International Conference „Neo-Palaeography: Analysing Ancient Handwritings in the Digital Age“
January, 27–29 2020
University of Basel
Department of Ancient Civilizations
Project d-scribes


Lorenzo Sardone (San Marino): For a Paleography of Demosthenic Papyri

The great number of Demosthenic papyri found in Egypt is a clear sign of this author’s success throughout the Roman period. In fact, Demosthenes is one of the most well-known classical authors on papyri, second only to Homer. Among his large corpus is On the Crown, a true masterpiece in Antiquity, which is the most commonly witnessed, with 30 papyri containing passages from this work. The enquiry into these specimina and their lessons could be useful in order to reconstruct the Demosthenic text, as well as the origin and purpose of the public documents quoted within the text. In addition, it could be possible to understand the relations with medieval manuscripts. In recent years, scholars are giving fresh intention to the “material philology”, in order to investigate the circulation of this speech and the real physical features of Demosthenes’ ancient editions. The main focus of this approach is the palaeographical enquiry, with hands identification, scripts classification and the investigation of the quality and function of each item. Fundamental studies in palaeographical and material philology on literary papyri are: W. LAMEERE, Aperçus de paléographie homérique, à propos des papyrus de l'Iliade et de l'Odyssée des collections de Gand, de Bruxelles et de Louvain, Paris-Bruxelles 1960; G. CAVALLO, La papirologia letteraria tra bibliologia e paleografia: un consuntivo del passato e uno sguardo verso il futuro, in T. DERDA – A. LAJTAR - J. URBANIK - (eds.), Proceedings of the 27th International Congress of Papyrology, vol. I (JJP 43, 2013), Warsaw 2015, pp. 277-312; G. CAVALLO – L. DEL CORSO, 1960-2011: mezzo secolo dopo gli Aperçus de paléographie homérique di William Lameere, in G. BASTIANINI – A. CASANOVA (edd.), I papiri omerici. Atti del Convegno Internazionale di Studi. Firenze 9-10 giugno 2011, Firenze 2012, pp. 29-63. After Homeric papyri, it’s clear that Demosthenes’ fragments can provide us with a perfect basis of enquiry, with more than 200 items, both on papyrus and parchment, parts of ancient volumina or codices, that show different majuscule, from the most formal ones, to the more cursives.
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