of the ancient world». This model was subjected to a massive critique by Alan Cameron in his The Last Pagans of Rome Oxford 2011 but in the course of less than two years Cameron’s publication has aroused a strong response especially on the part of European scholars and the debate has gained new effervescent relevance.
This volume edited by Rita Lizzi Testa collects the reflections of some Italian scholars - Guido Clemente R. Lizzi Testa Giorgio Bonamente Silvia Orlandi Giovanni Alberto Cecconi Lellia Cracco Ruggini Franca Ela Consolino Isabella Gualandri Gianfranco Agosti Gianluca Grassigli Alessandra Bravi - and of the illustrious professor François Paschoud from Geneva on the theme of the last pagans of Rome. It is not only A. Alföldi’s and H. Bloch’s model that provides the dialectic reference for their discussions but rather the more insidious in its paradoxical nature Alan Cameron’s. For the English scholar the concept of conflict is a pure historiographical construction because no real pagans remained in Rome when Theodosius issued laws against paganism. They were not pagan but classical élites people totally soaked in classical culture who accepted Christianity when it became compatible with classical culture and the imperial institutions. In his monumental book (more than 800 pages) he argues his position through learned demonstrations and the review of a vast amount of literary archaeological epigraphic and even artistic documentation. Nevertheless much of this evidence can be read again from very different perspectives and this is what the contributors of the volume try to do.
The volume continues a collection of monographic and miscellaneous studies now taken over by Brepols Publishers: Giornale Italiano di Filologia. BILIOTHECA (GIFBIB). This series collects studies that are intended to discuss topics on literature exegesis and textual criticism. The publication rhythm is of one volume per year. The series is a supplement to the scholarly journal Giornale Italiano di Filologia (GIF).