Periodic Reporting for period 2 - PTANOIS POSIN (Following the paths of itinerant professionals of the arts in the epigraphic sources of the Hellenistic period)
Période du rapport: 2022-04-01 au 2023-03-31
In the Hellenistic cultural panorama, itinerant specialists of literature and music played a significant role. The endeavors, paths, and stories of the so-called “poeti vaganti” are mainly documented by inscriptions, allowing us to envision a cultural and popular phenomenon that run parallel to court literature. Unknown artists and accomplished intellectuals travelled from city to city all around Continental Greece, the Aegean Sea, and the coasts of Asia Minor, chasing fame, fortune, and glory. The virtuosi showed off on all the renowned stages of the Hellenistic cultural centers, delivering their performances at festivals and sacred celebrations, presenting their brand-new compositions or reperforming traditional forte, gathering regional audiences from the territory and on-occasion audiences from abroad. Although the compositions of itinerant artists are sporadically preserved, being mainly intended for oral use, epigraphy provides us with a large spectrum of valuable elements that aid in the reconstruction of both the features and gestalt of a “popular” movement and its multimodal role in impacting on cultural life and identity of the Hellenistic world.
The scientific core of this project is the idea of arts on the move that finds ratio in the travel and in the hic et nunc performance. The research reveals two distinct patterns of artistic movement: travels for extra-agonistic performances and large-scale itineraries towards contests. These two spheres, interacting together, offer us one plane upon which to obtain a general vision. The study of inscriptions shows three main osmotic levels interacting together and encompassing transversal patterns. The central point of this scenario is the Travel, as the project title indicates: the expression from an epigram for a multi-victorious herald “ptanois posin”, i.e. with winged feet, enshrines the essence of the itinerant arts. Focus on Travel leads to an investigation of Performance, studied by typology and nature, and of the Travelers themselves, their life stories and careers, traced through their movements.
The scientific objectives for this MSCA-IF-GF action fall under the investigation of artistic itinerancy, in its social dynamics, mobility criteria, and occasions of cultural life. The research objectives pertain to transversal and interdisciplinary nature of the project and revolve around the core structure of the research, according to geographical, chronological and thematic criteria. The achievement of the ROs, through the whole of TTRs and major deliverables+milestones, has disclosed the edges of a phenomenon that has by now deserved to be included to the reconstruction of the Hellenistic cultural panorama. Re-adjustment of actions due to pandemic emergency has often entailed significant enhancement, especially for activities pertaining to dissemination/communication of results.
The Poeti Vaganti Database (https://poetivaganti.chs.harvard.edu) organized on spatial-narrative criteria, has been realized in collaboration with the CHS Harvard web development team.
Scientific research has led to high-quality-science project publications (issued or forthcoming) on areas rich in testimonies and in perspectives of analysis (Athens, Delphi and Phocis, Boeotia, Crete, Delos and the Cyclades): 2 conference proceedings; 6 peer-reviewed journal articles; 3 chapters in collective volumes; 1 encyclopedia lemma; two-volumes monograph; 1 collective volume edition (CHS Harvard Classics@ Issue 19); two-volumes monograph (Quasar ed.). The first issue of the two-volumes monograph “ΠΤΑΝΟΙΣ ΠΟΣΙΝ. Poeti vaganti, intellettuali e musici del periodo ellenistico, I. Delo e le Cicladi”, «Quaderni dei Seminari Romani di Cultura Greca» 31, Quasar ed., 2022, received the Prize “G. Susini”, VI edition 2022, proclaimed at the CIEGL Conference in Bordeaux (Sept. 2022).
Project’s WPs sought to build advanced skills with digital research methodology and communication strategies; to mature an academic teaching portfolio in order to transit the TTR know-how back to the beneficiary; to develop soft-skills aimed at the correct management of the project’s requirements. Throughout the whole action, the project’s results were exploited for educational purposes; in dissemination and communication activities; for high-quality science and career perspectives.
Results attained are significant and set the foundation for continuation of study with further adding geographically organized and proper expansion of the research field, in order to obtain an overall panorama of the cultural life in the Hellenistic period.