Eugenia Vitello Volo
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Historisches Seminar, Abteilung für Alte Geschichte, Visiting Scholar (Doctoral Student)
Clarendon Scholar - University of Oxford.
Hanseatic Visiting Scholar - University of Oxford and Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen.
I am an ancient historian working on the economic history of the pre-modern Mediterranean area, with a core focus of specialty in the urban economies of Roman Anatolia. I am also interested in social history, material culture studies, gender studies, the history of historiography, and the political reuse of classical antiquity in the 20th and 21st centuries.
2024 - present: Visiting Scholar - Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Historisches Seminar, Abteilung für Alte Geschichte.
2024: Winter School "Exploring Gender, Human Capital, and Labour Intersections in Economic History" - Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen.
2023: Tutor - Somerville College and St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, Michaelmas Term 2023.
2023: Teaching Assistant - University of Oxford, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, Faculty of Classics, Hilary Term 2023.
2022 - present: Participation to the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Excavation Seasons at Aphrodisias with Oxford University and New York University, Karacasu (Aydın), Turkey.
2021 - present: DPhil (PhD) in Ancient History - University of Oxford, Brasenose College.
2021: Post-Graduate Advanced Class "La tarda antichità: metodologia della ricerca II. Fra centro e periferia" in Philology and History of Late Antiquity - Sapienza Università di Roma.
2020 - 2021: Research Assistant in the project "Transformationen von Gesellschaft und Landschaft im südlichen Umfeld des Gardasees in römischer Zeit" - Universität zu Köln, Historisches Institut, Abteilung für Alte Geschichte.
2019 - 2021: Participation to the 2019 and 2021 Excavation Seasons at Hadrian's Villa with APAHA Digging Project from Columbia University of New York and Sapienza Università di Roma, Tivoli (RM), Italy.
2019: Internship Student for the update of the Epigraphic Database Rome (EDR) staged by the international project "Electronic Archive of Greek and Latin Epigraphy" (EAGLE) - Sapienza Università di Roma.
2018: Participation to the 2018 Excavation Season on the Palatine Hill - North-Eastern Side with Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy.
2017 - 2020: MA in Classical Philology and Ancient History - Sapienza Università di Roma.
2014 - 2017: BA in Classics - Sapienza Università di Roma.
Address: Brasenose College
Radcliffe Square
OX1 4AJ
Oxford (UK)
Hanseatic Visiting Scholar - University of Oxford and Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen.
I am an ancient historian working on the economic history of the pre-modern Mediterranean area, with a core focus of specialty in the urban economies of Roman Anatolia. I am also interested in social history, material culture studies, gender studies, the history of historiography, and the political reuse of classical antiquity in the 20th and 21st centuries.
2024 - present: Visiting Scholar - Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Historisches Seminar, Abteilung für Alte Geschichte.
2024: Winter School "Exploring Gender, Human Capital, and Labour Intersections in Economic History" - Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen.
2023: Tutor - Somerville College and St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, Michaelmas Term 2023.
2023: Teaching Assistant - University of Oxford, Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies, Faculty of Classics, Hilary Term 2023.
2022 - present: Participation to the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Excavation Seasons at Aphrodisias with Oxford University and New York University, Karacasu (Aydın), Turkey.
2021 - present: DPhil (PhD) in Ancient History - University of Oxford, Brasenose College.
2021: Post-Graduate Advanced Class "La tarda antichità: metodologia della ricerca II. Fra centro e periferia" in Philology and History of Late Antiquity - Sapienza Università di Roma.
2020 - 2021: Research Assistant in the project "Transformationen von Gesellschaft und Landschaft im südlichen Umfeld des Gardasees in römischer Zeit" - Universität zu Köln, Historisches Institut, Abteilung für Alte Geschichte.
2019 - 2021: Participation to the 2019 and 2021 Excavation Seasons at Hadrian's Villa with APAHA Digging Project from Columbia University of New York and Sapienza Università di Roma, Tivoli (RM), Italy.
2019: Internship Student for the update of the Epigraphic Database Rome (EDR) staged by the international project "Electronic Archive of Greek and Latin Epigraphy" (EAGLE) - Sapienza Università di Roma.
2018: Participation to the 2018 Excavation Season on the Palatine Hill - North-Eastern Side with Sapienza Università di Roma, Roma, Italy.
2017 - 2020: MA in Classical Philology and Ancient History - Sapienza Università di Roma.
2014 - 2017: BA in Classics - Sapienza Università di Roma.
Address: Brasenose College
Radcliffe Square
OX1 4AJ
Oxford (UK)
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Articles, Essays, and Book Chapters by Eugenia Vitello Volo
Moscow, December 1942: Palmiro Togliatti and a young Spanish historian discuss the manipulations in the didactics and the study of Roman History carried out in Fascist schools. Togliatti’s thoughts were recorded on some handwritten notes which the Communist leader sent to his interlocutor shortly thereafter. This article aims to reconsider these notes – firstly published in 1965 – in order to understand, on the one hand, the historical setting during which he developed these views on Roman History; on the other hand, my purpose is to identify the sources and the studies which sparked Togliatti’s interest in the Classical world since his university years. Lastly, I will compare the notes with Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks and Letters, in order to understand how Gramsci’s historical interpretations of Roman History may have influenced Togliatti’s thoughts.
Conferences, Seminars, and Talks by Eugenia Vitello Volo
This paper deals with a case-study concerning one of these moral imperatives: the prohibitions and the fines against the misappropriation of tombs in Roman Ephesus. Even though one might think that respect for the dead would be a universal moral obligation among humans, the constant necessity of regulating it through a very well-articulated ius sepulchri disproves this vision. Furthermore, the funerary epigraphy from the city makes it very clear that, despite the concern of the rulers, there is almost ceaseless disobedience towards these provisions.
The paper thus addresses the dynamics through which traditional local customs, Roman laws, and broader human moral obligations were – or were not – considered proper objects of obedience, and their consequences: what happens when a rule, which should be binding in both a moral-philosophical and a legal sense, is broken?
By sketching the portrait of one of these benefactresses, Attalis Apphion from Aphrodisias, my presentation will challenge this reductive vision of women’s role in the Graeco-Roman urban elites: we will in fact follow Attalis “at work” in her historical context in order to estimate what kind of social, political, and economic role she played in her city on her own right. Her case studies will also be used to try to give an idea of the actual historical development of the wider phenomenon of female euergetism in Roman Asia.
Among the inscriptions found by Gaudin, there are two inscriptions concerning Attalos Adrastos, a prominent member of the Aphrodisian élite and a civic benefactor. After Reinach’s edition, only Louis Robert added brief thoughts on specific aspects of these two inscriptions, now unfortunately lost. The texts clearly deserve further comments. The endowments established by Attalos Adrastos not only offer insights into the civic cult of Aphrodite, but also introduce new aspects of this type of inscription and provide a wealth of information on the functioning of endowments.
In this paper, I shall consider the reconstruction of the material aspects of the monuments and their original context and I will address the economic aspects of the euergesiai.
To address this topic, I will first introduce a brief outline of the topic of Roman imperialistic supremacy as a natural drive in the ancient sources. Then, I will focus on the recent use of this argument, following a twofold path of analysis. On the one hand, I will examine the claims of the Mediterranean as a space of direct pertinence of Italian colonialist expansion in direct connection with the alleged Roman lineage of the Fascist Empire, particularly in Mussolini’s speeches and propaganda. On the other, I will focus on two specific case studies among the Italian historians (namely, Gaetano de Sanctis and Mario Attilio Levi), with two very different perceptions of and forms of adherence to the Fascist regime, in order to demonstrate how and in which terms the political propaganda and the academic historiography on the Ancient World influenced each other.
Dissertations by Eugenia Vitello Volo
a. six honorific inscriptions set up by professional associations for important citizens of Hierapolis;
b. nine funerary inscriptions which mention a professional role of the dead;
c. twenty-nine funerary inscriptions which record the institution of an endowment whose recipient is a professional association;
d. five funerary inscriptions with the expression of a burial fine collected by a professional association;
e. two peculiar cases of endowments which are the result of the collection of a burial fine.
After that, I analysed every sub-category in order to show, where possible, the social and economic behaviour of the professional collegia in Hierapolis and the differences or the similarities with the broader situation previously delineated for the whole Asian province.
Web Articles and Blog Posts by Eugenia Vitello Volo
"Nell’analisi storica si avverte, a partire dagli anni ’60 del secolo scorso, la necessità di misurare la distanza tra una ricostruzione che possa essere ideologicamente orientata [...] e quella che doveva essere stata la reale prassi quotidiana, integrando gli stimoli e le informazioni che provengono da più fonti possibili".
Leggi l'articolo completo su www.lagonnadisocrate.it
Artwork: Chiara Cazzato e Vanessa Sauls
Teaching Documents by Eugenia Vitello Volo
Conference Reports by Eugenia Vitello Volo
Reviews by Eugenia Vitello Volo
Poster Presentations by Eugenia Vitello Volo
Moscow, December 1942: Palmiro Togliatti and a young Spanish historian discuss the manipulations in the didactics and the study of Roman History carried out in Fascist schools. Togliatti’s thoughts were recorded on some handwritten notes which the Communist leader sent to his interlocutor shortly thereafter. This article aims to reconsider these notes – firstly published in 1965 – in order to understand, on the one hand, the historical setting during which he developed these views on Roman History; on the other hand, my purpose is to identify the sources and the studies which sparked Togliatti’s interest in the Classical world since his university years. Lastly, I will compare the notes with Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks and Letters, in order to understand how Gramsci’s historical interpretations of Roman History may have influenced Togliatti’s thoughts.
This paper deals with a case-study concerning one of these moral imperatives: the prohibitions and the fines against the misappropriation of tombs in Roman Ephesus. Even though one might think that respect for the dead would be a universal moral obligation among humans, the constant necessity of regulating it through a very well-articulated ius sepulchri disproves this vision. Furthermore, the funerary epigraphy from the city makes it very clear that, despite the concern of the rulers, there is almost ceaseless disobedience towards these provisions.
The paper thus addresses the dynamics through which traditional local customs, Roman laws, and broader human moral obligations were – or were not – considered proper objects of obedience, and their consequences: what happens when a rule, which should be binding in both a moral-philosophical and a legal sense, is broken?
By sketching the portrait of one of these benefactresses, Attalis Apphion from Aphrodisias, my presentation will challenge this reductive vision of women’s role in the Graeco-Roman urban elites: we will in fact follow Attalis “at work” in her historical context in order to estimate what kind of social, political, and economic role she played in her city on her own right. Her case studies will also be used to try to give an idea of the actual historical development of the wider phenomenon of female euergetism in Roman Asia.
Among the inscriptions found by Gaudin, there are two inscriptions concerning Attalos Adrastos, a prominent member of the Aphrodisian élite and a civic benefactor. After Reinach’s edition, only Louis Robert added brief thoughts on specific aspects of these two inscriptions, now unfortunately lost. The texts clearly deserve further comments. The endowments established by Attalos Adrastos not only offer insights into the civic cult of Aphrodite, but also introduce new aspects of this type of inscription and provide a wealth of information on the functioning of endowments.
In this paper, I shall consider the reconstruction of the material aspects of the monuments and their original context and I will address the economic aspects of the euergesiai.
To address this topic, I will first introduce a brief outline of the topic of Roman imperialistic supremacy as a natural drive in the ancient sources. Then, I will focus on the recent use of this argument, following a twofold path of analysis. On the one hand, I will examine the claims of the Mediterranean as a space of direct pertinence of Italian colonialist expansion in direct connection with the alleged Roman lineage of the Fascist Empire, particularly in Mussolini’s speeches and propaganda. On the other, I will focus on two specific case studies among the Italian historians (namely, Gaetano de Sanctis and Mario Attilio Levi), with two very different perceptions of and forms of adherence to the Fascist regime, in order to demonstrate how and in which terms the political propaganda and the academic historiography on the Ancient World influenced each other.
a. six honorific inscriptions set up by professional associations for important citizens of Hierapolis;
b. nine funerary inscriptions which mention a professional role of the dead;
c. twenty-nine funerary inscriptions which record the institution of an endowment whose recipient is a professional association;
d. five funerary inscriptions with the expression of a burial fine collected by a professional association;
e. two peculiar cases of endowments which are the result of the collection of a burial fine.
After that, I analysed every sub-category in order to show, where possible, the social and economic behaviour of the professional collegia in Hierapolis and the differences or the similarities with the broader situation previously delineated for the whole Asian province.
"Nell’analisi storica si avverte, a partire dagli anni ’60 del secolo scorso, la necessità di misurare la distanza tra una ricostruzione che possa essere ideologicamente orientata [...] e quella che doveva essere stata la reale prassi quotidiana, integrando gli stimoli e le informazioni che provengono da più fonti possibili".
Leggi l'articolo completo su www.lagonnadisocrate.it
Artwork: Chiara Cazzato e Vanessa Sauls