CL311 Unit 6: Introduction to Bodel

CL311 Unit 6
Inns, Lodging and Shops: Bodel on Epigraphy, or,
"Qui sommes-nous?" Feb. 26, 2004

Feb. 26 (today):

A few questions to prompt discussion:

What did the famous epigraphiste Louis Robert mean when he said "qui somme-nous," and what did it imply about the field of epigraphy? What roles do place of discovery, vehicle of transmission, medium of writing, material of the writing surface, motives for creating the text, and audience for the text all play in defining the epigrapher and epigraphy?
To what social and political changes can we attribute some evolutionary changes in epigraphic activity, and why? Where are inscriptions generally found, and what are the main motives for inscribing/painting/scratching a text?
Who read inscriptions? Who wrote inscriptions? What do John Bodel, William Harris and Rosalind Thomas theorize about the relationship between orality and literacy? Did inscriptions put into words orginally oral publication, or did they produce oral communication? What role does "voice" play in a static, inscribed/painted/scratched text?
How are epitaphs useful to the epigrapher? For example, what do we learn from the gravestone of L. Herennius Epaphroditus?

Dis Manibus
L. Herennius Epaphroditus
sibi et Herenniae Clade et He-
renniae Marcellae patronabus
et Herennio Fideli et Herennio
Crescenti et Herenniae Tyche con-
iugi suae et libertis meis liber-
tabusque posterisque eorum et
Volussio Lamyro nepoti et Herennios Synergo
et Herennio Africano et Hereniae Meniadi.

What does Bodel mean by "epigraphic bias"?
What difficulties await the epigrapher who attempts to date an inscription / graffito? What tools does the epigrapher have to get past some of these obstacles?
What did Ernst Badian mean when he described the dangerous intellectual path of "history from square brackets" and how does the case of the lex parieti faciendo from Puteoli illustrate the dangers?