LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY AND DIPLOMATICS

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

Single discipline educational activity

Course Sheet

Course code:

PAL001

Academic Year of enrolment:

2020

Year of supply:

2021/2022

Degree:

Course of 2nd Cycle Degree in PHILOLOGY, LINGUISTICS AND LITERARY TRADITIONS

Disciplinary Sector:

Palaeography

Location:

CHIETI

Credits:

Programme Year:

Cycle:

Second semester

Hours of classroom activity:

Individual study hours:

108

Prerequisites:

It is suggested to approach this course, having already gained a basic knowledge in the Latin language, in the history from Late Antiquity to the late Middle Ages and in Latin Palaeography.

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LATIN PALAEOGRAPHY AND DIPLOMATICS

PHILOLOGY, LINGUISTICS AND LITERARY TRADITIONS

Objectives

Between the 5th and the 13th centuries, epigraphy goes through profound changes which have to do with its social function. As patrons and recipients change, the ideological arrangement changes too, as well as the material executors, the monumental contexts, materials used, the lay-out, contents and formulas destined to express them. Further important changes are related to writing, a powerful vehicle of visual messages through the different forms adopted in different times and places. This course is intended to consider these topics, although the palaeographic approach will be privileged. The first part of the course will be destined to define the subject, show the main bibliographical tools, describe the elements that need to be considered in the approach to the study of any inscription. The second part will be destined to more deeply understand the mutual relationship between epigraphy and palaeography, with special attention to the circulation of the same writing forms in different writing domains (books, inscriptions, documents), too often considered as separated amongst them, but in fact part of the same and inseparable visual culture.

Contents

Epigraphic writing in the Middle Ages

Extended Syllabus

The first part of the course will consist of introductory lectures, aiming at defining methods and purposes of Medieval epigraphy, in relation to
palaeography, describing the main bibliographic tools, lightening the main elements of the epigraphic analysis: materials, techniques (engraving, painting, scratching and others), lay-out, epigraphic typologies and related formulas, chronology. The second part of the course aims at deeply understanding the relationship between epigraphy and palaeography, in the attempt to show how palaeographic analysis is not just incidental, but part of the process of knowledge of any given inscription. The red thread will be given by the idea that writing itself, as a complex system of signs ("Script as image"), is a powerful medium, as important as the text and its content. The examples which the course will be based on are mainly taken from the city of Rome and Abruzzo, with special attention for the Chieti-Pescara area.

Recommended Bibliography

Chapters of the following books will be suggested:
• Armando Petrucci, La scrittura. Ideologia e rappresentazione, Torino, Einaudi, 1986.
• I. Di Stefano Manzella, Mestiere di epigrafista. Guida alla schedatura del materiale epigrafico lapideo, Roma 1987.
• R. Favreau, Épigraphie médiévale, Tournhout 1997
• C. Treffort, Paroles inscrites. À la decouverte des sources épigraphiques latines du Moyen Âge (VIIIe-XIIIe siècle), Paris 2008.
• P. Cherubini-A. Pratesi, Paleografia latina. L'avventura grafica del mondo occidentale, Città del Vaticano 2010
• J. F. Hamburger, Script as Image, Paris – Leuven – Walpole, MA 2014.

The following papers:
• Epigrafia e paleografia. Inchiesta sui rapporti fra le due discipline, (premessa di A. Petrucci), in «Scrittura e Civiltà» 5 (1981), pp. 265-312.
• C. Tedeschi, Dedicatio Sancti Sisti. Due iscrizioni dipinte e la data di dedicazione della chiesa di S. Sisto a L’Aquila, “Medioevo e Rinascimento”, XXIII/n.s. XX (2009), pp. 1-17.
• Id., Due inedite iscrizioni di S. Silvestro in Capite e qualche osservazione sulla scrittura epigrafica romana del IX secolo, in In uno volumine. Scritti
in onore di Cesare Scalon, a cura di L. Pani, Udine 2009, pp. 577-594;
• Id., Le iscrizioni di Dodone, vescovo di Rieti, in Scritture epigrafiche e scritture librarie fra Oriente e Occidente, a cura di P. Orsini, Cassino, in c.
di s.

Further readings will be suggested during the course.

Teaching Methods

In addition to frontal lectures, one or more trips to places of epigraphic interest will be organized, in the Chieti-Pescara area or/and in Rome. One or more seminars will be organized with teachers from the "Università G. D'Annunzio" or scholars from different institutions.

Evaluation methods

Verification of learning:

The exam will consist in a discussion about some of the main topics seen during the course or studied in the bibliography. The student will be
requested to demonstrate a good familiarity with one or more epigraphic plates, reading it and commenting on it.

Contacts/More Information

Students who have never attended a basic course of Latin Palaeography are requested to let the teacher know in advance, or at the beginning of the course.

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

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