Giuseppe Gatti

Giuseppe Gatti (born November 23, 1838 in Rome ; died September 2, 1914 in Oriolo Romano ) was an Italian classical archaeologist and epigraphist .

Giuseppe Gatti, son of Giovanni Gatti, initially studied humanities and philosophy at the Collegium Romanum , but also had a penchant for astronomy and during this time he was Angelo Secchi's assistant at the Vatican observatory. After graduating from the Collegium, he studied law at La Sapienza University , where he was awarded the laureate in 1859 . After his legal clerkship, he became a judge at the Tribunal Rotae Romanae , the court of appeal of the Roman Catholic Church. He remained in this position until Rome was incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy and the tribunal was dissolved in 1870.

Now Gatti devoted himself entirely to his archaeological and epigraphic research. At the Instituto di corrispondenza archeologica , run as the German Archaeological Institute since 1870 , he had already established a friendship with Wilhelm Henzen , himself an epigraphist and first secretary of the institute. There he made contact with Theodor Mommsen , Eugen Bormann and Giovanni Battista de Rossi , who invited him to participate in the Rome-related volumes of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum . De Rossi, with whom Gatti was closely connected from 1864 until his death in 1894, commissioned him to edit the third volume of the Inscriptiones christianae urbis Romae septimo saeculo antiquiores - De Rossi himself had submitted the first two volumes in 1860 and 1888. Before his death, De Rossi had ordered in his will that Gatti should continue the work with the help of his documents. Administrative and financial problems repeatedly delayed the printing, the publication of which was finally planned for the 20th anniversary of De Rossi's death, so that the volume could only be presented after Gatti's death in 1915.

Gatti also developed an extremely fruitful publication activity, which was reflected in more than 120 articles and, among other things, made the new discoveries of Rome in the epigraphic field known to the scientific public, for example in the Notes di trovamenti riguardanti la topografia e l'epigrafia urbana , which from 1886 published. His personal interests focused on administrative history, especially the transformation of the administration in the Augustan era. Topographical studies were devoted to urban Roman topics as well as the cities of Lazio , such as Capena , Veii , Tibur and Praeneste .

In 1885, Gatti became professor of legal epigraphy, first at the Academy of Legal History, then at the Seminario romano dell'Apollinare of the Pontifical Lateran University . In 1892 he became a member of the Consiglio superiore di antichità e belle arti , an institution of the Ministry of Culture, and head of the bureau for excavations in Rome and the surrounding area, which he led until 1907. In 1897 he also became director of the Museo Nazionale Romano . He was also a member of the Commissione archeologica comunale di Roma , from 1890 as its vice-secretary, and director of the Bullettino della Commissione archeologica comunale di Roma from 1902.

Gatti was a corresponding member from 1878 and a full member from 1882 of the German Archaeological Institute; from 1888 member of the Società romana di storia patria ; In 1892 he was appointed a member of the Accademia di San Luca . In 1888 he became a member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei , initially a corresponding member, from 1896 a full member and from 1905 an administrative member. In 1900 Gatti became president of the Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia , of which he was a full member since 1881.

Giuseppe Gatti was the founder of a "family of archaeologists" who, with his son Edoardo and grandson Guglielmo , made outstanding contributions to the archeology, topography and epigraphy of Rome and Italy over three generations. The family archive, which largely includes the archaeological-epigraphic legacy of Giuseppe Gatti, is now part of the “Archivio Centrale dello Stato”.

Fonts (selection)

A bibliography of Giuseppe Gatti's writings is given by Enrico Josi: Giuseppe Gatti. In: Studi romani. Vol. 2, 1914, pp. 365-371. ( Digitized version )

• with Giovanni Battista De Rossi: Inscriptiones christianae urbis Romae septimo saeculo antiquiores. Supplement to Volume 1. Fasc. 1st v, Rome 1915.

literature

• Felice Barnabei: Giuseppe Gatti. In: Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei. Vol. 23, 1914, pp. 358-378.
• Felice Barnabei: Giuseppe Gatti. In: Bullettino della Commissione archeologica comunale di Roma. Vol. 42, 1914, pp. 236-240 ( digitized version ).
• Enrico Josi: Giuseppe Gatti. In: Studi romani. Vol. 2, 1914, pp. 357-371 ( digitized version ).
• Domenico Palombi: Gatti, Giuseppe. In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani . Volume 52. Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, Rome 1999.

Web links

• Giuseppe, Edoardo e Guglielmo Gatti: tre generazioni di archeologi at the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma