Writing in Urban and Periurban contextx - Pompeii 11th July - 15th July, 2016
Whatever
their nature, inscriptions are essential evidence for the historian of the
Roman world. After a long tradition of studying only the contents of these
texts, epigraphy is now paying closer attention to their supports and their
contexts. Due to their remarkable preservation, the Campanian cities buried by
Mt. Vesuvius provide an incomparable setting for understanding the contexts of various forms
of writing. However, conditions of discovery, scholarship, and conservation in
these cities raise specific problems regarding the displacement, intentional
destruction, and loss of epigraphic evidence in antiquity, as well as modern
times.
This
doctoral workshop aims at introducing some of the challenges, problems and
methods related to the study of writing and its use in urban and periurban
spaces. In addition to a presentation of the methods and tools of epigraphy,
the workshop will seek to characterize the epigraphic habits of different areas
that make up the fabric of a city, both in its everyday and exceptional
expressions. We will thus tackle issues such as writing as a means of
communication for public authority and community from a wide chronological
viewpoint; the contribution of writing to a knowledge of urban topography;
writing related to production areas and activities; writing in funerary
landscapes, and attitudes toward death. The workshop will build on case studies
from the Campanian cities and, possibly, Roman Italy, which will enable a
comprehensive understanding of the texts and their archaeological and
topographical contexts.
The theme
is aimed at students of epigraphy (PhD students or young post-docs), but also
and especially at historians and archaeologists whose research issues would
overlap with these questions and who have a moderate familiarity with this kind
of evidence. The workshop will take place from Monday, 11th July – Friday, 15th
July, 2016 in Pompeii. Lessons will be held in French, Italian and English:
good skill in these languages is therefore required. The sessions will be
organised into thematic working days, with both classwork and fieldwork. The
afternoons will be reserved for presentation and discussion of the students’
work.
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