Epigraphy in Historical Research 2900-MK2-EPWAR
The proposed irregular course is field-based and will not follow a weekly schedule. It will be held five times during the semester, with each meeting lasting three hours. Its aim is to combine knowledge acquired through readings and seminar work with direct observation and analysis of inscribed monuments preserved in the urban, museum, legal, residential, garden, and funerary spaces of Warsaw.
The first meeting will take place in a classroom and will be devoted to an introduction to Latin epigraphy. It will cover the basic types of Latin inscriptions, their functions, forms of writing, the most common abbreviations, epigraphic formulae, and the principles of reading, transcription, expansion of abbreviations, translation, and description of inscribed monuments.
The subsequent meetings will take place outside the classroom and will involve the observation, documentation, and interpretation of specific inscriptions in situ. Students will learn to treat an inscription not only as a text, but also as a material object connected with a particular support, place of display, social function, and cultural context.
The planned field sessions include:
- a visit to the National Museum in Warsaw — types of Latin inscriptions in a museum space; analysis of inscriptions as monuments transferred from their original context to a museum display;
- an examination of the building of the Supreme Court — Latin legal maxims in public space and the modern reception of Roman law; see W. Wołodkiewicz, Regulae iuris. Łacińskie inskrypcje na kolumnach Sądu Najwyższego Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, Warsaw 2017;
- a visit to the Palace in Wilanów — Latin inscriptions on the palace façade and their function in the ideological programme of the royal residence; analysis of the relationship between inscription, architecture, power, ancient tradition, and early modern court culture;
- a visit to the Royal Łazienki — Latin inscriptions in garden and residential space; analysis of Latin as an element of the classicist artistic, educational, and political programme;
- a visit to the Old Powązki Cemetery — analysis of selected funerary formulae of Latin origin and of the function of Latin in cemetery and commemorative space.
Course coordinators
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
- through learning by doing, the student is able to transfer knowledge gained from readings and classes to fieldwork, museum work, and other out-of-classroom contexts;
- the student is able to identify and classify the basic types of Latin inscriptions preserved in urban contexts;
r- ead, transcribe, expand abbreviations, and translate selected Latin inscriptions;
- prepare a basic epigraphic description of an inscription, taking into account its support, layout, state of preservation, letter forms, abbreviations, and spatial context;
- analyze an inscription both as a text and as a material object;
explain how the meaning of an inscription depends on its location, visual setting, intended audience, and social function;
- connect inscriptions discussed in situ with broader questions of Roman tradition, Christian culture, legal memory, commemoration, and the reception of antiquity;
- assess the role of Latin as a language of religion, law, and public memory in the urban space of Warsaw.
Assessment criteria
Preparation for and participation in class will be assessed. Each participant is expected to give one presentation in the field, outside the classroom, and one presentation in the classroom. Depending on the number of participants, presentations will be prepared either individually or in groups.
Bibliography
- W. Wołodkiewicz, Regulae iuris. Łacińskie inskrypcje na kolumnach Sądu Najwyższego Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej , Warszawa 2017.
- Marek Winiarczyk, Słownik skrótów łacińskich. Lexicon siglorum latinorum, Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Chronicon, 2024.
- Alison E. Cooley, The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
-John Bodel, Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History from Inscriptions, London–New York: Routledge, 2001.
- Arthur Gordon, ., Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy, Berkeley–Los Angeles–London: University of California Press, 1983
Literature relating to the individual sites visited during the course will be collected independently by the students.