Dedicatory Inscription Research Articles

Das Heiligtum des Jupiter Optimus Maximus auf dem Pfaffenberg/Carnuntum 3: Ausgrabungen und Funde im Spannungsfeld der Interessen. By Werner Jobst (Der römische Limes in Österreich 41.3). 3 vols. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2021. Pp. 990 + 43 folding plans. €249. ISBN 978-3-7001-8399-0 (cloth).

<i>Das Heiligtum des Jupiter Optimus Maximus auf dem Pfaffenberg/Carnuntum 3: Ausgrabungen und Funde im Spannungsfeld der Interessen</i>. By Werner Jobst (Der römische Limes in Österreich 41.3). 3 vols. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2021. Pp. 990 + 43 folding plans. €249. ISBN 978-3-7001-8399-0 (cloth).

Inscripts and Ownership Stamps in A. I. Klibanov’s Book Collection of SPSTL SB RAS

The article investigates insufficiently researched issues related to A. I. Klibanov’s book collection. The review of the detected autographs, exlibris and ownership stamps provides an opportunity to determine custodial history of books from both state libraries and personal collections, as well as to reveal unique information about relationships and cooperation between medieval scholars in the second half of the 20th century. The dedicatory inscriptions on the books differ in their length and originality; therefore, their significance as a source is directly proportional to how close a sender and a receiver were. Identification and description of bookplates and stamps in the study of the “Klibanovskaya” collection, still unknown from available reference books, will help in the study of other memorial book collections where such provenance marks can be found. The article also details the features of the formation of the foreign part of the A. I. Klibanov’s book collection. The foreign part of the memorial book collection, which is relatively small compared with the entire collection, can be divided into several thematic blocks: books with autographs donated by researchers dealing with similar scientific problems as the owner of the collection; multi-temporal books on historical and religious subjects, acquired by the owner; instances not related to the previous two blocks. The article identifies, systematizes and describes the inscriptions and ownership marks on the books of the collection of A. I. Klibanov.

Une inscription sabéenne inédite du Jabal Riyām

First publication of a Sabaean inscription from the temple of Taʾlab on Jabal Riyām: it is a dedicatory inscription that originally consisted of at least fifteen lines. Unfortunately, the text is very mutilated and only the first four lines can be interpreted. We then notice a technical term concerning irrigation, which is found in the Arabic dialects of modern Yemen.

Inscription dédicatoire d’un roi de Kaminahū, Arabie du Sud

The royal inscription published here is added to the small corpus of inscriptions from the city-state of Kaminahū (the modern site of Kamna in the Jawf region of Yemen). The author’s name, Dhamarkarib Riyām son of Ilīsamiʿ, king of Kaninahū, appears in other inscriptions, and it is probably the same ruler. This dedicatory inscription, commemorating the construction of a sanctuary, evokes the alliance (the “brotherhood”) with Sumhūʿalī, king of Shebaʾ, and his people. Based on this synchronism and on palaeography, we propose to date this king of Kaminahū to around the fifth century BCE, shortly before the period when several city-states situated in the Jawf region seem to lose their independence. The text has some interesting terms, including rṣf, attested in several Minaean inscriptions, which refers to a masonry building, probably a sanctuary of a particular type. This publication has provided an opportunity to re-examine a royal confession inscription whose author is probably the same king (the inscription Fr-Ṣanʿāʾ 5).

Neue Überlegungen zur Baugeschichte des Kolosseums

Countless scientific studies from the fields of archaeological, historical and art-historical research provide a uniform idea of the historically significant monumental building of the Colosseum. According to the epigraphic evidence and the written tradition of ancient authors, the emperor Vespasian (69–79 AD) had the amphitheatre with a capacity of around 50,000 spectators built ex novo on the site of a drained lake. To this day, this view has never been critically examined, although there are signs that point to a predecessor of the Flavian building. The construction and decorative forms of the Colosseum, the findings of recent excavations in the area of the arena and finally, the known dedicatory inscription of the building offer themselves as meaningful criteria.

A Church and Its Charms

Meletios was exiled for 13 of his 20 years as bishop of Antioch, and at times as many as three other bishops claimed the Antiochene episcopacy during his tenure. Still, in an encomium for Meletios delivered in 386, his protegé John Chrysostom claimed that Meletios managed to enchant the whole city: “Blessed is that man, because he was strong enough to cast such a love charm (ϕίλτρον) on all of you.” John delivered this encomium in a large cruciform church that Meletios campaigned to build. In the church were burials: probably Babylas, a martyr bishop who had died in the Decian persecution about 150 years before, and Meletios himself, interred either in the same grave or a neighboring one. The next year, Dorys the presbyter would fund the pavement of the church’s floors, carpeting them in rich geometric designs and clean black-and-white dedicatory inscriptions. Using Sara Ahmed’s work on “the cultural politics of emotion,” this article analyzes the cruciform church through three different modes: its architecture, an encomium delivered there, and its mosaic program. The Meletian faction forged alliances with material and space to produce and manage affects of security, love, and pleasure in their communities. These spatial, discursive, and material enchantments encouraged the more decisive affiliation of fourth-century Antiochene Christians with Meletios’s community instead of with his competitors’ communities.

The donor inscription of the Monastery of Lefkai (Euboea): new evidence for a μαρμαράριος of the middle byzantine period

Abstract The present article focuses on the dedicatory inscription of St Charalambos, the katholikon of the Lefkai monastery in the village of Avlonari in Euboea. The inscription dates back to the second building phase of the monument, between 1143-1180. Pantelis Zographos was the first researcher who dealt with the dedicatory inscription, making however fundamental mistakes. He was followed by Johannes Koder in 1973. All subsequent researchers adopted and followed Koder’s interpretation. On the basis of new information, an amendment and new reading of the inscription are proposed which lead to a new marble carver’s signature, that of Κοσμᾶς ὁ μαρμαράριος in the dedicatory inscription. Inscriptions with the name of a stone or marble carver from the Middle Byzantine period in Greece are, up to this point, extremely rare.

Simon Stevin through the lens of his dedications

The article studies the dedicatory letters the Dutch mathematician Simon Stevin (1548–1620) included in his works. Dedicatory letters gave authors the opportunity to create a persona or scholarly identity for themselves and thereby also to define their field, at a time when these were still in full flux. Stevin, in his dedications, ignored or even mocked the common rhetoric of patronage. He deliberately did not present himself as an academic scholar or as a court mathematician (even after he entered the service of Maurits of Nassau, the stadholder of Holland). His scholarship appears subsumed under a wider category of active citizenship that was peculiar to the emerging Dutch Republic. The difficulty modern scholars have in pinning down Stevin's work in modern categories therefore appears to have its origin in Stevin's own understanding of scholarship, which did not create a tradition and was quickly forgotten.

«Nel processo del leggere». Immagini della lettura nelle Novelle bandelliane

This essay examines the various ways in which reading is depicted in Matteo Bandello’s Novelle. There are, in fact, various examples of well-read women and scenes dedicated to reading aloud present in Part 1 of his novellas; it is a composite space in which the conventional praise offered to the addressee in the dedicatory letter that precedes each novella intertwines with the context of the novella, its vibrant depiction of the courtly world and the metaliterary reflections of the author. The act of reading serves not only as a narrative device around which the courtly conversation revolves, but it also allows for a dialectical interaction between the text, the reader and the group of listeners, and thus represents an important tool for grasping the intertextual references, the range of sources and the topoi which Bandello looked to when writing the Novelle.

Promoting Empirical Knowledge in Habsburg Europe

Abstract Recent studies on the functions performed by natural and mathematical sciences in Renaissance courts have shown how closely and extensively the domains of medicine, astrology and politics interacted with each other. The dedicatory letters to Cardinal and Prince-Bishop Bernardo Cles printed in works of medicine, astronomy and natural philosophy by scholars like Marco Antonio Rozoni (1524), Sebastian Münster (1527), Luca Gaurico (1531) Pietro Antonio Mattioli (1533) and Ludovico Nogarola (1536) reveal how much attention Ferdinand I’s Supreme Chancellor, a prelate and politician of unquestioned authority and power, devoted to such influential domains of natural science. In particular, they suggest that Bernardo was not unfavorable to a view of natural knowledge inspired by the anti-astrological skepticism of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. What is more, his intellectual proximity to learned physicians working in the wake of Nicolò Leoniceno’s medical humanism lends credit to the image of a patron, and a ruler, who was oriented to rely preferably on natural knowledge grounded in repeatable sensorial experience.

Algunas nuevas sobre Alphonso Hordognez

En un artículo reciente, Gesiot (2019) ha mostrado cómo buena parte de la dedicatoria de la traducción italiana de Celestina es una adaptación, refundición y traducción de dos obras principales: el Decamerón y el Tirant lo Blanch. A las partes señaladas por el estudioso, indicamos algún pasaje más junto con unas consideraciones generales sobre lo que este descubrimiento significa con respecto al traductor de la obra maestra española.

«ГЕНИАЛЬНОМУ МИХАИЛУ МИХАЙЛОВИЧУ БАХТИНУ...»: КАТАЛОГ ИНСКРИПТОВ НА КНИГАХ, ПОДАРЕННЫХ М.М. БАХТИНУ, КАК ИСТОЧНИК К ЕГО НАУЧНОЙ БИОГРАФИИ. РЕЦЕНЗИЯ НА КНИГУ «ИЗДАНИЯ С ДАРСТВЕННЫМИ НАДПИСЯМИ В КОЛЛЕКЦИИ “ЛИЧНАЯ БИБЛИОТЕКА М.М. БАХТИНА” НАЦИОНАЛЬНОЙ БИБЛИОТЕКИ ИМ. А.С. ПУШКИНА РЕСПУБЛИКИ МОРДОВИЯ»: КАТАЛОГ / CОСТ. Н.Н. ЗЕМКОВА; РЕД. О.А. ПАЛЬТИНА. САРАНСК, 2018. 264 с.

The publication of the catalog of publications with dedicatory inscriptions is of great importance for the research of various aspects of the personality, biography and work of Mikhail Bakhtin. It provides new opportunities for clarifying and even revising certain facts of his biography. The authors note that despite all the efforts of Bakhtin’s studies, his biography in many respects remains a mixture of real facts and various legends, and the task of creating a complete biography of the thinker is still far from being solved. The review highly appreciates the new publication, which reveals the potential of the collection of Bakhtin’s library and especially books with dedicatory inscriptions as a source of historical and biographical information. It values any facts that can shed light on Bakhtin’s daily life, his relationship with official academia, academic and research institutions, the degree of his recognition in the academic environment, the impact of his ideas on his contemporaries and younger generations of scholars. The first book in the list of donations to Bakhtin is dated 1943, and the most recent was given to him shortly before his death on February 1, 1975. The review introduces new documents, such as the inscriptions of Nikolai Lyubimov, a translator of the novel by Francois Rabelais, and Gennady Pospelov, a theorist and historian of literature. To a great extent, the history of the inscriptions becomes the story of the reception of Bakhtin’s ideas, the attitude to his works and personality during several decades. This allows a researcher not only to clarify the specific facts of Bakhtin’s biography, but also to understand some features of various periods of his life. The catalog contains 234 inscriptions on 227 books and 5 journals, each of which is valuable for researchers. It includes the illustrations and photographs of the books and journals containing these inscriptions, which increases the value of this book. So, if needed, a reader can compare the existing inscriptions and the proposed decryption. Each of the inscriptions given in the book deserves to be studied and considered in the context of Bakhtin’s biography and works. Bakhtin’s full biography has not yet been created, and the catalog allows not only clarifying certain facts of his biography and surrounding, but also clarifying certain scenarios of Bakhtin’s relationship with formalists (Viktor Shklovsky, Lydia Ginzburg), with the scholars of the Moscow-Tartu Semiotic School (Yuri Lotman, Vyacheslav Ivanov), and with the representatives of official Soviet literary criticism (Leonid Timofeev, Alexander Revyakin). The review examines the inscriptions of Bakhtin’s colleagues and students, Bakhtin’s inner circle and their acquaintances (Ivan Kanaev, Judith Kagan, Mikhail Alpatov), and Bakhtin’s “younger circle” (Vadim Kozhinov, Sergey Bocharov, Georgy Gachev). The authors draw the reader’s attention to a remarkable detail of the digital era – the electronic version of the publication which has been available on the website of the National Library of the Republic of Mordovia named after A.S. Pushkin since 2020.

«Сей малый подарок посвящается…» Дарственные надписи тамбовских библиофилов на книгах гражданской печати XVIII века

The tradition of book-making is closely connected with the formation and development of private library collections in Russia in the 18th century, which began its development with representatives of the noble class as the main book-holders who had the opportunity to purchase fairly expensive publications. Subsequently, the transfer of books began to spread among the middle strata, who viewed book-making primarily as a kind of mark for summing up a certain stage in their life – training, service, etc. Often on such gifts, short inscriptions (inscripts) were applied, containing personal information of a different nature. This work is dedicated to the inscriptions on the civil press books of the 18th century from the collections of Tambov second-hand booksellers. We prove that a careful reading of the dedicatory inscriptions allows us to trace the motives of do-nation, the nature of the relationship between second-hand booksellers and the history of their collections. Thanks to the conducted work, we create new and supplement the existing meetings of book owners. We show the connections of individuals with institutions revealed through donation inscriptions. We trace the individual trajectories of individual editions, which can be identified through the presence of the records of several donors who consecutively donated books. Consideration of the scripts allows us to present the book as a translator of the personality of its owner and a reflection of historical events.

The Rhythm of the Gods’ Voice. The Suggestion of Divine Presence through Prosody

Este estudio se centra en la meticulosidad de los dioses en el flujo audible de sus expresiones, una característica prosódica del habla que evoca la presencia divina. La poesía hexamétrica es en sí misma el lenguaje de la per manencia, como pone de manifiesto la literatura sapiencial y las inscripciones funerarias y dedicatorias: la poesía épica es el lenguaje directo integrado de una diosa. Más allá de la poesía hexamétrica, el habla especial de los dioses es principalmente expresado mediante recursos prosódicos, especialmente a través de un cambio en el perfil rítmico. Este cambio deliberadamente captura o evoca los bien conocidos perfiles rítmicos, frases y cláusulas de la literatura épica y sapiencial. Incorporadas en otros perfiles prosódicos, estas expresiones audiblemente alienantes y aisladas desconciertan por su inesperada apariencia al mismo tiempo que apaciguan gracias a su familiaridad para la audiencia. Al asemejarse al lenguaje de la permanencia y evocarlo para el habla divina incorporada, las citas en hexámetros revisten de un sentido ritual su interpretación en otros contextos rítmicos. El ejecutante encarna temporalmente la divinidad que habla, mientras que la audiencia experimenta el estreno de la puesta en escena de la revelación.

Prve literarne pravljice francoskega salonskega vala: hibridna žanrska zvrst

Del ideološke zapuščine romantičnega 19. stoletja je prepričanje, da naj bi pravljice odsevale motiviko ljudskih pripovedi. Literarnozgodovinska veda dokazuje, da so pravljice hibridna literarna zvrst, ki je vzniknila v okviru francoskega salonskega gibanja ob koncu 17. stoletja. Salonske pisateljice, ki so bile nosilke novega žanra, so se skupaj s Perraultom naslonile na že obstoječe literarne predloge predstavnikov renesančne novele in srednjeveškega viteškega in pastoralnega romana. Iz žanra renesančnih novel so prevzele narativni prijem okvirnih pripovedi, v katerih so opisovale salonsko okolje in pripovedne načine, na katere so nastajale nove pripovedi, ki so jih okvirile še drugače. Vsako pravljico so opremile s posvetilom in uvodom, na koncu pa še s pojasnilom, največkrat v obliki opombe, pri čemer so predstavile svoja teoretska razmišljanja in literarne vire, po katerih so se zgledovale. Iz žanra srednjeveškega viteškega in pastirskega romana so prevzele arhetipskost aristokratske dvorne kulture in neotipljivost prostora in časa, ki ga podčrtuje družbena nezaznamovanost, kar je pravljicam dalo pečat tipske statičnosti. Tem predelavam in dopolnitvam literarnih predlog zgodnejših obdobij so dodale še elemente magičnega, ki so si jih izposodile deloma iz antične mitologije in deloma iz čudežnih pripovedi, značilnih za ljudsko pripovedništvo, s poudarkom na vilah in njihovi magični moči.

İsrail, Hazor-Ashdod Kilisesi’nin Mozaik Zeminleri

A basilica has been found in Hazor-Ashdod, with a narthex in the west and a hall attached on the north side. The eastern part has not survived, but a capital of an altar table leg has been found, not in situ. The complex is decorated with mosaic floors, and each part of the building is decorated with a different pattern. The dedicatory inscriptions on the mosaic floors date completion of the mosaic floor in the northern hall to 506/507 CE, and completion of the basilica floor to 512 CE.The nave of the basilica is emphasized by the choice of a vine scroll pattern, populated by inanimate objects, animals, and birds. The carpet is dynamic, rich and crowded with motifs. By contrast, the aisles, the intercolumnars, and the northern hall are decorated with geometric carpets.Special panels mark the entrances to the nave, the northern aisle, and the transition between the first and second carpet in the northern hall. The Hazor-Ashdod panels contain a few crosses, the letters Α, Ω, Ι, Χ, and motifs with deep and symbolic Christian significance. All the motifs in the panels are depicted in one direction – from west to east from the viewpoint of a worshipper entering the church.The mosaic floor is similar in style, composition and iconography to early 6th century CE mosaic floors in the southern coastal plain, western Negev, and Gaza area. The floor belongs to a group of mosaics made to a moderately high technical standard. The style is schematic and quite flat. The style and technique are uniform throughout the church, and differ from those documented in the neighboring mosaic floors – evidence that they were made by an anonymous artist or a local workshop.

Literary Patronage in Spain 1500–1560

Literary Patronage in Spain 1500–1560

V. S. Baevsky and M. L. Gasparov: to the history of scientific communication in prosody

Based on the biographies of the prominent philologists V. S. Baevsky and M. L. Gasparov, this article examines the relationships of the Soviet scholars of humanities in the late XX century, and verifies the facts from the history of prosody. The archive of V. S. Baevsky with collection of 146 letters of M. L. Gasparov is deposited in Smolensk State University. It preserved handwritten and printed documents that tell about their shared scientific interests and sincere relationship. Gasparov&amp;rsquo;s dedicatory inscriptions on the books resembling the token reverence and friendship also serve as important and informative sources in studying this topic. The library of V. S. Baevsky accounts to 35 such books. There is also extensive memoir literature dedicated to V. S. Baevsky and M. L. Gasparov. The article analyzes peer reviews of V. S. Baevsky on the monographs of M. L. Gasparov, responses to the jubilees of the scholar, and obituary in his memory. The conclusion was made that mutual respectful dialogue established between V. S. Baevsky and M. L. Gasparov contributed to the synergy of efforts on the development of prosody as a research method, integration of university and academic science for the advancement of humanities in Russia. The study of various scientific contacts and relationships between the Soviet philologists allows having a new perspective upon the history of philology in Russia, examine the problem of opposition of Soviet science as a social institution, which was controlled by the government and its founding scholars, as well as clarify important facts in the establishment of prosody.

Two dedicatory inscriptions in manuscripts of Scripture and the question of their authenticity

At the beginning of a fragmentary biblical manuscript in the Saint Petersburg Library (Evr. II B 12) a dedicatory inscription was given, according to which Israel son of Simḥa of Basra dedicated the manuscript to the Cairo synagogue, called kenisat hayerushalayim (= the synagogue of Jerusalem), in the year 1030. This person is known as the one who dedicated the Aleppo Codex to the Karaite community of Jerusalem. The first part of the article attempts to prove that this inscription is a forgery by the Karaite scholar Abraham Firkovich, which was done in order to prove the connection of the Aleppo Codex to the Karaites. The second part of the article proposes an explanation for the strange phenomenon of two similar dedicatory inscriptions from the year 1017, which appear in two different biblical manuscripts (St Petersburg Evr. II B 223 and 225), dealing with their dedication by the woman Husn Bat Ya’akob to the Karaite community in Jerusalem.

RARE BOOKS COLLECTION OF THE CENTRAL SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY OF THE IRKUTSK SCIENTIFIC CENTER OF SB RAS,AS AN INFORMATION SOURCE OF SCIENCE

The Central Scientific Library of the Irkutsk Scientific Center SB RAS has an extensive collection of literature on various topics of scientific research of academic institutions of Irkutsk and the Irkutsk region. This library is the successor of the Library of the East Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. With the organization of the Branch its own scientific library was being created. Acquisitions to the library stocks were carried out by its first head A. S. Chumicheva.The first books of the library were books from the exchange stocks of the Library of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Leningrad), special libraries’ sector of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Moscow); books from other institutions’ libraries all over the country; trophy books from Germany; books from personal libraries of scientists, rare book stores; since 1958 books began to come to hand from the State Public Scientific and Technological Library of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk). The first library accumulations were the source of material that Russian science had in the period of its making on the Irkutsk soil, and an especially stored part of the library stock. There is a currently increasing interest of specialists in rare books’ collections organization, storage and use.A particularly valuable publication is the book, dated 1676, the life-time publication of the French geographer Pierre Duval (1618–1683).In 2019 its ex-libris was studied. They managed to determine the owner of the book and the history of the library. The ex-libris is heraldic, coat of arms belongs to Franciszek Velepolsky (1732–1809), and the book is from the Pinchuv Majorata library.In the library collections there are publications by prominent domestic and foreign scientists of the XIX–XX centuries, including Nobel laureates; books from personal libraries with notes of owners; autographed books, books with dedicatory inscriptions, bookplates. Works of scientific organizations of the XIX–XX centuries, reports of expeditions, and works of scientists about Siberia are of interest.Most of academic journals are presented starting since the first years of their publication.The collection of rare books is being replenished thanks to readers’ donations.