Guglielmo Cavallo (born 18 August 1938 in Carovigno) is an Italian palaeographer and Byzantinist, Emeritus Professor of the Sapienza University of Rome.
Cavallo graduated from the University of Bari in 1961, tutored by Carlo Ferdinando Russo; shortly after, he became assistant of Alessandro Pratesi, then Professor of palaeography and diplomatic. In 1969, he moved to Rome and first became assistant of Greek Palaeography at the Special School for Archivists and Librarians (then Professor of Latin paleography since 1975), also teaching 'Storia della tradizione manoscritta' (History of the manuscript tradition) at the 'Sapienza' University of Rome. In 1978, he became Professor of Greek Palaeography in Rome. [1] He retired from his teaching duties in 2008 and was nominated Emeritus.
As of 2022, he is the President of the Comitato per l'edizione nazionale dei classici greci e latini (i.e. 'Committee for the National Edition of Greek and Latin Classical [Texts]') and Coordinator of its periodical journal, the Bollettino dei Classici. [2]
Cavallo is one of the leading Italian palaeographers, specializing in papyrology, Greek and Latin writing of the Ancient and Medieval times and history of the manuscript tradition. [3] His first major academic publication was an extensive study of Greek uncial (also known as 'Biblical uncial'). [4] In 1974, he delivered a paper at the International Colloquium of Greek Palaeography held in Paris, proposing a new method for studying Greek uncial of the VIII–IX centuries. [5] In 1983, Cavallo produced the first catalogue of Greek hands found in the Herculaneum papyri. [6]
He examined and described Codex Basilensis A. N. III. 12 and dated it to the early 8th century. [4] He examined Papyrus 39, Uncial 059, 0175, 0187, Lectionary 1386 and many other Greek manuscripts from the Byzantine period and organized and directed facsimile editions of Greek manuscripts such as the Codex Purpureus Rossanensis [7] and the Dioscurides Neapolitanus [8] and the 25th [9] and the 19th [9] volumes of the Chartae Latinae Antiquiores (ChLA). In 1997, with Giovanna Nicolaj, he founded the second series of the ChLA (Chartae Latinae Antiquiores series II – ChLA2), containing volumes L to CXVI and voll. CXVII (appendix to Italy) and CXVIII (appendix to Switzerland, Luxembourg and Spain). [10] He also edited facsimiles of Greek and Latin manuscripts and two collections of reproductions, with commentary, of Greek literary hands from the early Byzantine and Hellenistic periods, with H. Maehler. [11] [12] In 2008, he published an handbook of Greek and Latin Palaeography of papyri. [13]
With Italian philologist Luca Canali he edited a collection of Roman epigraphs with translation and commentary; [14] with Italian medievalist Giovanni Orlandi he edited the Histories of Rodulfus Glaber; [15] in 2017, he wrote the introduction to the first volume of the Italian edition of Niketas Choniates' History. [16] In 2023, he published a new, collected edition of the 'canons' or lists of exemplary Greek authors from the antiquity to Byzantium. [17]
He authored and/or edited around 500 scientific works, some of which have been translated into foreign languages. [18] [19]
In 1970, Paul Canart (then scriptor Graecus – i.e. conservator of Greek manuscripts – at the Vatican Library and one of the worldwide leading scholars in Greek palaeography) published an article praising Cavallo's work on Greek uncial. [20] Ten years later, Armando Petrucci praised Cavallo as the "greatest specialist" in Greek Palaeography. [21]
The complete bibliography up to 2004 can be found in Degni, Paola; Maniaci, Marilena, eds. (2004). Bibliografia degli scritti di Guglielmo Cavallo (1963-2004). I libri di Viella 39. Roma: Viella. ISBN 9788883341236.
Papers followed by (*) have been reprinted with addenda in Il calamo e il papiro (2005).
Palaeography (UK) or paleography is the study and academic discipline of the analysis of historical writing systems, the historicity of manuscripts and texts, subsuming deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysis of historic penmanship, handwriting script, signification and printed media. It is primarily concerned with the forms, processes and relationships of writing and printing systems as evident in a text, document or manuscript; and analysis of the substantive textual content of documents is a secondary function. Included in the discipline is the practice of deciphering, reading, and dating manuscripts, and the cultural context of writing, including the methods with which writing and printing of texts, manuscripts, books, codices and tomes, tracts and monographs, etcetera, were produced, and the history of scriptoria. This discipline is important for understanding, authenticating, and dating historic texts. However, in the absence of additional evidence, it cannot be used to pinpoint exact dates.
The Beneventan script was a medieval script that originated in the Duchy of Benevento in southern Italy. In the past it has also been called Langobarda, Longobarda, Longobardisca, or sometimes Gothica; it was first called Beneventan by palaeographer E. A. Lowe.
The Church of St. Mary of the Admiral, also called Martorana, is the seat of the Parish of San Nicolò dei Greci, overlooking the Piazza Bellini, next to the Norman church of San Cataldo and facing the Baroque church of Santa Caterina, in Palermo, Italy.
Codex Basilensis, designated by Ee, 07 or ε 55, is a Greek uncial manuscript of the four Gospels written on parchment. Using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), it has been dated to the 8th century.
Uncial 0172, is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, dated palaeographically to the 5th century.
Uncial 0174, is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, dated paleographically to the 5th century.
Uncial 0175, is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, dated palaeographically to the 5th century The manuscript has survived in a very fragmentary condition.
Uncial 0176, is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, dated paleographically to the 4th century.
Annaclara Cataldi Palau is an Italian palaeographer specialising in Greek mediaeval and renaissance palaeography and history of the book.
The Scuola dei Greci was the confraternity of the Greek community in Venice. Its members were primarily Greeks, but also included Serbs.
The Griko people, also known as Grecanici in Calabria, are an ethnic Greek community of Southern Italy. They are found principally in the regions of Calabria and Apulia. The Griko are believed to be remnants of the once large Ancient and Medieval Greek communities of Southern Italy, although there is some dispute among scholars as to whether the Griko community is directly descended from Ancient Greeks, from more recent medieval migrations during the Byzantine period, or a combination of both.
Pseudo-Chalcidian vase painting is an important style of black-figure Greek vase painting, dating to the 6th century BC.
The Republic of Ancona was a medieval commune and maritime republic on the Adriatic coast of modern-day Italy, notable for its economic development and maritime trade, particularly with the Byzantine Empire and Eastern Mediterranean, although somewhat confined by Venetian supremacy on the sea. It enjoyed excellent relations with the Kingdom of Hungary, was an ally of the Republic of Ragusa, and maintained good relations with the Ottoman Empire. All these relationships enabled it to serve as central Italy's gateway to the Orient.
Codices Latini Antiquiores, generally abbreviated CLA, is a catalogue of all surviving manuscripts in Latin written before the 9th century. The complete title of the work is Codices Latini Antiquiores:A Paleographical Guide to Latin Manuscripts Prior to the Ninth Century. Elias Avery Lowe founded the project in 1929 and directed it himself until his death in 1969.
Vincenzo Ortoleva is an Italian classical philologist.
Medea Vittoria Irma Norsa (1877–1952) was an Italian papyrologist and philologist. She headed the Istituto Papirologico Girolamo Vitelli in Florence from 1935 to 1949.
Eugenio Manni was an Italian ancient historian.
Antonio Garzya was an Italian classical scholar, philologist, and university professor.
Mark Mersiowsky is a German historian and diplomatist. He is professor of History of the Middle Ages at the University of Stuttgart.
Enrica Follieri was an Italian philologist and paleographer, specialized in Byzantine literature and hagiography. She spent her whole academic career at La Sapienza University of Rome.
[...] l'intérêt que suscitent, pour la période où domine l'écriture majuscule (plus connue, en paléographie grecque, sus le nom d'onciale), les recherches de G. Cavallo, qui sont déjà concrétisées dans plusieurs publications importantes. Sans être moi-même spécialiste de l'étude de la majuscule, j'en ai beaucoup apprécié la portée méthodologique, que je voudrais souligner à l'intention des lecteurs de Byzantion. [...] un des grands mérites de Cavallo [...] est d'avoir appliqué à l'étude de l'écriture grecque des concepts et des méthodes qui ont [...] renouvelé celle de l'écriture latine. Il n'est pas le premier à l'avoir fait, mais personne, avant lui, ne s'en était servi de manière aussi consciente et aussi systématique. (pp. 218f.)
La relazione di Cavallo, il massimo specialista del settore [...]
