EPIGRAPHY OF DALMATIA

1. Description and objectives:

From 1999, in the context of the Co-operation Program on the fields of Education and Culture between the Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of Croatia, a new line of research has been initiated, which covers the study of the inscriptions of two areas of the Roman Province of Dalmatia, currently belonging to Croatia: Salona (near Split) and Narona.  On 1998, the LITTERA group of the Universitat de Barcelona, the Università di Macerata (Italy), the University of Rijeka (Croatia) and the Archaeological Museum of Split (Croatia) signed a scientific co-operation agreement for the study of the epigraphy of Narona.

On September, 2000, some of the members of the LITTERA group undertook a study trip to Croatia with the aim of completing the bibliographic archive of the inscriptions found in Narona and of initiating the study and edition of the inscriptions from the Hortus Metrodori located in Sarona.

In addition, the group carried out the identification of those inscriptions of the Split Museum deposit corresponding to the agreed areas of study. The process of autopsy of a number of the identified exemplars was also undertaken then and will continue on future journeys.

A second study journey to Vid (ancient Narona) has been focused on the identification of the inscriptions belonging to this city’s museum and the location of those still  inserted in the walls of its private houses.

Accessorily, during the month of September, an expert meeting was held in Barcelona between research staff members of the University of Barcelona and the Museums of Split, Tarragona, and Empúries. The scope of this meeting was to establish comparative scientific criteria between the archaeological and epigraphic situations of both areas, especially concerning the Narona and Empúries Roman walls.

On the other hand, it must be pointed out that Rosa Comes Maymó, a member of the LITTERA group, received a FPI (Research Staff Training) scholarship from the Catalan Government (1998-2001) supporting the ellaboration of her Doctor’s Degree Thesis concerning the linguistic peculiarities of the inscriptions of the Conventus Naronitanus, which has been read on 2004.

On 2001, the inventory of the inscriptions of Narona has been completed, and the study of the Roman inscriptions found in this city has been finished. Currently, there remains only the joint redaction of a complete Corpus.

Regarding Salona, the inventory has also been finished, but it still remains open to the introduction of new, unpublished  inscriptions, which are currently unaccessible due to the lack of centralisation of the many deposits of the Split Museum.

This line of research and international collaboration has already resulted in the publication of the first volume of the Corpus Inscriptionum Naronitanarum.

We expect that in the near future the second volume of this Corpus will be completed. Also, a third volume covering the Ager Naronitanus and the first volume of the inscriptions found in the Hortus Metrodori are in ellaboration.

2. Works published by LITTERA:

COMES, R.M. (en prensa), "Movimientos de población y vías de comunicación en el valle del Neretva (Narenta, Dalmacia)", Acta XII Congressus Internationalis Epigraphiae Graecae et Latinae. Barcelona, 3-8/IX/2002.

MARÍN, E. – MAYER, M. – PACI, G. – RODÀ, I., Corpus Inscriptionum Naronitanarum I. Erešova kula – Vid. Macerata – Split, 1999.

MAYER, M. – MARÍN, E. – PACI, G. – RODÀ, I., "Elementos para una puesta al día de las inscripciones del campo militar de Bigeste", en LE BOHEC, Y. (ed.), Les légions de Rome sous le Haut Empire, Lyon 2000, pp. 499-514.

MAYER, M – MARÍN, E. – RODÀ, I., "Notulae minimae epigraphicae ad officinas lapidarias Salonitanas inlustrandas' en PACI, G. (ed.), Epigraphai. Miscellanea epigrafica in onori di Lidio Gasperini, Roma 2000, 579-594.