Ancient Crafts

This chapter focuses on the assessment of the first book of the Hippocratic treatise De diaeta as a source for the reconstruction of the lost book of Hetaclitus. We argue that this is an invaluable source which – with  due precautions and reservations – leads to the reconsideration of the nature and purpose of Heraclitus' book. 20 out of 24 "crafts" (τέχναι) and other practices adduced in chapters 11-24 of De diaeta, book I are attested in the authentic fragments of Hercalitus or in the Heraclitean tradition. This transforms Heraclitus from a physicist into anthropologist and once again confirms the correctness of the evidence of Diodotus that the book of Heraclitus "was not about nature, but about politeia". In their original context the examples from various τέχναι were conceived as empirical proofs (tekmeria) in support of the thesis "craft imitates nature" (ἡ τέχνη μιμεῖται τὴν φύσιν) which in turn demonstrates that in their works (ἔργα, ποιεῖν) humans unconsciously imitate the divine law of the harmony of opposites that permeates  the Universe and the world of polis. Heraclitus' book is the first theory of natural law and the first political utopia anticipating Plato's Republic.

Il presente lavoro, incentrato sulla storia del lavoro e dei lavoratori nel mondo romano, si propone di ricostruire, attraverso l'epigrafia monumentale, l'identità e il profilo socio-economico di alcuni individui vissuti a Mutina o nel suo ager in età tardorepubblicana e altoimperiale. Si tratta di alcuni uomini e una donna le cui iscrizioni, di natura prevalentemente funeraria, ricordano diverse figure professionali: un aurifex, un copo,  un medicus, un negotians lanarius, un praeceptor, un tonsor, diversi vestiarii, un vicesimarius, un possibile unctor e una vilica. Nel testo si formulano inoltre alcune ipotesi in merito alle funzioni esercitate in ambito domestico dai cosiddetti "delicia" o "pueri delicati"; vengono infine analizzati i tre gentilizi di derivazione professionale finora attestati nel Modenese: Aerarius, Aurarius e Purpurarius. Quest'ultimo nome, in particolare, fino a oggi sembrerebbe attestato esclusivamente nella colonia di Mutina e nel suo ager.

ABSTRACT: This lecture aims at providing an overview of mortuary practices, customs, and beliefs during the Middle Kingdom, with a main focus on middle class to especially upper class tombs.  The lecture begins by providing a brief overview on the various basic types of Middle Kingdom elite tombs, such as mastaba tombs and rock-cut mastabas in flat areas and desert plateau tops, rock-cut tombs in the Nile Valley, and some group burial complexes on mound tops in the delta.  The lecture continues by furnishing an example of tomb chapels, their architectural components, fittings, decoration, decorative placement, various components, genres, and their significance and meaning, using the Dynasty 12 tomb of the nomarch (governor) Khnumhotep II as the main example, but adding further illustrations of ka-spirit statues, offering tables, and the Ancient Egyptian (biased) scribal views on various professions and industries in the Satire of Trades.  The last part of the lecture looks at burial chambers and their fittings, including sarcophagi, box coffins (including different styles, decoration and inscriptions, Coffin Texts, guide maps to the afterlife, etc.), anthropoid coffins, face masks, mummies, canopic jars and chests, funerary jewellery (i.e., with protective/ritual amulets), shabti figurines, statuettes, furnishings, adornment (non-ritual jewellery), cosmetic kits, games, professional and personal items (e.g., musical instruments; tool kits; hunting equipment; weaponry), models (e.g., weaponry; housing [i.e., soul houses; house model]; food; offering tables; Abydos pilgrimage boat [with a reference to tomb chapel decoration]).  The lecture ends with a series of summary text slides. UPDATED: 15 April 2023: Adding more slides/images, editing/revising, re-formatting, and adding in a section on poorer burials (Thebes; Qau; Abydos; Buhen), plus a selected bibliography at the end.

L'epigramma III, 59 di Marziale offre lo spunto per riflettere sul ruolo delle categorie sociali subalterne nelle città romane, con particolare riferimento a Bononia e a Mutina, dove un ciabattino e un lavandaio, dice il poeta, offrirono spettacoli di gladiatori alle rispettive comunità. Marziale potrebbe avere citato due categorie professionali particolarmente umili (il sutor e il fullo) per evidenziare lo scandalo, tuttavia, è anche possibile che queste due citazioni nascondano precisi riferimenti all'economia e alla storia sociale delle due città emiliane.

Presentation of the two year TECHNET PROJECT (2020-2022) funded by the H2020-MSCA-2019 Individual Fellowship Program (895286) and hosted by the Institut Català d'Arqueologia Clàssica (ICAC) in collaboration with the Arqueometria i Produccions Artístiques (ArPA) research unit.

Technology is one of the most transformative innovations of humankind: it has profoundly impacted economic, social and cultural history. Understanding humans’ capacity to innovate provides fundamental tools for the study of technological advance and human progress. Technology applied to crafts has radically changed the relationship between maker and matter, that is mankind’s ability to manipulate its material environment and transform it into useable objects for living.
Stone is the most challenging matter for craftsmen to process since it requires a complex series of technological choices and an articulate operational sequence. Consequently, stone vases, as objects made of stone, represent crucial analytical “tools” to investigate technological innovation in ancient crafts. Disclosing the processes and circumstances of transformative innovations in the ancient world helps us comprehend the mechanisms of modern technology and its role in shaping contemporary and future societies. Much ground-breaking research has shown that Protohistoric stone vessel production involved significant technological input and knowledge transfer, thus playing a key role in the development of Prehistoric Mediterranean craft traditions. Similar research for the Classical period is still lacking. The TECHNET action puts forward an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to the development of technology in ancient crafts using Greco-Roman stone vases as case study.
TECHNET'S starting hypothesis is that Greco-Roman stone vases have the potential to inform us on technological development, knowledge transfer through artisans’ mobility and material practices in the Classical period. I intend to test this hypothesis through the combination of ethno-anthropological and sociological qualitative analysis with the latest digital tools and computer informed methods. The results produced by TECHNET will integrate current research on ancient material culture production and advance our understanding of technological innovation in antiquity.

L'articolo è dedicato allo studio del raro gentilizio Purpurarius, noto dalla metà degli anni '80 del secolo scorso e attestato finora solo a Mutina. Il presente contributo rappresenta anche l'occasione per confermare, a partire dalle indicazioni di Albino Garzetti, l'origine modenese della stele di Ti. Purpurarius Saturninus, che fu segnalata per la prima volta a Ossimo Inferiore ed è oggi conservata nel Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Cividate Camuno.

Il saggio è dedicato ad alcune figure professionali del mondo romano legate alla lavorazione e alla vendita dell'oro e di manufatti realizzati con questo metallo prezioso. Nel testo si analizzano in particolare le testimonianze epigrafiche di Roma e quelle di Mutina nel cui territorio, secondo un'antica tradizione popolare, sarebbe stato possibile estrarre masse aurifere.

From production to usage, man-produced objects do not only illustrate technical cultures. They also testimony to cultural inter-relations and social behaviour. Their study, therefore, does not belong to the practical necessities of the archaeologist: they contribute to build cultural concept and understand their functioning. Artefacts studies are not eccentric to history questioning. On the contrary, they belong to the core of the historical concept and should contribute to its formation.

Given the scarcity of documentary sources dealing with ancient craft production, it is essential to turn to the archaeological evidence when trying to understand the ancient decorating industry.
My attempt to investigate Pompeian painters’ working practices rests on the identification of individual painters’ hands, specifically those who painted the figurative elements of the wall decoration. In order to do so, I applied a Morellian-inspired method for attribution of authorship, based on the close study of forms and invariant relations between them. This method allows us to pinpoint peculiar geographical distributions or recurring patterns of collaboration between painters, thus determining where and how they worked.
My analysis focuses on Third Style paintings in Pompeii (about 20 BC - AD 45) and so far it has led to the identification of five different groups of attributed works which appear to be loosely clustered in the city. This could either point to the existence of roughly defined working ‘areas’ associated with specific groups of painters or show that these craftsmen worked on different buildings in the same area at about the same time, later moving to a different zone or town. I will present and discuss these two possibilities.