LATIN EPIGRAPHY: CRITICISM, CONTEXTS, DIGITAL RESOURCES

This course is one of the core educational activities characterizing the MA Programme in Ancient Civilisations: Literature, History and Archaeology. It is organised as a seminar-based advanced class focusing on specific research topics related to Latin Epigraphy. Students will learn the research methodology in the field of epigraphy. It intends to guarantee the acquisition of the following skills: carrying out a scientific research in Latin Epigraphy and being able to communicate its results to both a scientific audience and a wider public. Students will also develop teaching skills in the subject.
By reaching these goals students will be ready to access the job market at a competitive and advanced level in the fields of teaching, communication, dissemination and organization of cultural events.

Students will learn to:
- study Latin inscriptions dating to the Roman period both through autopsy of the monuments and through their manuscript tradition;
- understand critically the problems of how to display inscriptions in museums and exhibitions;
- investigate the history of epigraphic study in order to understand how epigraphy became a scientific discipline;
- use the main corpora and online resources related to epigraphy;
- catalogue epigraphic materials according to the current international standards.

In principle, students should have already studied Roman History and Latin Epigraphy for their BA degree. Alternatively, they should read by themselves a basic handbook of Roman Epigraphy, such as A. BUONOPANE, Manuale di epigrafia latina, Roma, Carocci, 2020² or A.E. COOLEY, The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy, Cambridge, CUP, 2012.
Foreign students are invited to contact the course instructor beforehand, in order to discuss their background and adjust the programme to their needs.

Course title: CRITICISM, CONTEXT, DIGITAL RESOURCES
This course will focus on the new standards for the study of epigraphy, through a diacronic and interdisciplinary approach. Inscriptions will no longer be treated solely as sources for the knowledge of ancient history, but also as "living objects" to be contextualised in a succession of "epigraphic situations", which need in turn to be inserted into a number of "epigraphic landscapes".
Students will be guided in the examination and cataloguing of both genuine and forged inscriptions. They will also be taught how to use the principal tools in the digital humanities related to epigraphy, such as the main online corpora and databases (EDR: Epigraphic Database Roma: http://www.edr-edr.it ; EDF: Epigraphic Database Falsae: http://edf.unive.it ).

Programme for students attending the course:
- handouts and slide presentations (all available in pdf from the course Moodle);
- I. CALABI LIMENTANI, Epigrafia latina, Milano, Cisalpino, 1991 (4th ed.), chap. III, pp. 39-124.

One article from the following reading list:

- I. CALABI LIMENTANI, Sul non saper leggere le epigrafi classiche nei secoli XII e XIII. Sulla scoperta graduale delle abbreviazioni epigrafiche, "Acme" 23, 1970, pp. 253-282.
- C. ZACCARIA, Sulle tracce di Ciriaco nella regio X orientale: presenze, assenze, ipotesi’, in Studi per Ida Calabi Limentani dieci anni dopo “Scienza epigrafica”, Faenza 2020, pp. 333-352.
- M. PETOLETTI, Appunti sulla fortuna delle epigrafi classiche nel Medioevo, "Aevum" 76, 2002, pp. 309-323;
- M. BUONOCORE, Epigraphic Research from its Inception: The Contribution of Manuscripts, in The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy, eds. Chr. Bruun, J. Edmondson, Oxford - New York 2015, pp. 21-41;
- W. STENHOUSE, Epigraphy and Technology: The Impact of the Printing Press, in F. Feraudi-Gruénais (ed.), Latin on Stone: Epigraphic Research and Electronic Archives, Lanham 2010, pp. 23-44;
- W. STENHOUSE, Classical Inscriptions and Antiquarian Scholarship in Italy, 1600-1650, in A.E. COOLEY (a cura di), The Afterlife of Inscriptions: Reusing, Rediscovering, Reinventing & Revitalizing Ancient Inscriptions, London 2000, pp. 77-89;
- A. MOMIGLIANO, Ancient History and the Antiquarian, «Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes» 13, 1950, pp. 285-315;
- L. DASTON, The Immortal Archive: Nineteenth-Century Science Imagines the Future, in L. Daston (ed.), Science in the Archives. Pasts, Presents, Futures, Chicago 2017, pp. 159-182;
- L. CALVELLI, Il problema della provenienza delle epigrafi nel Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum, «Epigraphica» 81, 2019, pp. 57-77;
- L. CALVELLI, Mommsen e Venezia. Il metodo della critica epigrafica e la sua attuazione, in Theodor Mommsen in Italia settentrionale. Studi in occasione del bicentenario della nascita (1817-2017), Milano 2018, pp. 95-122;
- S. ORLANDI, M.L. CALDELLI, G.L. GREGORI, Forgeries and Fakes, in Ch. Bruun, J. Edmondson (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy, Oxford - New York 2015, pp. 42-65;
- J.R.W. PRAG, I.Sicily, Open Scholarship, and the Epigraphic Landscape of Hellenistic/Roman Sicily, «Ktema» 44, 2019, 107-121;
- M. LAMÉ, G. SARULLO et al., Technology & Tradition: A Synergic Approach to Deciphering, Analyzing and Annotating Epigraphic Writings, «Lexis», 33 (2015), pp. 9-30;
- I. ROSSI, Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches in Digital Epigraphy, «Archeologia e Calcolatori» 31, 2020, pp. 145-156;
- S. PANCIERA, L'epigrafista e lo storico della comunicazione epigrafica, «Opuscula Epigraphica» 15, 2013, pp. 69-76.

All literature is available in pdf from the course Moodle.

Assessment is based on five elements:
1) active class participation;
2) a short presentation on one of the articles from the reading list;
3) a longer presentation on a Latin inscribed monument from the Venice region assigned by the instructor;
4) a written assignment (short essay and storytelling exercise) on the same inscription;
5) a final discussion with the instructor, concerning the topics of the classes and one other article from the reading list.

All foreign students are invited to contact the course tutor beforehand in order to discuss their study programme.

Classes will be conducted as seminars, so that all students will have the opportunity to participate in discussions and presentations. Class attendance is highly recommended. Foreign students are invited to contact the course tutor beforehand. The reference texts and materials for the lessons covered and discussed in class are provided by the teacher during the course and are made available on the Moodle platform. These texts and materials are part of the exam programme.

Italian

Students who attend this course will be entitled to take part to the seminar activities, stages and training courses organised by the Roman History and Classics faculty during the two terms. The calendar of activities will be provided in class and on the Department of Humanities website.
Students who attend this course will also be entitled to participate to a three-day fieldtrip to Rome, which will take place in early June 2026. They will also be able to participate in the epigraphic Summer School that is likely to take place in Altinum in late June 2026.

Accessibility, Disability and Inclusion
Accommodation and support services for students with disabilities and students with specific learning impairments
Ca’ Foscari abides by Italian Law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) regarding support services and accommodation available to students with disabilities. This includes students with mobility, visual, hearing and other disabilities (Law 17/1999), and specific learning impairments (Law 170/2010). If you have a disability or impairment that requires accommodations (i.e., alternate testing, readers, note takers or interpreters) please contact the Disability and Accessibility Offices in Student Services: disabilita@unive.it

written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Human capital, health, education" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development