Current Epigraphy

October 8-9, 2009, e-Science Institute, 15 South College Street, Edinburgh

Organisers: Gabriel Bodard and Stuart Dunn

Programme:  http://wiki.esi.ac.uk/Object_Artefact_Script

The text upon an object is both evidence for and part of its form and therefore its function; just as the construction and purpose of an object gives context to and aids in the interpretation of text. Indeed, the form of an object effects the placement and design of text and decoration upon it. Non-verbal decorations drawn or painted on an object fall somewhere between (2-D) text and (3-D) physical object: like the text they are added by the scribe or artist, they have semantic (if not verbal) connotation, and are often taken out of the material context of the object; like the object, however, they are considered as artistic and visual content, and are hard to digitize meaningfully. Nevertheless they sometimes come closest to crossing the artificial boundary and may be studied by both philologists and archaeologists. Text may also be constrained by the placement of decoration on a surface, or vice versa.

This conference will bring together scholars from a variety of fields who study objects and texts side by side to discuss the ways in which advanced computer science methods can enhance both their own work and the nature of their collaborations with other researchers working on the same objects.

Methods to be considered will include (but need not be restricted to):

• Linking/connecting text and images of objects within digital editions/projects, or making object description an intrinsic part of a text edition;
• Advanced imaging (3D surface scanning, multi-spectral imaging, non-invasive volumetric scanning, stereographic/photogrammetric imaging) to bring lost or damaged text/engraving out of objects;
• Automated text/character analysis; identification of text fields/columns/lines;
• Reconstruction and visualization of damaged, unclear or complex text-bearing objects;
• Digital placing of objects in historical and archaeological contexts to highlight textual/non-textual features.

The Epigraphic Culture(s) of Late Antiquity

Dates: Friday 26 – Saturday 27 June, 2009

Venue: Internationales Wissenschaftsforum Heidelberg, Hauptstrasse 242 – Heidelberg (http://www.iwh.uni-hd.de/index.html)

Programme:

Friday, 26th of June 2009

9.00 Christian WITSCHEL/Carlos MACHADO: Welcome and Introduction

I – The Late Antique Epigraphic Habit in the Western and Eastern Parts of the Roman Empire – Quantitative and Qualitative Aspects

9.10: Christian WITSCHEL (Heidelberg): “Spätantike Inschriftenkulturen im Westen des Imperium Romanum – ein Überblick”

10.10: Charlotte ROUECHÉ (London): “Late Antique Inscriptions in the
East: Evidence and Problems”

11.10 – 11.30: Coffee Break

II – Late Antique Inscriptions in their Social and Physical Context

11.30: Carlos MACHADO (São Paulo/Heidelberg): “Dedicated to Eternity? The Re-Use of Statue Bases in Late Antique Italy”

12.30 – 14.00: Lunch Break

14.00: Dennis FEISSEL (Paris): “Elites et magistratures municipales dans l’épigraphie protobyzantine”

15.00: Silvia ORLANDI and Mara PONTISSO (Rome): “Discorsi su pietra: oratoria ed epigrafia nel Tardo Impero”

16.00 – 16.30: Coffee Break

16.30: Rudolf HAENSCH (Munich): “Zwei unterschiedliche epigraphische Praktiken: Kirchenbauinschriften in Italien und im Nahen Osten”

III – Regional Studies

17.30: Judit VÉGH (Heidelberg): „Inschriftenkultur(en) und Christentum im spätantiken Hispanien“

18:30: Lennart HILDEBRAND (Heidelberg): „Die Entwicklung der spätantiken Epigraphik Südgalliens – Inschriften als Indikator für gesellschaftliche Veränderungen?“

Saturday, 27th of June 2009

09:00: Ignazio TANTILLO (Rome): “Some Observations on the Evolution of the Epigraphic Habit in Late Roman Africa (with special reference to Tripolitania)”

10.00: Stephen MITCHELL (Exeter): “The Epigraphy of Asia Minor in Late Antiquity”

11.00 – 11.30 Coffee Break

11:30: Leah DI SEGNI (Jerusalem): “Late Antique Epigraphy in the
Provinces of Palaestina and Arabia: Realities and Change”

12.30 – 14.00: Lunch Break

IV – The New World of Christian Epigraphy

14.00: Claire SOTINEL (Paris): “How Christian is Christian Epigraphy?”

15.00: Lucy GRIG (Edinburgh): “Cultural Capital and Christianization:
the Metrical Inscriptions of Late Antique Rome”

16.00 – 16.30 Coffee Break

16.30: Final remarks

For further information, visit http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/fakultaeten/philosophie/zaw/sag/workshop_epigraphic_culture.html

Or contact Carlos Machado: carmachado@gmail.com

The programme for the Instrumenta Inscripta III conference has just been circulated (in PDF only, apparently not online, although the congress is listed at the Terra Italia Onlus events page).

Instrumenta Inscripta III

Manufatti iscritti e vita dei santuari in età romana

Macerata, 11-12 Giugno 2009, Aula Magna, Università degli Studi

Segretaria del convegno: Giulia Baratta – Silvia M. Marengo. <instrumentumiii@yahoo.it>; Tel. 0733/2583562

(The full programme is stored in the PDF as an image, so cannot be copied here and the file is too large to attach. Contact the organizers for more information.)