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Wrapping Up the Book: Membrana in Horace Sat. 2.3.2 and Ars P. 389

By Stephanie Ann Frampton

Roberts and Skeat’s The Birth of the Codex, a standard reference on the history of the book in antiquity, puts forward two passages in Horace’s corpus in which the word membrana may be taken to mean “parchment.”

“sic raro scribis, ut toto non quater anno
membranam poscas, scriptorum quaeque retexens,
iratus tibi, quod vini somnique benignus
nil dignum sermone canas
[...] Horace Sat. 2.3.1–4

Spelling Legitimacy: Claudius, Orthography and Re-Foundation

By Joseph R O'Neill

The emperor Claudius added three new letters to the Roman alphabet. Why he chose to intervene in Latin orthography remains controversial. Suetonius (Claud. 41.2) mentions the new letters in his account of Claudius’ intellectual pursuits, leading to the tendency of modern scholarship to dismiss Claudius’ letters a mere curiosity (Malloch 2013: 217-18). Tacitus, however, mentions Claudius’ orthographical intervention in the context of the revival of the censorship (Ann. 11.13.2).

An Emperor Makes His Mark: Claudius’ New Letters in the Epigraphic Record

By Melissa Huber

Among the many idiosyncrasies attributed to Claudius is the antiquarianism he publicized in changes to Rome’s alphabet and orthography, among other displays. Most celebrated of these were the introduction of three new letters to the alphabet, which both Suetonius and Tacitus discuss. The two authors, who wrote over fifty years after Claudius’ death in 54 CE, speak as though the new letters were used ubiquitously and universally in Claudian Rome.

The Battle of Thyrea in Greek Epigram

By Michael A Tueller

Scholars have often addressed how Herodotus uses his epigrammatic sources; my twenty-minute paper looks in the other direction, at how later epigram used Herodotus. I find that, despite their brevity, battle-epigrams engage effectively with Herodotus, personalizing and complicating his narrative. Additionally, the ability of epigram to feature multiple points of view and to employ (in Peter Bing’s term) Ergänzungsspiel can create a subtle but often effective critique of the Histories.