Ancient and Medieval Sicily by Kalle Korhonen
Language and Linguistic Contact in Ancient Sicily (ed. Olga Tribulato), 2012
Iulia Florentina e i martiri catanesi. Atti della giornata interdisciplinare di studi in memoria di Mons. Gaetano Zito, 2021
Roman Colonies in the First Century of Their Foundation (ed. R.J. Sweetman), 2011
Roman Imperial Cities in the East and in Central-Southern Italy. Ancient Cities, 1 (eds. N. Andrade, C. Marcaccini, G. Marconi, D. Violante), 2019
In this article I give examples of the analysis of Sicilian 'linguistic cityscapes' during the Ro... more In this article I give examples of the analysis of Sicilian 'linguistic cityscapes' during the Roman imperial period. After presenting the situation in the early imperial period, I focus in particular on two late imperial inscriptions in Greek, IG 14.296 = IG Paler-mo 149 (early 4 th century) from Palermo, and IMC Catania 11 = IG 14.455 (early 5 th century) from Catania. I discuss the originality of the texts and their communicative aspects, and comment on the roles of Greek in Sicilian cities in Late Antiquity.
Gerión, 2019
Fino a non molto tempo fa gli studiosi sostenevano che le scelte linguistiche nelle colonie roman... more Fino a non molto tempo fa gli studiosi sostenevano che le scelte linguistiche nelle colonie romane della Sicilia fossero coerenti: il latino sarebbe stata la sola lingua usata in un contesto "ufficiale" e il greco sarebbe stato adottato in contesti diversi, come il culto (non coloniale) o l'ambito privato. Ricerche recenti hanno messo in discussione tali affermazioni. Nel presente articolo ci soffermiamo sull'uso del greco e del latino nelle città non coloniali. L'impiego del latino è spesso stato legato all'attribuzione di un preciso stato amministrativo, quello dei municipi, in epoca augustea o post-augustea; al contrario, testimonianze concernenti i municipia e scritte in greco sono state considerate risalenti agli anni di Sesto Pompeo. Intendiamo dimostrare che l'uso del linguaggio in contesti municipali "ufficiali" è molto più vario di quanto non si sia pensato in precedenza e proponiamo nuove letture e datazioni per diverse iscrizioni, soprattutto IG XIV, 954 (in riferimento ad Akragas/Agrigentum), IG XIV, 367=IG Palermo 44 (Aluntium), CIL X 7350 (Thermae Himeraeorum), IG XIV, 575 (Centuripae), AE 1945, 64 (Segesta) e SEG LXI, 758=AE 2011, 435 (Syracusae). Abstract. Until recently scholars used to claim that the language use in the Roman colonies of Sicily was coherent: Latin was the only language in use in any "official" context, and Greek was only chosen when the context was somehow different, such as a (non-colonial) cult or a private setting. Recent research has challenged the assumption. In the article, we focus on the use of Greek and Latin in non-colonial cities. The use of Latin has often been connected with the attribution of a precise administrative status, that of municipia, in Augustan age or Post-Augustan age; on the contrary, evidence on municipia written in Greek have been considered to date back to the years of Sextus Pompeius. We show that there was much more variation in language use in the "official" municipal contexts than previously thought. We also propose new readings and datings for several inscriptions, notably IG XIV, 954 (with a reference to Akragas / Agrigentum), IG XIV, 367=IG Palermo 44 (Aluntium), CIL X 7350 (Thermae Himeraeorum), IG XIV 575 (Centuripae), AE 1945, 64 (Segesta) and SEG LXI, 758=AE 2011, 435 (Syracusae).
Linguarum Varietas 7, 2018
The ar- ticle focuses on four historically interesting inscriptions attributed to Messina. I firs... more The ar- ticle focuses on four historically interesting inscriptions attributed to Messina. I first dis- cuss two fairly similar dedications to Asclepios and Hygieia. One of them, now lost, also contained a dedicatory inscription to Antoninus Pius (ig xiv 402). The other, with no im- perial dedication, has been known to local scholars since the 18th century, but only became known to epigraphists in the late 20th century (seg 42, 870 = I.Messina 38). Their origin has been disputed since Louis Robert argued that ig xiv 402, the only one of the two in- scriptions known to him, had been brought from Aegeae (now Ayas) in Cilicia during the middle ages. In the article I try to demonstrate that it is indeed likely that the two inscrip- tions come from Cilicia. In the second part, I show that an inscription in the Civic City Museum of Catania, listed as authentic in IMC Catania, no. 236, is an 18th-century forgery.
L’HÉRITAGE GREC DES COLONIES ROMAINES D’ORIENT Interactions culturelles dans les provinces hellénophones de l’empire romain (éd. par C. Brélaz), 2017
This article focuses on the epigraphic evidence of Greek heritage in the Augustan colonies of Sic... more This article focuses on the epigraphic evidence of Greek heritage in the Augustan colonies of Sicily. Whereas 20th-century scholarship divided Sicily into the Romanized West and the Eastern coast where Greek continued to be in use at least for a certain period, I argue that the situation even in the Roman colonies was much more complex. From Thermae Himeraeorum to Syracusae, there is evidence of the high prestige of the Greek linguistic tradition throughout the early imperial period. On the other hand, there are si ni cant differences et een the colonies hereas at Catina the contents of funerary inscriptions point to a stronger acculturation and contact between the linguistic groups, the epitaphs from Thermae and Syracusae suggest less acculturation and possibly separation between the groups speaking Greek and Latin.
In this paper I discuss a paradigm shift that has taken place during recent decades in the sociol... more In this paper I discuss a paradigm shift that has taken place during recent decades in the sociolinguistics of Roman and Byzantine Sicily: the diversity of Sicilian bilingualism has become more evident. We can now say, with arguments more convincing than before, that instead of “simple” processes of Latinization or Hellenization, societal and individual bilingualism seems to have been widespread in different areas and different epochs in Sicily during the first millennium CE. In order to further clarify the Sicilian sociolinguistic situation, many interesting problems remain for in-depth studies, such as the influence of demography, areal organization, and migration.
Journal of Historical Linguistics, 2011
Acta Byzantina Fennica n.s. 3, 2011
La lingua dei documenti notarili alto-medievali dell'Italia meridionale (a cura di Rosanna Sornicola e Paolo Greco), 2012
HELDA - The Digital Repository of University of Helsinki - Terms and User Rights By using HELDA -... more HELDA - The Digital Repository of University of Helsinki - Terms and User Rights By using HELDA - The Digital Repository of University of Helsinki you are bound by the following Terms & Conditions. Please read them carefully. I have read and I understand the following ...
Language diversification by Kalle Korhonen
Journal of Evolutionary Biology, May 2013
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Ancient and Medieval Sicily by Kalle Korhonen
Language diversification by Kalle Korhonen
Abstract. Until recently scholars used to claim that the language use in the Roman colonies of Sicily was coherent: Latin was the only language in use in any "official" context, and Greek was only chosen when the context was somehow different, such as a (non-colonial) cult or a private setting. Recent research has challenged the assumption. In the article, we focus on the use of Greek and Latin in non-colonial cities. The use of Latin has often been connected with the attribution of a precise administrative status, that of municipia, in Augustan age or Post-Augustan age; on the contrary, evidence on municipia written in Greek have been considered to date back to the years of Sextus Pompeius. We show that there was much more variation in language use in the "official" municipal contexts than previously thought. We also propose new readings and datings for several inscriptions, notably IG XIV, 954 (with a reference to Akragas / Agrigentum), IG XIV, 367=IG Palermo 44 (Aluntium), CIL X 7350 (Thermae Himeraeorum), IG XIV 575 (Centuripae), AE 1945, 64 (Segesta) and SEG LXI, 758=AE 2011, 435 (Syracusae).
During the two first field seasons in 2013 and 2014 we walked 191 tracts and documented a total of 28 sites, of which the majority was previously unknown. The earliest site detected by us dates to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age and produces lithics similar to the ones found in Bishti i Pallës. Evidence for the use of the landscape picks up again during the Late Archaic period, i.e., shortly after the founding of Epidamnos/Dyrrachium. From now onwards pottery seems to spread out from the city to the surrounding landscape. Whereas Late Hellenistic and Roman finds on the basis of the American-Albanian survey of 2001 were lacking on the promontory to the north of the urban centre this does not seem to be the case in our study area, where sites dating to these periods are the most commonly occurring. The landscape was most actively used during the first centuries after Christ. Apart from several sites, both villae rusticae and villages, we also have documented several architectural blocks belonging to a monumental building, possibly a temple, a previously unknown vertical shaft of the aqueduct as well as a Latin grave inscription that all date to these centuries.
The settlement of the Dyrrachian hinterland clearly contracts beginning from the Late Roman period. The only major Late Roman (fourth/fifth to sixth century AD) site that we so far have documented is Qerret that is located next to Via Egnatia. Here we have also found the outlines of an Early Christian basilica that seems to have stayed in use until the Late Byzantine period. Another striking result of our survey work is the close to complete absence of Medieval finds in the landscape. This picture changes radically during the Ottoman period, when we have evidence for intensive land use and population increase. During this period we even have evidence for a harbour site next to the outflow of the Darçi river and the Kavaja Salinas.