Taught MA – Epigraphy
Seminar 2 - The Afterlife of Inscriptions
The aim of this seminar is to invite you to think about the journeys made by the inscriptions we now
see on site and in museums and elsewhere. To what extent have the practical, aesthetic, and
political aims of earlier individuals dictated what inscriptions are now available to view? How have
attitudes to inscriptions changed over the centuries? What motivated collectors to assemble their
collections of antiquities; what was the relationship between aesthetics and politics, and how did
they display their collections?
Please work together to prepare a 15-minute joint presentation on one of the following themes,
illustrating general points by reference to particular examples. You will probably find it useful to
prepare a Powerpoint presentation and/or a handout.
You could start by reading ‘The life-cycle of inscriptions’ by AEC in The Afterlife of Inscriptions (2000)
for a general overview of our themes today; there are also thought-provoking pieces in the special
issue of the Journal of the History of Collections, edited by AEC and Dan Orrells (2014), Inventive
Inscriptions - The Organization of Epigraphic Knowledge in the Nineteenth Century. We shall be
exploring the ways in which inscriptions have been used and abused over the ages. Another route
into the topic is via AEC’s Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy, section 2.5.4
As well as the following bibliography, it’s worth searching Journal of the History of Collections online.
REUSE - Spolia in late antiquity/mediaeval period [2 students]
Was the reuse of inscriptions (and other monumental remains) simply a practical response to the
need for building-materials? Was there any ideological purpose behind the reuse? Were inscriptions
placed so as to be viewable? You might like to consider inscriptions alongside other types of reused
material, such as statues and reliefs.
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@Alchermes, J. (1994) ‘Spolia in Roman cities of the late empire: legislative rationales and
architectural reuse’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 48: 167-78
Coates-Stephens, R. (2002) ‘Epigraphy as spolia — the reuse of inscriptions in early medieval
buildings’, PBSR 70: 274-96 [Arts Periodical]
Curran, J. (1994) ‘Moving statues in late antique Rome: problems of perspective’, Art History
17.1: 46-58 [Arts Periodical]
@Mitchell, J. (1990) ‘Literacy displayed: the use of inscriptions at the monastery of San
Vincenzo al Volturno in the early ninth century’, in R. McKitterick, ed. The uses of literacy in
early medieval Europe 183-225 [372.44 USE]
Mitchell, J. (1996) The use of spolia in Longobard Italy [N 5970 EKC 210]
@Rudolph, C. (2006) A companion to medieval art [electronic resource] : Romanesque and
Gothic in Northern Europe – ch. on spolia
@Saradi-Mendelovici, H. (1990) ‘Christian Attitudes toward Pagan Monuments in Late
Antiquity and Their Legacy in Later Byzantine Centuries’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 44: 47-61
@Van Dyke, R. and Alcock, S. (2003) Archaeologies of memory
If you fancy going beyond the strictly epigraphic, you could contrast the following two discussions:
@Elsner, J. (2000) ‘From the culture of spolia to the cult of relics: the Arch of Constantine and the
genesis of late antique forms’, PBSR 68: 149-84 [Arts Periodical]
Ward-Perkins, B. (1999) ‘Re-Using the Architectural Legacy of the Past, entre idéologie et
pragmatisme’ in G.P. Brogiolo & B. Ward-Perkins, eds, The Idea and Ideal of the Town between Late
Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, 225-44 [HC 4600.I3]
REDISCOVERY – The Renaissance [2 students]
How do inscriptions fit into the wider picture of the revival of classical antiquity during the
Renaissance? You should think both about the ways in which inscriptions were displayed and how
they were published. You could focus on Rome and Italy, or range more widely. What were scholars’
aims in their epigraphic publications? How were inscriptions published and displayed? How
important was the physical context of the inscriptions to interpretation of them? What was the
background of scholars involved in epigraphic work? What sort of questions were they seeking to
answer from inscriptions? How did the way in which inscriptions were published change over time?
How important was patronage in supporting epigraphic studies?
Each student should choose ONE individual as a case-study each. Some suggestions:: Cyriac of
Ancona; Justus Lipsius; Antonio Agustin; Poggio Bracciolini; Fra Giovanni Giocondo; Jan Gruter;
Martin Smet; Joseph Scaliger. Feel free to choose someone not listed here too.
Oxford Online Bibliographies: Renaissance and Reformation will also offer guidance. The Warburg
Library also has some Renaissance works available digitally – search via the library catalogue.
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Barkan, L. (1999) Unearthing the Past: Archaeology and Aesthetics in the Making of
Renaissance Culture [NB 85.B2]
*Bodnar, E. (1960) Cyriacus of Ancona and Athens [PA 85.C4]
Bodnar, E. with C. Foss (2003) Cyriac of Ancona; later travels [PA 85.C4]
Findlen, P. (1994) Possessing Nature. Museum, Collecting and Scientific Culture in Early
Modern Italy [Q 105.I8]
Grafton, A. (1983 + 1993) Joseph Scaliger (2 vols) [PA 85.S2]
Grendler, P., ed. (1999) Encyclopedia of the Renaissance [CB 361.E6]
Koortbojian, M. (2002) ‘A collection of inscriptions for Lorenzo de' Medici. Two dedicatory
letters from Fra Giovanni Giocondo: introduction, texts and translation’, PBSR 70: 297-317
Laureys, M., ed. (1998) The world of Justus Lipsius [PA 8545.L4]
Papy Sixteenth Century Journal 35 (2004) 97-131 [Arts Periodical] (on Justus Lipsius)
Saxl, F. (1940/1) ‘The classical inscription in Renaissance art and politics’, Journal of Warburg
and Coutauld Institutes 4: 19-46
*Stenhouse, W. ‘Classical inscriptions and antiquarian scholarship in Italy, 1600-1650’, in The
Afterlife of Inscriptions, ed. A.E. Cooley (BICS Suppl 75) 77-90
o (2005) Reading Inscriptions and Writing Ancient History. Historical Scholarship in the
Late Renaissance (BICS Suppl 86) [CN 120.S74]
o *@(2005) ‘Visitors, Display, and Reception in the Antiquity Collections of LateRenaissance Rome’ Renaissance Quarterly 58.2:
Weiss, R. (2nd edn 1988) The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity [PA 57.W3]
REINVENTION – From Naples to Lancashire [3 students]
What forms of forgery are found (eg, genuine texts added to a modern object; invented texts added
to an ancient object)? Why have forgeries been perpetrated? How can forgeries be identified?
General introduction to issues around forgery:
@Grafton, A. (1990) Forgers and critics: creativity and duplicity in Western scholarship
Pirro Ligorio
Ligorio is arguably the most notorious of all epigraphic forgers: find out about his background, his
methods of practice, and why he may have decided to produce so many ‘new’ ancient inscriptions.
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@Abbott, F.F. (1908) ‘Some spurious inscriptions and their authors’, ClPhil 3.1: 22-30
@Coffin, D.R. ((1964) ‘Pirro Ligorio on the Nobility of the Arts’ Journal of Warburg Courtauld
Institutes 27: 191-210
Mandowsky, E. and Mitchell, C. (1963) Pirro Ligorio's Roman antiquities; the drawings in MS
XIII. B 7 in the National Library of Naples (Warburg Institute) [N 8375.L4]
Stenhouse, W. (2005) Reading Inscriptions and Writing Ancient History. Historical
Scholarship in the Late Renaissance (BICS Suppl 86) [CN 120.S74]
Grendler, P., ed. (1999) Encyclopedia of the Renaissance [CB 361.E6]
Weiss, R. (2nd edn 1988) The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity [PA 57.W3]
Vagenheim, G. (2014) in Orrells & Cooley Inventive Inscriptions – JHC special issue
Annius of Viterbo
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*Collins, A. (2000) ‘Renaissance epigraphy and its legitimating potential: Annius of Viterbo,
Etruscan inscriptions, and the origins of civilization’, The Afterlife of Inscriptions, ed. A.E.
Cooley (BICS Suppl 75) 57-76
Grendler, P., ed. (1999) Encyclopedia of the Renaissance [CB 361.E6]
Weiss, R. (2nd edn 1988) The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity [PA 57.W3]
Ince Blundell ash chests
In what ways were inscriptions added to the ash chests in the Ince Blundell collection, and why?
How can we identify the forgeries?
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Start with his entry in the @Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (DNB).
Journal of the History of Collections 3.2 (1991) contains a couple of articles about HB.
Coltman, V. (2009) Classical sculpture and the culture of collecting in Britain since 1760 [NB 87.G7]
Cooley, A.E. (2012) The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy [use index]
Davies, G. (1990) ‘Roman cineraria in "Monumenta Mattheiana" and the collection of Henry Blundell
at Ince’, Antiquaries Journal, 70.1: 34-39
(2000) ‘Enhancing by inscription in the late eighteenth century: the case of Henry Blundell’s
Roman ash chests’ in The Afterlife of Inscriptions ed. A.E. Cooley
(2000) ‘The inscriptions on the ash chests of the Ince Blundell Hall Collection: ancient and
modern’, in The Epigraphy of Death, ed. G.J. Oliver
(2005) ‘Idem ego sum discumbens, ut me videtis: inscription and image on Roman ash
chests’, in Z. Newby and R. Leader-Newby, eds Art and Inscriptions in the Ancient World (CUP) 38-59
(2007) The Ince Blundell Collection of Classical Sculpture: Vol. 2 The Ash Chests and Other
Funerary Reliefs [NB 87.B5]
(2014) ‘Inscriptions as texts and objects: Approaches to epigraphic publication in the
nineteenth century’ in Cooley & Orrells (eds), special issue of Journal of History of Collections
@Southworth, E. (1991) ‘The Ince Blundell Collection: collecting behaviour in the eighteenth
century’, Journal of the History of Collections 3.2: 219-34
REVITALIZATION – Political Appropriation and Aesthetic
Appreciation [2 students]
Politics at Rome from 1347 to 1937 (Cola di Rienzo and the lex de imperio
Vespasiani - Mussolini and the Res Gestae divi Augusti)
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*Collins, A. (2002) Greater than emperor: Cola di Rienzo (ca. 1313-54) and the world of
fourteenth-century Rome [DG 811.6.C6]
Cooley, A.E. (2000) ‘Inscribing history at Rome’, in The Afterlife of Inscriptions, ed. A.E.
Cooley (BICS Suppl 75) p.20
Musto, R.G. (2003) Apocalypse in Rome: Cola di Rienzo and the politics of the New Age [DG
811.6.M8]
Wright, J. (1975) The life of Cola di Rienzo [DG 811.6.V4]
Cooley, A.E. (2009) Res Gestae Divi Augusti – intro.
Benton, T. (2000) ‘Epigraphy and fascism’, in The Afterlife of Inscriptions. Reusing,
Rediscovering, Reinventing, and Revitalizing Ancient Inscriptions, ed. A.E. Cooley (Bulletin of
the Institute of Classical Studies Supplement 75, London) 163-92
Kostof, S. (1978) ‘The Emperor and the Duce: the Planning of Piazzale Augusto Imperatore in
Rome’, in Art and Architecture in the Service of Politics, eds H.A. Millon and L. Nochlin (MIT
Press, Cambridge Ma., London) 270-325 [N 8236.P5]
@Scobie, A. (1990) Hitler’s State Architecture. The Impact of Classical Antiquity [NA 1068.S2]
Stone, M. (1999) ‘A flexible Rome: Fascism and the cult of romanità’, in Roman Presences.
Receptions of Rome in European Culture, 1789-1945, ed., C. Edwards (Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge) 205-20 [D 919.R6]
Bondanella, P. (1987) The Eternal City. Roman Images in the Modern World [CB 245.B6]
Neo-classical imitation
What types of monument inspired neo-classical imitations? What impact did the Grand Tour and the
Napoleonic wars have upon cultural attitudes to classical antiquity? How closely were the original
monuments followed in their revitalized versions? Was the function of the original monument
maintained? In what contexts were the imitations displayed? Was imitation of classical antiquity the
preserve of the aristocracy?
Alongside analysis of the impact of a genre of inscribed monument (Attic grave markers) you could
look at the specific case of Lysicrates’ choragic monument in Athens: imitated in the USA, Australia,
and the UK (cf. Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens by sculptor Walter McGill; Calton Hill, Edinburgh)
Sydney Architecture Images: http://www.sydneyarchitecture.com/ROC/QUA09.htm
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*Oliver, G.J. (2000) ‘Images of death: inscribed funerary monuments from fourth-century
Athens to neo-classical England’, in The Afterlife of Inscriptions, ed. A.E. Cooley (BICS Suppl
75) 125-42
@Lowrey, J. (2001) ‘From Caesarea to Athens: Greek Revival Edinburgh and the Question of
Scottish Identity within the Unionist State’ The Journal of the Society of Architectural
Historians 60.2: 136-57
@Darnall, M.J. (1983) ‘The American Cemetery as Picturesque Landscape: Bellefontaine
Cemetery, St. Louis’ Winterthur Portfolio 18.4: 249-269
The antiquities of Athens measured and drawn by James Stuart and N. Revett (1762-1794). A
selection of 116 plates as edited by Cornelius Gurlitt. (London : J. Tiranti, 1922) [NA 280.S8]