Epigraphy/Papyrology

Blog, Epigraphy/Papyrology, Language/Literature

The Signature of the Muses: Epigram as Everyday Miracle?

In a recent article on artists' signatures in antiquity, Osborne has argued that such signatures reveal the socially embedded nature of pots, sculpture, gems etc., a collaboration between artist, object and end-user. As Osborne states, "What they all [plastic arts and literature] share is the sense that there is an 'author,' that the identity of the creator of these works is something worth knowing—and worth knowing because these are works… Read more

Blog, Epigraphy/Papyrology, Language/Literature

"The inscription is a machine designed to produce kleos."

In this formulation, heavily indebted to Derrida, Svenbro sees the "language" of early epigram. While I am nearly entirely sympathetic to this idea, I would like to take a tour of the kind of factory in which these machines themselves are produced—I'm sure the upper management would have some very interesting things to say about Greek poetics. Read more

Art/Archaeology, Blog, Epigraphy/Papyrology, History

Athenian Kleroteria and Hellenistic sortition

I will start with a cliché: apologies for my delayed first posting. Now, there is one question I often like to pose to undergraduate students: can they name one salient feature of Athenian democracy? Surely enough, ‘democratic elections’ or some version thereof is the most common answer. Read more

Blog, Epigraphy/Papyrology, History

Puzzling over some bilingual receipts

The issue of bilingualism is central to my study of the Tebtunis priests. The priests employed Egyptian in “personal” (and, of course, cultic) texts throughout the Roman period—language preference is a more complicated matter—but the use of demotic Egyptian in official contexts drops significantly rather early on—not immediately with the… Read more

Art/Archaeology, Blog, Epigraphy/Papyrology, History, Language/Literature

Publishing Texts in the Second “Century of Papyrology”

My awareness of CHS’s interest in the future of scholarly publishing was one of the reasons why I was eager to come to Washington this semester. As manager of a research center and a part-time librarian (i.e., someone who lies awake at night worrying about budgets), this… Read more