SEMITIC EPIGRAPHY

Academic Year 2026/2027 - Teacher: MARCO MORIGGI

Expected Learning Outcomes

1) Knowledge of the most relevant contents and methodologies of Semitic epigraphy; 2) groundings of Aramaic epigraphy from Syria and Mesopotamia (Late Antiquity, 1st-3rd cent. AD); 3) development of reading skills of epigraphic texts in Aramaic language in both synchronic and diachronic perspectives; 4) communicative skills enabling the student to spread knowledge and expertise in both specialist and non-specialist contexts; 5) development of learning capacities leading to a totally autonomous and self-directed study.

Course Structure

Class lectures

Lessons will be taught in English.

Required Prerequisites

Basic knowledge of the historical and archaeological context of the Eastern Mediterranean from the 3rd millennium BC to the 1st millennium AD. Basic knowledge of archaeological excavation methodology.

Students who are unable or unwilling to attend classes must contact the professor before the start of classes in order to arrange a supplementary study plan.

Attendance of Lessons

Attendance is not compulsory

Detailed Course Content

Visography: an extended methodology for the study of Aramaic epigraphy in Late-Antique Near East.

Textbook Information

- M. Moriggi, “Linguistic and cultural encounters along the Euphrates limes (1st-3rd cent. AD): a proposal for the reassessment of the epigraphic evidence”, in PELLIZZARI A. (ed.), Last(ing) Frontier: Power Display and Cultural Interference on the Limes between the 2nd and 4th centuries CE (Communitas 4), Roma 2025, pp. 111-122.

- A. Eastmond (ed.), Viewing Inscriptions in the Late Antique and Medieval World, Cambridge 2015, pp. 1-60; 124-147; 249-256.

- T. Frese et al. (eds.), Verborgen, unsichtbar, unlesbar – zur Problematik restringierter Schriftpräsenz, Berlin/Boston 2014, pp. 17-42; 233-242.

- E.H. Cousins (ed.), Dynamic Epigraphy, Oxford 2022, pp. 1-152.

 

Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).

The teachers undertake, within the limits of the financial resources, to ensure as far as possible that a copy of the adopted texts is available in the departmental library or (in the case of hard-to-find texts, articles and essays) to make them available on Studium, in accordance with the applicable copyright laws.

Learning Assessment

Learning Assessment Procedures

Oral examinations will consist in a discussion of the contents of the course aimed at checking knowledge, reading skills of the texts and contextualization of their contents in the respective historical and geographical frameworks.

Examples of frequently asked questions and / or exercises

1) Describe the physical support, materiality and archaeological context of an inscription and link these data to the contents of its text.

2) Transliterate and translate an inscription and briefly describe some of its linguistic peculiarities (spelling, phonology, etc.).
VERSIONE IN ITALIANO