Abigail Graham (Institute of Classical Studies, London)
Part of the task of contextualizing inscriptions in an urban landscape involves situating texts within a physical world, recreating a sense of the agency and interconnectivity that public writing conveyed (cf. Bowman & Mullen 2021, Graham 2021, Kalinowski 2021). Trying to recreate the act of viewing as a physical experience allows us to access and understand epigraphy in a more nuanced way: assessing text and function together with the broader narrative of terminology that is often applied to these materials (Chaniotis 2017). Bilingualism is a deceptively simple concept, which can imply a parity of message and/or meaning as well as literate viewer (Adams 2004, Mullen 2019). These assumptions become increasingly problematic in the monumental landscape, where they often conflict with the reality of a lived experience: monumental writing was placed deliberately and conspicuously in public context for the purpose of reaching a broader audience. Did one need to be literate or bilingual to notice two languages on a public monument? How might variations in the physical presentation and/or the context of writing impact its perception?
A study of bilingualism as an image of monumental writing in an urban context allows us to engage with a broader audience of neuro-diverse individuals. The approach also helps to reconcile differences between the message of a text and the appearance of the resulting monument. Ephesos, a well-published site with an unusually high incidence of surviving bilingual monuments, is an ideal place to combine physicality and context in an assessment of bilingualism. While there has been scholarship on bilingualism at Ephesos (Kearsley 1999, Kearsley (ed) 2001; Burrell 2006; Graham 2013) the extent to which the concept has been assessed as a physical phenomenon or a cognitive experience remains limited.
This study will examine the changing face of bilingualism in the urban landscape at Ephesos in two periods: Augustan (I. Eph 359, 3003, 404-5), followed by comparative examples from the Trajanic period (I.Eph 33, 509, 620, 1544), concluding with two Antonine inscriptions (I.Eph 718, 1543). Drawn from the Tetragonos Agora, the Theater, and the State Agora, case studies focus on physical aspects of inscriptions such as the use of visual cues (e.g., margins, decorations, abbreviations, letter sizes & styles) and relationships with adjacent monuments. Dedications range from buildings to statue or honorary bases, recording an array of individuals from an increasingly diverse audience. Bilingual monuments often reflect an individual choice, so it is not surprising that a variety of images and expressions emerge in different contexts.
By focusing on the physicality of monumental inscriptions, we are able to understand how a broader audience viewed a variety of bilingual messages and meanings. We can also observe how benefactors engaged within existing continuum of urban benefaction. Does the continued tradition of bilingualism in an urban landscape present an image of continuity, change, or both? In conclusion, this study will also explore the challenges in combining text and monument in assessments of identity, as well as how one can cohesively reconstruct the appearance of monumental inscriptions in a constantly changing urban landscape.