- Text, Layout, and Medium
- Edited by Davide Amendola, Cristina Carusi, Francesca Maltomini, Emilio Rosamilia
From Texts on Walls to Walls of Text: The Layout of Late Antique Greek Documents Inscribed on Architecture
- Anna Marie Sitz
- © 2024 Author(s) |
- CC BY 4.0
- DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-0456-9.18
Late Roman documents inscribed in Greek on wall space in Asia Minor look surprisingly different from earlier Greek documentary inscriptions also inscribed on walls, which were often carved with the text subdivided into neat and orderly columns. By contrast, some late antique documents were carved in continuous lines stretching for metres, and they incorporate disparate visual features, such as kalends dates in Latin cursive letters. Rather than assume that such mise en page and visual characteristics represent the “decline” of classical epigraphic traditions, I trace the dissolution of the older, columnar formatting in documentary inscriptions on architectural wall space and the development of new layouts in Asia Minor, beginning in the Roman imperial period and accelerating in Late Antiquity. I argue that the aesthetic change can be summarized as follows: earlier Greek and Roman inscriptions appear as “texts on walls,” that is, discrete columns of texts written upon a pre-existing wall space. In the late Roman period, inscriptions fill up larger wall spaces without division, transforming these architectural surfaces into “walls of text.” These late antique inscribed documents become visually inseparable from their architectural writing bearers, acting as an “inscribed skin” and adding texture to the buildings. In some cases (e.g. Hagios Polyeuktos in Constantinople), architects or building teams clearly planned space for inscriptions early in the construction process. These changes correspond with the wider aestheticization of inscriptions in the late Roman period.
- Keywords:
- inscribed dossiers; text and architecture; Late Antiquity; epigraphic aesthetics; Mylasa.,
University of Tubingen, Germany - ORCID: 0000-0003-3580-2428
- Agosti, G. 2015. “La mise en page come elemento significante nell’ epigrafia greca tardoantica”, in M. Maniaci and P. Orsini (eds.), Scrittura epigrafica e scrittura libraria: fra Oriente e Occidente. Cassino, 45-86.
- Ast, R., E. Attia, A. Jördens, and C. Schneider. 2015. “Layouten und Gestalten”, in T. Meier, M.R. Ott, and R. Sauer (eds.), Materiale Textkulturen. Konzept-Materialen-Praktiken. Berlin, 597-609.
- Avagliano, A. 2013. “The Poet and the Architect: A Consideration on Byzantine Epigrams”, in S.V. Maltseva and E.Y. Sanyukovich-Denisova (eds.), Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of Articles, 3. St. Petersburg, 106-111.
- Bardill, J. 2017. “The Date, Dedication, and Design of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople”, JLA 10, 62-130.
- Bauer, F.A. 2013. Eine Stadt und Ihr Patron. Thessaloniki und der Heilige Demetrios. Regensburg.
- Bean, G.E. and T.B. Mitford. 1970. Journeys in Rough Cilicia 1964-1968. Vienna.
- Berti, I., and P. Kató. 2017. “Listen im öffentlichen Raum hellenistischer Städte”, in I. Berti, K. Bolle, F. Opdenhoff, and F. Stroth (eds.), Writing Matters. Presenting and Perceiving Monumental Inscriptions in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Berlin, 79-115.
- Bolman, E. 2010. “Painted Skins: The Illusions and Realities of Architectural Polychromy, Sinai and Egypt”, in S.E.J. Gerstel and R.S. Nelson (eds.), Approaching the Holy Mountain: Art and Liturgy at St Catherine’s Monastery in the Sinai. Turnhout, 119-140.
- Chang, K., A. Grafton, and G.W. Most 2021. Impagination - Layout and Materiality of Writing and Publication: Interdisciplinary Approaches from East and West. Berlin.
- Cooley, A. 2009. Res Gestae Divi Augusti. Text, Translation, and Commentary. Cambridge.
- Connor, C.L. 1999. “The Epigram in the Church of Hagios Polyeuktos in Constantinople and Its Byzantine Response”, Byzantion 69, 479-527.
- Dietrich, N., L. Horstmann, A. Bernini, S. Börner, S. Braun, C. Kühne-Wespi, J. Fouquet, T. Frese, A. Heinrich, R. Hirt, G. Mirizio, R. Müller, G. Riva, A. Rózsa, A. Sitz, F. Stahlke, C.F. Tong, and S. Watta 2023. “Layout”, in N. Dietrich, L. Lieb, and N. Schneidereit (eds.) Theorie und Systematik materialer Textkulturen. Berlin, 67–114.
- Eastmond, A.E. 2015. Viewing Inscriptions in the Late Antique and Medieval World. Cambridge.
- Eastmond, A.E. 2016. “Monograms and the Art of Unhelpful Writing in Late Antiquity”, in B.M. Bedos-Rezak and J.F. Hamburger (eds.), Sign and Design: Script as Image in Cross-Cultural Perspective (300-1600 CE). Washington, DC, 219-35.
- Faraguna, M. 2020. “Interplay between Documents on Different Writing Materials in Classical Greece: Paragraphoi and Columnar Formatting”, ZPE 214, 115-128.
- Feissel, D. 1994. “L’ordonnance du préfet Dionysios inscrite à Mylasa en Carie (1er août 480)”, T&MByz 12, 263-297.
- Feissel, D. 2010. Documents, droit, diplomatique de l’Empire romain tardif. Paris.
- Feissel, D. 2016. “Les breviatica de Kasai en Pamphylie: un jugement du maître des offices sous le régne de Zénon”, in R. Haensch (ed.), Recht haben und Recht bekommen im Imperium Romanum. Warsaw, 659-737.
- Garipzanov, I. 2018. Graphic Signs of Authority in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, 300-900. Oxford.
- Garulli, V. 2014. “Stones as Books: The Layout of Hellenistic Inscribed Poems”, in M.A. Harder, R.F. Regtuit, and G.C. Wakker (eds.), Hellenistic Poetry in Context. Leuven, 125-169.
- Graham, A. 2013. “The Word is Not Enough: A New Approach to Assessing Monumental Inscriptions. A Case Study from Roman Ephesos”, AJA 117, 383-412.
- Graham, A. 2021. “Reading Visual Cues on the So-called Archive Wall at Aphrodisias: A Cognitive Approach to Monumental Documents”, AJA 125, 571-601.
- Harper, K. 2008. “The Greek Census Inscriptions of Late Antiquity”, JRS 98, 83-119.
- Hellström, P., and T. Thieme. 1982. Labraunda I.3: The Temple of Zeus. Lund.
- Huttner, U. 2018. “Pagane Relikte in der Spätantike: Griechische Katasterinschriften als religionsgeschichtliche Quellen“, in C. Breytenbach and J. Ogereau (eds.), Authority and Identity in Emerging Christianities in Asia Minor and Greece. Leiden, 3-32.
- Kokkinia, C. 2016. “The Design of the ‘Archive Wall’ at Aphrodisias”, Tekmeria 13, 9-55.
- Leatherbury, S. 2019. “Framing Late Antique Texts as Monuments: The Tabula Ansata between Sculpture and Mosaic”, in A. Petrovic, I. Petrovic, and E. Thomas (eds.), The Materiality of Text: Placement, Perception, and Presence of Inscribed Texts in Classical Antiquity. Leiden, 380-404.
- Leatherbury, S. 2020. Inscribing Faith in Late Antiquity: Between Reading and Seeing. London.
- Manservigi, F., and M. Mezzetti. 2017. “The Didyma Inscription: Between Legislation and Palaeography”, in M. Hilgert (ed.), Understanding Material Text Cultures. Berlin, 203-242.
- Meyer, E. 2016. “Posts, Kurbeis, Metopes. The Origin of the Athenian ‘Documentary’ Stele”, Hesperia 85, 323-383.
- Meyer, E. 2017. “Inscribing in Columns in Fifth-Century Athens,” in I. Berti, K. Bolle, and F. Stroth (eds.), Writing Matters: Presenting and Perceiving Monumental Inscriptions in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Berlin, 205-262.
- Onur, F. 2017. “The Anastasian Military Decree from Perge in Pamphylia: Revised 2nd Edition.” Gephyra 14, 133-212.
- Orsini, P. 2012. “Per uno studio delle scritture esposte e monumentali a Bisanzio nei secoli VI-X”, in P. Fioretti (ed.), Storie di cultura scritta. Studi per Francesco Magistrale. Spoleto, 629-656.
- Ousterhout, R. 2019. Eastern Medieval Architecture: The Building Traditions of Byzantium and Neighboring Lands. Oxford.
- Robert, L. 1935. “Rapport sommaire sur un second voyage en Carie”, RA 6, 152-163.
- Robert, L. 1937. Études anatoliennes. Recherches sur les inscriptions grecques de l’Asie Mineure. Paris.
- Roels, E. 2018a. “Textual Monuments: Epigraphic Dossiers on Civic Buildings in Hellenistic and Imperial Asia Minor (4th Cent. BC – 3rd Cent. AD).” Dissertation, Universität Heidelberg.
- Roels, E. 2018b. “The Queen of Inscriptions Contextualized: The Presence of Civic Inscriptions in the Pronaos of Ancient Temples in Hellenistic and Roman Asia Minor (Fourth Century BCE—Second Century CE),” in E.M. van Opstall (ed.), Sacred Thresholds: The Door to the Sanctuary in Late Antiquity. Leiden, 221-253.
- Rosamilia, E. 2020. “Grammasin eusemois: Norme sulla realizzazione dei caratteri nelle iscrizioni greche.” Ricerche ellenistiche 1, 125-152.
- Rumscheid, F. 2004. “Der Tempel des Augustus und der Roma in Mylasa. Eine kreative Mischung östlicher und westlicher Architektur”, JDAI 119, 131-178.
- Sitz, A. 2017. “The Writing on the Wall: Inscriptions and Memory in the Temples of Late Antique Greece and Asia Minor.” Dissertation, University of Pennsylvania.
- Sitz, A. 2023. Pagan Inscriptions, Christian Viewers: The Afterlives of Temples and Their Texts in the Late Antique Eastern Mediterranean. Oxford.
- Stroth, F. 2021. Monogrammkapitelle. Die justinianische Bauskulptur Konstantinopels als Textträger. Wiesbaden.
- Vasiliev, A. 1943. “An Edict of the Emperor Justinian II, September, 688”, Speculum 18.1, 1-13.
- von Hesberg, H. 2009. “Archäologische Charakteristika der Inschriftenträger staatlicher Urkunden – einige Beispiele”, in R. Haensch (ed.) Selbstdarstellung und Kommunikation. Die Veröffentlichung staatlicher Urkunden auf Stein und Bronze in der römischen Welt. Munich, 19-56.
- Wang, B. In preparation. “Engraving Letters in Stone, Erecting Stone in the City: Administrative Letters in Late-Antique Greek Epigraphic Landscapes”.
- Zaccaria Ruggiu, A. 2013. “Quale cristianesimo? L’iscrizione di Manasse a Hierapolis di Frigia (Turchia)”, in F. Fontana (ed.), Sacrum facere: Atti del I Seminario di Archeologia del Sacro, Trieste 17-18 febbraio 2012. Trieste, 187-211.
Chapter Information
Chapter Title
From Texts on Walls to Walls of Text: The Layout of Late Antique Greek Documents Inscribed on Architecture
Authors
Anna Marie Sitz
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0456-9.18
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Bibliographic Information
Book Title
Text, Layout, and Medium
Book Subtitle
Documents from the Greco-Roman World between Epigraphy and Papyrology
Editors
Davide Amendola, Cristina Carusi, Francesca Maltomini, Emilio Rosamilia
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
426
Publication Year
2024
Copyright Information
© 2024 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0456-9
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0455-2
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0456-9
Series Title
Edizioni dell’Istituto Papirologico «G. Vitelli»
Series ISSN
2533-2414
Series E-ISSN
2612-7997