Ciriaco d'Ancona and the Origins of Epigraphy

This article investigates how and why scholars began to systematically examine and record ancient inscriptions in fifteenth-century Italy. Finding evidence in the revolutionary work of Ciriaco d'Ancona, it shows that this change emerged from the synthesis of several cultural traditions. Ciriaco...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inRenaissance quarterly Vol. 76; no. 2; pp. 444 - 496
Main Author Datchev, Lillian
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Cambridge University Press 01.01.2023
Subjects
15th century
Archives & records
de Pizzecolli, Ciriaco (Cyriac of Ancona) (1391-1452)
Epigraphy
Historic artifacts
Inscriptions
Italian literature
Traditions
Italy
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Summary:This article investigates how and why scholars began to systematically examine and record ancient inscriptions in fifteenth-century Italy. Finding evidence in the revolutionary work of Ciriaco d'Ancona, it shows that this change emerged from the synthesis of several cultural traditions. Ciriaco learned to observe antiquities from the Italian elite living in the Greek colonies and to record inscriptions from an early Christian pilgrim's practice. He introduced a new degree of precision in his records, learned partly from humanists. These facts suggest that a new culture of observing, discussing, and writing about antiquities was developing in the early Renaissance Mediterranean.
ISSN:0034-4338
1935-0236
DOI:10.1017/rqx.2022.439