Category: Epigraphy/Papyrology
The Image and the Text: Dedicatory Epigrams and Strategies of Communication in Archaic and Classical Athens
| November 30, 2012 | Posted by Sara Kaczko under E-journal, Epigraphy/Papyrology, Research Symposium |
Citation with persistent identifier: Kaczko, Sara. “The Image and the Text: Dedicatory Epigrams on Stone and Strategies of Communication in Archaic and Classical Athens.” CHS Research Bulletin 1, no. 1 (2012). http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hlnc.essay:KaczkoS.The_Image_and_the_Text_Dedicatory_Epigrams.2012 Per Roberta Introduction[1] To the eyes of a Greek citizen of Archaic and Classical times, inscribed epigrams were an ordinary sight; to the eyes of a modern scholar, they possibly offer a unique opportunity. This is because Archaic and Classical epigrams represent the union of a material component, the physical votive-object, and an immaterial one, the poetic text engraved thereon. During the Archaic and Classical periods, epigrams were composed for specific occasions, mostly to serve as epitaphs or dedications, and were inscribed on stone, bronze or other non-perishable materials, such as pottery. Epigrams were anonymous, usually short, in one or two lines (hexameters and, subsequently, elegiacs); they were (mostly) written in the local alphabet and in the epichoric… more
Abstract: The Image and the Text: Dedicatory Epigrams on Stone and Strategies of Communication in Archaic and Classical Athens
| November 30, 2012 | Posted by Sara Kaczko under E-journal, Epigraphy/Papyrology, Research Symposium |
My project deals with the interplay between image and literary-linguistic features of Archaic and Classical Attic dedicatory epigrams on stone in the communication with their two-fold audience, the god and the passers-by or, more broadly and importantly, the patron’s fellow citizens. Since epigrams were part of the ordinary life and “formulaic” on several respects, including their structure (shape of the monument, type of alphabet and dialect, layout of the text), I investigate how some patrons of inscribed epigrams deliberately “interplayed” with the three different languages through which epigrams spoke to their audience — that of art and archaeology (the dedicated, often artistically elaborated, object; the technique used to craft it); that of epigraphy (alphabet used; form of the letters; text’s disposition on the stone); that of language and style (while prose dedications are composed exclusively in the dialect of the dedicator, dedicatory epigrams, as poetic compositions, are influenced by poetic… more
Coastalness and Inlandness: the Case of Attica
| November 27, 2012 | Posted by Ilaria Bultrighini under Art/Archaeology, Blog, Epigraphy/Papyrology, History |
Scholarship has in the past few years dealt more systematically with networks of interaction in the Greek world, especially within the framework of coastalness and inlandness. According to Polybius (30.9.16.), the inhabitants of the Lycian city of Kybira were not able to send Polyaratus of Rhodes to Rome because they were μεσόγαιοι τελέως, “totally inland people”. I assume that the historian expresses here a sharp opposition between coastalness and inlandness in relation to a land-locked location. Attica, that forms the focus of my research, can be considered maritime in character; being a peninsula and encompassing a fairly circumscribed territory, this region can be viewed as an island, isolated and closed, but at the same time connected in diverse ways with the outside world. The use of the concept of insularity to describe Attica is not a modern invention, but has been already perceived and expressed by ancient Athenians themselves. In… more
Reading Images and Seeing Epigrams: Image and Text in Attic Dedications
| November 26, 2012 | Posted by Sara Kaczko under Art/Archaeology, Blog, Epigraphy/Papyrology, History, Language/Literature |
In the previous post I argued that some Archaic and Classical dedicatory epigrams deliberately selected non standard and non formulaic features to communicate with their audience. Those features concerned the material and immaterial elements of the dedicatory epigrams, that can be described by the three semantic systems of art and archaeology, epigraphy and literature. Of the two components of a dedicatory epigram — the material and the immaterial — the former was primary in terms of level and timing. In terms of timing, because the visual image is what a viewer, of any level of literacy, firstly encounters; and in terms of level, because at a low level of literacy, even the visual image of the epigram by itself could convey essential information. This was the case, as I argued, of the royal Achaemenid trilingual inscriptions and of some well-known Greek dedications. For example, Hipparchus’ herms had a well-defined aspect:… more
Visualizing Greek Epigrams on Stone
| November 13, 2012 | Posted by Sara Kaczko under Art/Archaeology, Blog, Epigraphy/Papyrology, History, Language/Literature |
The visual medium has always been a powerful way to communicate; this is probably one of the reasons why visual arts are often used to convey a political message. It is usually agreed «that architecture is the most political of all visual arts […]; public buildings represent the polis’ most permanent and official statements».[1] Several ancient examples can be recalled and someone who is writing about this topic at the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington D.C. hardly needs to go too far to find a contemporary parallel, both metaphorically and literally: one can, as I did, actually cycle or run on a beautiful trail the few miles towards the Memorials and monuments of the National Mall. And what about a visual medium that necessarily consists of two elements, 1) the monument itself with its shape, aesthetic features etc., and 2) the inscription(s) engraved thereon? This is a substantial difference… more
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