TRA EPIGRAFIA E LETTERATURA: CIRCOLAZIONE, VARIAZIONI E DOPPIE REDAZIONI DI EPIGRAMMI. IL CASO DI SEG 41. 855 VS. ARISTOT. FR. 644 ROSE

Abstract

This paper deals with a not-frequently attested phenomenon in the Archaic and (Late-)Classical world,
namely the replica of an epigram, moreover handed down to us both in the literary transmission and on
durable material. It is known from Eustathius and Ausonius, but likely goes back to the pseudo-Aristotelian
Peplos, and it is also found on two Lucanian red-figured vases crafted by the same artist only few years apart
from each other (early 4th cent. BCE). The case-study is worth discussing for a variety of reasons: the literary
text is remarkable as regards its typology and stylistic features; the epigram circulated independently
from the artifacts and reads two different versions; the variation of the iconographical-epigraphical theme
on the vases is relevant from an artistic perspective; the presence of an inscription, its extension and replica
are exceptional phenomena in Southern-Italian pottery on the one hand and generally speaking in the
epigraphic field on the other; the analysis of the philological data cannot be separated from that of the archaeological
data (and vice-versa); the relevant features pertain to two different, though strictly intertwined,
aspects, the visual (archaeological-epigraphical) and textual (linguistic-literary) one.