Margaret Williams of the Centre for the Study of Christian Origins recently conducted an epigraphy workshop which consisted of a couple of half-day seminars which provide a really useful overview of what is currently known in regards to Jewish epigraphy in Hellenistic/Roman times. Even better, all the materials (handouts, audio, powerpoints) have been made available online. This seems to be a useful model that other talks/seminar/paper sessions might want to emulate. In any event, details and links available here.
Category: Epigraphy – Greek
Greek/Roman Inscription in the Grave of a Muslim Judge
This one popped up the other day and sadly, Hurriyet’s coverage seems to be all there is:
A grave stone from the Roman period has been found in the grave of a Muslim judge, in the garden of a mosque in the Kadı village of the Black Sea province of Kastamonu’s Taşköprü district.
The gravestone, which is broken into three separate parts, has been determined to be 1,800-years-old by archaeologists. Examinations of the writings on the stone indicate that it was placed for a Roman woman who died in 213 A.D. Pempiopolis was the capital city of the Paflagonia state in this period.
The following is written on the gravestone: “I am Julia, your mother. I proudly remember you. I am Loullos, your son. You were loved by me in the sweetest way. You were called mother while you were alive, now you are dead. Your memory will never be forgotten.”
- via: Roman gravestone in mosque (Hurriyet)
A small photo (too small to be useful, as usual) accompanies the article. A search of the Turkish press for more coverage seems to only have things derived from this one (e.g. Nisan Romawi Berusia Ribuan Tahun Ada di Makam Muslim) … I did try to put the two pieces together via photoshop, but didn’t have any useful success. I really wanted to see if the word ‘Loullos’ was there … and Iulia, for that matter; I can’t make out any of the phrases from the photo.
Attic Inscriptions Online
This one is filling my email box and my various twitter feeds … a bit of the intro:
Inscriptions on stone are the most important documentary source for the history of the ancient city of Athens and its surrounding region, Attica. Dating from the 7th century BC through to the end of antiquity, Greek texts are available to scholars in Inscriptiones Graecae (IG) I (up to 403/2 BC) and II (after 403/2 BC) (website), updated annually by the Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum (SEG) (website), and in the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) Greek Inscriptions website. However, until now, very few of the inscriptions have been available in English translation, whether in print, or online. This site is intended to rectify this situation, beginning in 2012 with the inscribed laws and decrees of Athens, 352/1-322/1 BC, of which new texts have recently been published as IG II3 1, 292-572.
Also Seen: Associations in the Greco-Roman World: A Companion to the Sourcebook
You’ve probably seen this already scrolling by in the various Blogosphere posts about it … to excerpt Phil Harland’s email:
… users of the site can browse through hundreds of inscriptions (450 so far) involving guilds, immigrant groups, and other associations in the ancient Mediterranean. The user can browse by geography or by topics (including gods) using the right side bar. There is also a feature we called “selected exhibits” on (hopefully) interesting topics to a general reader (with about 10 inscriptions in each exhibit). There are many documents with English translations, and the user can choose to view just those (in selected exhibits). One of the selected exhibits is for Judeans (Jews) in the diaspora. The plan is to continue to expand the website with more inscriptions relating to these groups. There are already 100 inscriptions that do not appear in the sourcebook (marked with an asterisk).
… definitely useful
Another Interesting (Probably Unpublished) Inscription
… which I doubt has been published:
rogueclassicism 