PTANOIS POSIN. Following the paths of itinerant professionals of the arts in the epigraphic sources of the Hellenistic period

Ricerca > Progetti internazionali > PTANOIS POSIN. Following the paths of itinerant professionals of the arts in the epigraphic sources of the Hellenistic period

Responsabile della ricerca: Angela Cinalli

Stato del progetto: MSCA-IF-GF H2020, 2020-2023

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The PTANOIS POSIN project investigates the cultural movement of intellectuals and itinerant professionals of performing arts in the Hellenistic period.

In the Hellenistic cultural panorama, itinerant specialists of literature and music played a significant role. The endeavors, paths, and stories of the so-called “poeti vaganti” are mainly documented by inscriptions, allowing us to envision a cultural and popular phenomenon that run parallel to court literature. Unknown artists and accomplished intellectuals travelled from city to city all around Continental Greece, the Aegean Sea, and the coasts of Asia Minor, chasing fame, fortune, and glory. The virtuosi showed off on all the renowned stages of the Hellenistic cultural centers, delivering their performances at festivals and sacred celebrations, presenting their brand-new compositions or reperforming traditional forte, gathering regional audiences from the territory and on-occasion audiences from abroad. Although the compositions of itinerant artists are sporadically preserved, being mainly intended for oral use, epigraphy provides us with a large spectrum of valuable elements that aid in the reconstruction of both the features and gestalt of a “popular” movement and its multimodal role in impacting on cultural life and identity of the Hellenistic world.

The scientific core of this project is the idea of arts on the move that finds ratio in the travel and in the hic et nunc performance. The research reveals two distinct patterns of artistic movement: travels for extra-agonistic performances and large-scale itineraries towards contests. These two spheres, interacting together, offer us one plane upon which to obtain a general vision. The study of inscriptions shows three main osmotic levels interacting together and encompassing transversal patterns. The central point of this scenario is the Travel, as the project title indicates: the expression from an epigram for a multi-victorious herald “ptanois posin”, i.e. with winged feet, enshrines the essence of the itinerant arts. Focus on Travel leads to an investigation of Performance, studied by typology and nature, and of the Travelers themselves, their life stories and careers, traced through their movements.

The PTANOIS POSIN research impacts history, performative arts, and society, capturing multiple glimpses of the Hellenistic world. Inscriptions allow us to reshape our idea of Hellenism, pushing towards grey areas the frontiers of our assessed perception and casting light on essential aspects we otherwise would not be able to acknowledge. The progress of this project consists in spacing throughout different research methodologies for providing a reassessment of the ongoing discourse on the cultural production of this period by means of two focuses embracing the transversal and interdisciplinary nature of the project: space of the Hellenistic world and narrative of arts on the move.

The scientific objectives for this MSCA-IF-GF action fall under the investigation of artistic mobility and itinerancy, in its social dynamics and criteria, and occasions of cultural life. The research objectives pertain to transversal and interdisciplinary nature of the project and revolve around the core structure of the research, according to geographical, chronological and thematic criteria.

Collaboratori:
Supervisor Sapienza: Roberto Nicolai

Bibliografia

- Monografia di progetto: ΠΤΑΝΟΙΣ ΠΟΣΙΝ. Poeti vaganti, intellettuali e musici del periodo ellenistico, vol. I. Delo e le Cicladi, «Quaderni dei Seminari Romani di Cultura Greca» 31, Quasar ed., Roma 2022.

- Curatela e contributi nel volume collettivo, in collaborazione con F. Camia: Classics@19: Conversations on Hellenism. Sharing Insights on the Poeti Vaganti project, Section 1: Friends of the Kings; Section 2: Authorial Poetry on Stone, «CHS Classics@Journal», Issue 19, 2021. https://classics-at.chs.harvard.edu/volume/classics19-conversations-on-hellenism-sharing-insights-on-the-poeti-vaganti-project/

- Contributi pubblicati nell'ambito del progetto:

“Vita artistica e culturale nella Creta ellenistica”, QUCC 126. 3, 2020, 103-126.

https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/4757874

“The past sets the context for the present. Preserving the legacy of musical and poetic tradition in the Hellenistic period”, GRMS 8. 2, 2020, 230-253.

https://brill.com/view/journals/grms/8/2/article-p230_3.xml

“Some additional notes on the ancient side flute”, GMRS 10. 1, 2022, 78-98.

“Percorsi d’Autore. Autorialità nella letteratura popolare di età ellenistica. Il panorama epigrafico dei poeti vaganti”, SemRom XI, 2022, 259-302.

“Lungo le tracce dei sistemi aggregativi prima delle corporazioni artistiche”, in F. Camia - F. Guizzi (curr.), Notizie delle epigrafi greche. Ricerche, progetti, prospettive di una disciplina. Atti del VII Seminario Avanzato di Epigrafia Greca (SAEG), «ScAnt» 29. 2, 2023, 243-268.

in stampa: “Mobility, internationalism, and interculturality in the pre-Hellenistic and Hellenistic Athens”, in M. Haake – M. Dana Frincel eds., People of Knowledge on the Move. Networks, Connectivity and Cultural Mobility in the Ancient Mediterranean World from the Early Archaic Period to Late Antiquity, Steiner ed. forthcoming 2026

Componente digitale del progetto: http://poetivaganti.chs.harvard.edu

Altri dettagli sul progetto:

Tipologia: Progetto di ricerca Marie Curie
Ambito della ricerca: Letteratura greca, epigrafia greca, storia antica, performance culture
Finanziamenti: MSCA-IF-GF H2020

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