Epigraphic messages inside the buildings: the monumental inscriptions of the Colosseum
By Silvia Orlandi (Università La Sapienza, Rome)
The Colosseum is one of the most famous monuments in the world, but it has been rarely considered as “a container of inscriptions”, although it was originally full of epigraphic messages of many different kinds: carved, scratched, painted, erased and re-written in many different parts of the building and with many different purposes.
Writing home in Rome: the epigraphy of diaspora communities in Southern Trastevere
By Mary-Evelyn Farrior (Columbia University)
Over 2,000 Greek inscriptions are known from the urban area of ancient Rome, yet the study of these inscriptions has been divided between several distinct corpora on the basis of their perceived cultural context (Inscriptiones Graecae Urbis Romae, 1705 inscriptions in total; Jewish Inscriptions of Western Europe, vol.
Harmodius in Roman Athens: recontextualizing an honorific monument for Sulla
By Gavin Blasdel (University of Pennsylvania / American School of Classical Studies at Athens)
Over the past decade, there has been a resurgence of interest in Sulla’s sack of Athens in 86 BCE. Much research has focused on the archaeological evidence for the destruction (e.g., Parigi 2019), its portrayal in literature (e.g., Kuin 2018), and its local political circumstances (e.g., Kuin 2017). Recently, Rogers (2021) has convincingly argued that the sack was a “crisis event” that served as a catalyst for revitalizing change.
Aureis litteris figenda. Readability, meaning, and diffusion of (gilded) bronze letters in the East under Nero
By Flavio Santini (University of California at Berkeley)
Aureis litteris figenda. Readability, meaning, and diffusion of (gilded) bronze letters in the East under Nero
This paper investigates two distinct, albeit intertwined, aspects of a specific set of ‘architectural inscriptions,’ namely, inscriptions with bronze letters (litterae aeratae) and gilded bronze letters (litterae auratae).
Two sides of the same story? Cognitive approaches to the changing faces of bilingualism in the urban landscape of Ephesos
By 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).
Encounters with writing in the sanctuaries of Roman Britain
By John Pearce (King's College, University of London)
Roman sanctuaries are among the richest repositories in northern Europe for the discovery of inscriptions. Texts carved on stone, punched on metal plaques or incised on lead tablets petitioned gods, acknowledged their actions and offered gifts to solicit their favour. This paper examines encounters between worshippers and monumental texts in Roman provincial sanctuaries as a component of religious experience, primarily using case studies from Roman Britain.