Papyri and LAtin Texts: INsights and Updates Methodologies. Towards a philological, literary, historical approach to Latin papyri (PLATINUM Project - ERC-StG 2014 no.636983)

Abstract

An in-depth examination of the contribution of Latin texts on papyrus may lead to whole chapters of Roman linguistic, literary, educational, cultural and social history being rewritten. This is because as a result of the well-established boundaries that have arisen between these disciplines, the documents in question represent a domain scholars have not previously tapped to its full potential –despite the fact that such texts provide us with both a broad diachronic perspective (running from the first BCE to the eighth century CE) and an extensive diatopic view (covering Rome and its provinces) to explore the actual circulation and development of Latin language and literature and to offer new insights into the differing attitudes of the Greeks and the Romans towards learning and getting to grips with a second language. They represent commentaries on society and culture in the wider Mediterranean sphere, for writing transmits culture, allows the transmission of knowledge between generations, and engineers the operations of complex bureaucracies