95840 - PROVENANCE AND CONTEXTUALISATION OF PAPYRUS FINDINGS (LM)

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

At the end of the course students will have acquired an understanding of the main problems and themes of Papyrology as an academic subject, and employ some of the main methodological tools to appreciate the importance of papyrus documents within the larger field of written cultural heritage. Students will be familiar with research regarding the text content as well as the materiality of manuscripts, and will be able to analyze the epistemic consequences of collecting manuscripts within the current debates on provenances of cultural artifacts. They will also be able to apply retrieval methods and tools (including digital repositories) for locating artifacts and the texts they are bearing and secondary bibliography. By the end of the course students will be able to comprehend the history of papyri’s acquisition processes, dispersion of papyrus documents in museum libraries and private collections and understand ethical and scientific implications of such processes on historical contextualization of written documents and ancient archives. They will be able to apply their analytical skills to professional activities linked with manuscript collections in museums, libraries and other institutions.

Contenuti

Course Contents

The course offers a wide perspective on how collections of papyri and other ancient manuscripts have been gathered, through archaeological excavations and the antiquities market. Lectures will cover the difficulties concerning the preservation and decipherment of these manuscripts, as well as the controversies they have generated between the (mostly foreign) acquiring institutions and the institutions close to their provenance.

Several case studies will be analyzed in class, and will serve as examples for the students' final presentations (see below).

 

Class work

1. Introductory Lectures (2-4 hours): explaining Papyrology (origins, research questions and output, methodologies), and the digital tools now available to do papyrological research, i.e. finding papyri and metadata online, comparing texts, and navigating the websites of modern libraries and collections (e.g. Trismegistos, papyri.info, PapPal, Clauss-Slaby, HGV).
2. Book and Document Archival Practices in the Graeco-Roman Mediterranean (4-6 hours): An introduction to the techniques employed to create written artifacts, their purposes, the places where they were stored, and their cultural significance.
3. Archaeological and Papyrological Case Studies (6-8 hours), including:
   • The Excavations at Dura-Europos. Yale University and the French Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres united in resurrecting from the banks of the Euphrates a destroyed city; the discovery of the P.Dura.
   • Western associations for the purchase of Egyptian papyri: the Egypt Exploration Society, the Società Italiana, the Deutsches Papyruskartell; their successes, failures and controversies.
   • The collaboration of archaeologists and paleographers in deciphering new papyri and potsherds: Robert Marichal and his dealings with excavations in Libya and Tunisia.
4. Further Case Studies and Problems (10 hours), presented by invited speakers and leading experts in the field, including:
   • The Herculaneum Papyri (PHerc) and the Neapolitan excavations in Pompeii and Herculaneum.
   • The collection at the John Rylands Library at Manchester University.
   • French excavations in the Eastern Desert of Egypt and the wealth of ostraka from Roman forts in the area (Mons Claudianus, Krokodilo, Berenike).
   • The Tebtynis papyri at the University of California, Berkeley (excavations and antiquities market).
   • Digitalization and commentary on unpublished sources for papyrological excavations, such as personal letters between scholars involved in fieldwork (Grenfell, Hunt, Smyly, Rubensohn).
   • Eurocentrism in Papyrology and the ongoing controversies between the Egyptian and Western institutions for the return of items and material illegaly acquired, or lent and long overdue.
5. Student Group Presentations on topics related to the course, and approved by the professor (ca. 6 hours). This presentation will be part of the final assessment (see 'Assessment Methods').

 

Pending the availability of all the external experts and the number of students willing to make a presentation for a chosen topic, the final distribution of hours in sections 4 and 5 may vary.

Testi/Bibliografia

Mandatory readings for attending students:

1. INDIVIDUAL LECTURE NOTES from the class work (cfr. 'Course contents', 1. 2. and 3.)
2. R. BAGNALL, 'Writing on ostraca. A culture of potsherds?', in Id., Everyday Writing in the Graeco-Roman East, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London 2011: pp. 117-137
3. H. CUVIGNY, 'The Finds of the Papyri: The Archaeology of Papyrology', in R.S. BAGNALL (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology, Oxford 2009: pp. 30-58
4. B. HAUG, 'Politics, Partage, and Papyri: Excavated Texts Between Cairo and Ann Arbor (1924–1953)', American Journal of Archaeology 125 (2021), pp. 143–163 

Non-attending students will not be responsible for item 1, and will instead read 5 additional, professor-approved, articles or 1 monograph (see 'Assessment Methods').

Metodi didattici

1) Lectures by the professor, where students are invited to participate in analysis and discussions.

2) Expert Presentations, which students will prepare for with suggested readings recommended by the repsective expert and the professor of the course. Students are expected to critically participate in any discussions during and following the presentations.

3) Student Presentation, where students will be divided in groups (ideally, two to four people) and prepare to discuss specific case studies approved by the professor.

It is the professor's prerogative:

• to invite further scholars and colleagues to enrich the content of the course, or if not enough students are able or willing to present.
• to propose further themes and case studies on the abovementioned topics.

The students will given the prospective time-table of the seminar in the very first lesson; they will immediately be informed, should this time-table vary.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

A) Students who attend at least 25 hours of lessons will be considered attending. For attending students, the final assessment is divided into two parts:

1. 50% will be based on a group presentation (ideally, two to four people). Depending on the critical insight and depth of the presentation, members of the group will receive a preliminary grade. The grade will be based on the accuracy and complexity of retrieval (including informed review of existing databases), the quality of the analysis of the state of the art, the use of appropriate vocabulary, critical appraisal of the main methodological issues, the use of appropriate analytical tools, the existence of a clear structure and presentation, and the organized division of labor within the group to produce an organic work.
2. 50% will be based on an oral examination. Each student will be asked three questions on the compulsory readings. The oral exam will assess precise knowledge of the studied essays and the ability to discuss them critically. The grade will also refelct the student's ability to analyze and communicate interdisciplinary and intercultural connections with awareness of different scientific approaches.

Students are strongly advised to declare whether they will attend the course or not as soon as possible in order to facilitate the partition in groups and the final presentations of the attending students.

 

B) Non-attending students, or attending students who cannot or will not present, will only complete an oral exam. They must prepare all the mandatory readings in the 'Readings/Bibliography' section (except item 1) in addition to 5 more articles or a full monograph which align with the students’ interests and must be selected from those uploaded in Virtuale.

Other choices may be suggested by the students and will be considered for approval by the professor. Non-attending students are required to discuss their final exam choices with the professor before signing in for the oral exam. Otherwise, the exam will not take place. No exeptions will be made.

The questions in the oral examination will assess the student's ability to present topics with critical awareness of the methodological implications and interdisciplinary/intercultural connections. The grade will also reflect their oral clarity and the use of appropriate vocabulary.

• Proficient Grade: the student employs critical analysis of topics using proper terminology and applies the appropriate methods and analytical tools to a given context.

• Passable Grade: the student describes the main issues learned or analysed using appropriate language, possibly with some uncertainties. Responding to the professor's guiding questions, they are able to apply some critical methods based on class examples or examples found in readings.

• Fail: the student has serious or extensive shortcomings, uses inappropriate language, is inable to correctly frame the topics dealt with, and/or lacks a sense of direction in their use and analysis of the bibliographical materials evaluated.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

The lectures will be held using Powerpoint presentations. All texts presented and discussed in class, together with the PDF documents in the 'Readings/Bibliography' section, will be available on IOL and Virtuale.

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD) must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Giulio Iovine