Attilio Degrassi

Attilio Degrassi (born June 21, 1887 in Trieste ; died June 1, 1969 in Rome ) was an Italian ancient historian and epigraphist .

Life

Attilio Degrassi, son of Giuseppe Degrassi and his wife Antonia Marchetti, began to study ancient history, epigraphy and numismatics with Wilhelm Kubitschek and Eugen Bormann at the University of Vienna after graduating in 1907 . In 1911 he received his doctorate there. The dissertation, which had already been accepted for printing in the treatises of the Archaeological-Epigraphic Seminar of the University of Vienna , could not appear due to the outbreak of the First World War . After completing his doctorate, Degrassi became a teacher of Latin and Greek at various schools, most recently from 1929 at the Liceo scientifico G. Oberdan in Trieste.

Years in Trieste

As a private scholar, he conducted research on the archaeological, topographical and epigraphic problems of Istria and Venezia Giulia during these years . Starting with the prehistory , he considered all epochs up to the Renaissance and, in addition to the material and epigraphic tradition, also included codices and manuscripts in his systematic investigations. In addition to this academic activity, there was an intensive preoccupation with Roman history, in particular with private and public, military and municipal institutions. He was supported in these endeavors by the Società istriana di archeologia, the Soprintendenz in Trieste and Piero Sticotti, the then director of the Civico Museo di storia ed arte in Trieste. In 1926 he joined the Deputazione di Storia Patria per le Venezie .

Inscriptiones Italiae

Convinced of his achievements and his ability - Degrassi had written around 30 articles on the results of his investigations - he was entrusted with the execution of two volumes of the compilation Inscriptiones Italiae, launched in 1922 : Parentium and Histria Septemtrionalis. In order to be able to concentrate fully on this work, he was employed in 1933 at the Soprintendenz Trieste. The volume on Parentium was published in 1934, the volume on Histria Septemtrionalis in 1937. But in autumn 1934 he moved to Rome and was employed by the local soprintendenz for Rome and Latium with the aim of also producing the volumes Elogia and Fasti Consulares et Triumphales by Degrassi to have it processed for the Inscriptiones Italiae . As early as 1937 Degrassi was able to present the volume Elogia , which he dedicated to his former teacher Ernst Bormann with the words "artis epigraphicae magister incomparabilis", and to submit the text to the Fasti . There their printing was delayed, initially because of the complexity involved in creating the illustrations, and then due to the outbreak of World War II , so that the volume could not appear until 1947. For the reconstruction of the Fasti and its illustrations, Degrassi, in collaboration with Guglielmo Gatti, had to deal intensively with the problem of the Augustus arches in the Roman Forum. Because one of the two arches - the Actium Arch or the Parthian Arch - was considered to be the location of the Fasti. Gatti and Degrassi opted for the Actium arch, which they reconstructed on the arch foundation south of the Divus Julius Temple , and published their results in detail under the title L'edificio dei Fasti Capitolini in the Rendiconti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia 1945-46. In the Inscriptiones Italiae they could no longer include their results, since the volume had already been completed and paginated in 1942.

University years

Degrassi only got closer to university science at a late stage. On the advice of Plinio Fraccaro and Gaetano De Sanctis , he successfully applied for the chair of Ancient History at the University of Palermo in 1949 , but then preferred to accept the call to the corresponding chair at the University of Padua , where he taught until 1956. In addition to his extensive journalistic activities, Degrassi took over the chairmanship of the Società istriana di archeologia e storia patria in 1953 . In 1956, he was offered the chair of Latin epigraphy and Roman antiquities at La Sapienza University in Rome. In his inaugural lecture he drew a picture of the future Latin epigraphy in Italy, which had to break away from the pure textual view and broaden its perspective to include political-institutional history, social and economic aspects. For the scientific processing of epigraphic evidence, in addition to comprehensive knowledge of the literary sources, the results of related sciences such as palaeography , legal history , historical linguistics , topography and archeology should be included.

Degrassi taught in Rome for only one year and left in 1957 when he reached the maximum age limit at 70 years. But he taught for another five years at the Scuola nazionale di archeologia, whose direction he also took over. At the same time, the first volume of his Inscriptiones Latinae liberae rei publicae was published in 1957 , which - conceived as a didactic compendium at Arnaldo Momigliano's request - represented a manual for epigraphers, historians and archaeologists. The second volume appeared in 1962, the second edition of the first followed in 1965. With the Calendaria , Degrassi also published the third volume in his series of Inscriptiones Italiae in 1963 . That year, at the instigation of Degrassi, the Association internationale d'épigraphie latine, now known as the Association internationale d'épigraphie grecque et latine , was founded in Paris . In 1965 Degrassi published the extensive volume of illustrations Inscriptiones Latinae liberae rei publicae as Auctarium des Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) . Adults; a manuscript Addenda submitted to the CIL in 1968 could not be published before his death and was published in 1986 in two volumes.

Honors and memberships

As early as 1962, two first volumes with smaller writings by Degrassi's friends were published, which was followed by another volume from the Società istriana di storia patria in 1967 on the occasion of his 80th birthday and completed with a final volume in 1971. The Degrassi's bibliography in the last volume lists 243 titles.

Attilio Degrassi was a corresponding member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei from 1948, a full member from 1955; the American Philosophical Society from 1958; the British Academy from 1958; of the Accademia di archeologia, lettere e belle arti di Napoli from 1959. The University of Vienna renewed his doctorate by decree in 1961 on the occasion of his 50th anniversary.

Fonts (selection)

A list of Degrassi's publications can be found in: Scritti vari di antichità. Volume 4. 1971, pp. VII-XVII.

• Parentium (= Inscriptiones Italiae. Volume 10: Regio X. Fasz. 3). Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Rome 1934.
• Il museo lapidario parentino. G. Greatti, Parenzo 1934.
• Histria Septemtrionalis (= Inscriptiones Italiae. Volume 10: Regio X. Fasc. 3). Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Rome 1936.
• Elogia (= Inscriptiones Italiae. Vol. 13: Fasti et Elogia. Fasc. 3). Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Rome 1937.
• Il lapidario albonese. Il comitato onoranze a Tomaso Luciani, Albona 1937.
• Fasti Consulares et Triumphales (= Inscriptiones Italiae. Vol. 13: Fasti et Elogia. Fasc. 1). Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Rome 1947.
• Fasti consolari dell'Impero Romano dal 30 a. C. al 613 d. C. Edizioni di storia e letteratura, Rome 1952.
• Il confine north-orientale dell'Italia romana: ricerche storico-topografiche. A. Francke, Bern 1954.
• Fasti Capitolini. Recensuit, praefactus est, indicibus instruxit. Paravia, Turin 1954.
• Inscriptiones Latinae liberae rei publicae. Two volumes. La Nuova Italia, Florence 1957–1963.
• Inscriptiones Latinae liberae rei publicae, imagines (= Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Auctarium). de Gruyter, Berlin 1965.
• Calendaria (= Inscriptiones Italiae. Vol. 13: Fasti et Elogia. Fasc. 2). Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato, Rome 1963.
• Scritti vari di antichità. Four volumes. Comitato d'onore, Rome 1962–71.
• Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum I². Part 2, fasc. 4: Addenda tertia. Two volumes. Edited by Joannes Krummrey. de Gruyter, Berlin 1986 (published posthumously).

literature

• Daniele Manacorda: Degrassi, Attilio. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani . Volume 36. Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, Rome 1988.
• Silvio Panciera: Attilio Degrassi. In: Gnomon . Vol. 43, 1971, pp. 733-36.
• Silvio Panciera: Prefazione / Préface. In: Epigrafia. Actes du colloque international d'épigraphie latine en mémoire de Attilio Degrassi pour le centenaire de sa naissance. Actes de colloque de Rome (May 27-28, 1988). École Française de Rome, Rome 1991, pp. 7-10 (= Publications de l'École française de Rome. Vol. 143).