Research > National Projects > PRIN Projects > EbyRome. Epigraphy of “Byzantine” Rome: medieval Greek inscriptions from/in Rome and Latium (6th-15th cent. AD)
Principal Investigator: Francesco D’Aiuto (P.I.); Andrea Luzzi (Director of the Sapienza Research Unit)
External links:
https://ebyrome.it
The project “EByRome. Epigraphy of ‘Byzantine’ Rome: medieval Greek inscriptions from/in Rome and Latium (6th-15th cent. AD)” focuses on a research topic that has been little studied thus far, and not always adequately. The medieval Greek inscriptions of Rome have been the object of intermittent attention in the last one hundred and fifty years, with interventions that have often left problems of philology, interpretation, and history unresolved. Moreover, there are numerous inscriptions that have not been included in the dossier, and some experiences of research done in recent years show that from the autopsy of sites, from visits to the lapidary museums, and from the examination of manuscripts containing epigraphic sylloges there can emerge a good many “new” inscriptions that have not been considered so far, sometimes because of their being confused with classical and early Christian material or simply because they have escaped the notice of Byzantinists and medievalists.
The “Byzantine” inscriptions of Rome and its environs – including with that term the whole of modern Latium, a territory that largely corresponds to the Byzantine duchy of Rome and the area that directly was under papal control – deserve: 1) to be exhaustively catalogued, also via new research at first-hand (in archaeological sites, museums, churches, manuscript epigraphic anthologies) that identify the pieces thus far unknown to Byzantinists; 2) to be published afresh in a more correct manner within a comprehensive corpus after having been examined, when applicable, with survey techniques such as the laser-scanner, that can enable a better interpretation; 3) to be better contextualized at the historical, philological, linguistic, and palaeographical level; 4) to be examined also in terms of their original topographic and monumental context, for a better historical and cultural understanding of the Greek presence in medieval Rome and its territory.
The project “EByRome” therefore proposes: A) to create an online database that includes all the medieval Greek inscriptions of Latium regardless of their typology (on stone, terracotta, brick stamps, graffiti, fresco, and mosaic, and also on metal, ivory, wood, bone, and garments): the inscriptions to be considered are not only those that are original to Latium and preserved in situ, but also those transferred elsewhere and those created elsewhere but brought to the territory of Latium at some moment; B) to examine with more detailed research some “case-studies” of greater interest, in articles or monographic contributions.
Practical results from this project include communication through events in Latium dedicated to the vast public that is interested in local history, and the creation of this online database, that enables both the scientific use of the patrimony of information that has been gathered and the valorization of the cultural heritage of Latium and the touristic promotion of “Byzantine Rome”.
Collaborators:
Francesca Potenza (Researcher Tenure Track [RTT]) Paolo De Rossi (Post-doc Researcher)
- Bibliography
F. D’Aiuto, Per una riconsiderazione dell’epigrafia greca medievale di Roma: le iscrizioni su pietra, in Roma e il suo territorio nel Medioevo. Le fonti scritte fra tradizione e innovazione. Atti del Convegno internazionale [...], a cura di C. Carbonetti - S. Lucà - M. Signorini, Spoleto 2015, pp. 553-612.
F. D’Aiuto, Uno sguardo all’epigrafia greca di Roma nel IX secolo, in Grata più delle stelle. Pasquale I (817-824) e la Roma del suo tempo, I, a cura di S. Ammirati - A. Ballardini - G. Bordi, Roma 2020, pp. 59-79.
F. D’Aiuto - F. Potenza, L’epigrafe bizantina per il santuario di S. Mena sulla via Ostiense (Ott. lat. 2015, f. 124r-v): una rilettura, in Miscellanea Bibliothecae Apostolicae Vaticanae XXIX: Studi in memoria di Marco Buonocore, a cura di M.G. Critelli, Città del Vaticano 2024 (Studi e testi, 566), pp. 191-276.
Further details about this research:
- Research type: Progetto di Ricerca PRIN
- Research topic: Byzantine Epigraphy
- Fundings: MUR – PRIN 2022 – EbyRome - 202273E9F4_001 – CUP:E53D23013620006