OLTRE L’ALTO MEDIOEVO: ETNIE, VICENDE, CULTURE NELLA PUGLIA NORMANNO-SVEVA Atti del XXII Congresso internazionale di studio sull’alto medioevo Savelletri di Fasano (BR), 21-24 novembre 2019 FONDAZ IONE C ENTR O ITA LIANO DI S TUDI SULL’ALTO M EDIOE VO SPOLE TO 2020 ISBN 978-88-6809-303-7 prima edizione: agosto 2020  Copyright 2020 by « Fondazione Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo », Spoleto. Volume stampato: con il contributo di in collaborazione con FONDAZIONE S. DOMENICO SOMMARIO Consiglio di amministrazione e Consiglio scientifico della Fondazione Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo ..... pag. VII Elenco dei partecipanti .................................................... » IX Programma del Congresso ............................................... » XI GIANCARLO ANDENNA, L’espansione dei Normanni tra Occidente e Oriente nei secoli X-XII .............................................. » 1 BRUNO CALLEGHER, La Puglia bizantina alla vigilia della conquista normanna: un’area ad economia monetaria ai confini dell’impero ...................................................................... » 45 FRANCESCO VIOLANTE, Alle origini della conquista: i primi normanni nel dispositivo difensivo bizantino ........................... » 69 VICTOR RIVERA MAGOS, Dal particolarismo della conquista all’unità del Regno ................................................................... » 101 FRANCESCO PANARELLI, L’impatto della conquista sulla rete degli insediamenti in Puglia ................................................... » 135 PIETRO DALENA, Politiche urbanistiche e di viabilità in età normanno-sveva ................................................................ » 151 KRISTJAN TOOMASPOEG, La rete castellare tra ordinamento militare e civile .................................................................... » 175 DONATELLA NUZZO, Bari dal praetorium bizantino alla cittadella nicolaiana: le trasformazioni di un’area urbana alla luce delle fonti scritte e della documentazione archeologica ................ » 203 JEAN-MARIE MARTIN, Compresenze, persistenze e resistenze etniche nella transizione dai Bizantini ai Normanni ...................... » 227 VI SOMMARIO FABRIZIO LELLI, Gli ebrei in Puglia in età normanno-sveva ............ pag. 241 UMBERTO LONGO, Il monachesimo benedettino come fattore di coesione territoriale e l’incontro di tradizioni e usi monastici al tempo della Riforma della Chiesa. Nuove ipotesi ................. » 259 ADELE CILENTO, Il monachesimo greco in Puglia nell’età normanna fra resistenza e integrazione ............................................ » 281 GIACOMO PACE GRAVINA, Ius Regni Siciliae. L’esperienza giuridica dell’età normanno-sveva: alcune riflessioni storiografiche ......... » 303 PASQUALE CORDASCO, La documentazione tra concezioni tradizionali e spinte innovative .............................................. » 321 EDOARDO D’ANGELO, La produzione letteraria latina nella Puglia normanno-sveva ............................................................ » 339 MARCO ANTONIO SICILIANI, I libri latini in Puglia fra XI e XIII secolo. Contesti, tipologie, scritture .................................... » 365 ANDREAS RHOBY, The Greek inscriptions of Norman-Staufian Apulia in the late eleventh, the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries: texts and contexts ................................................ » 393 ANTONIO ENRICO FELLE - PAOLO FIORETTI, Epigrafi latine in Puglia nell’età normanna ................................................ » 419 VALENTINO PACE, Identità e integrazione: committenza, progetti e artefici nella Brindisi protonormanna ................................. » 473 MARINA FALLA CASTELFRANCHI, Ancora sulla decorazione pittorica dell’abbazia di Santa Maria a Cerrate (LE). L’immagine nell’abside e il ruolo della figura della Vergine ................................ » 493 GIOIA BERTELLI, Passaggi di testimone. Tendenze di conservazione e di innovazione nella scultura di epoca normanna in Terra d’Otranto ................................................................... » 499 MARCELLO MIGNOZZI, Paradigmi e declinazioni dell’architettura sacra in età normanno-sveva: la Capitanata ........................ » 517 ROSANNA BIANCO, San Nicola e i miracoli del mare. Note iconografiche ....................................................................... » 553 ANDREAS RHOBY THE GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF NORMAN-STAUFIAN APULIA IN THE LATE ELEVENTH, THE TWELFTH AND THE THIRTEENTH CENTURIES: TEXTS AND CONTEXTS Numbers and statistics will be given at the beginning of my paper. First, I will offer the numbers of Greek inscriptions in Apulia dating between the late eleventh and the second half of the thirteenth century, i.e. to the period of Norman and Staufian rule over Apulia 1. Second, I will present statistics about the chronological and regional distribution. And third, I will show the various inscriptional categories to which these epigraphs belong. The overall aim of my paper is to present the context in which the Greek inscriptions of Apulia under Norman and Staufian rule appear. 1. NUMBERS AND STATISTICS The number of Greek inscriptions produced in Apulia under Norman and Staufian rule is considerable. This testifies to the continuation of Greek culture in Southern Italy long after the Byzantines had lost this region in the eleventh century. The last Byzantine stronghold in Apulia, Bari, was conquered by the Normans in 1071. Greek continued to exist throughout the centuries, and as we know, the Greek element of Apulia is still extant today with Greek speakers (speakers of griko or grika) in some communities south of Lecce 2. The continuation of Greek-Byzantine 1. On the Norman and Staufian rule in Apulia, see J.-M. MARTIN, La Pouille du VIe au XIIe siècle, Rome, 1993 (Collection de l’École Française de Rome, 179); Die Staufer und Italien. Drei Innovationsregionen im mittelalterlichen Europa, 2 vols., ed. by B. SCHNEIDMÜLLER, St. WEINFURTER and A. WIECZOREK, Darmstadt, 2010; Federico II e l’Italia. Percorsi, luoghi e strumenti (Roma, Palazzo Venezia, 22 dicembre 1995 - 30 aprile 1996), ed. by C. D. FONSECA and V. PACE, Rome, 1995; L. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento. Art and Identity in Southern Italy, Philadelphia, 2014. 2. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit. (nota 1), pp. 55-56. 394 ANDREAS RHOBY culture is, of course, not only testified to by the production of Greek inscriptions. It is also attested by the production of Greek documents and charters 3 and by authors who wrote in Greek. One famous example is Nicholas-Nektarios of Otranto, abbot of the monastery of St. Nicholas in Casole, who lived between the middle of the twelfth century and the first half of the thirteenth century. As a Grecophile he wrote in Greek, but he also translated Greek into Latin 4. In addition, the production of Greek manuscripts in Southern Italian monasteries after the end of the Byzantine rule was outstanding as well 5. As is widely known, the peak of Byzantine-Greek culture in the Mezzogiorno in the Middle Ages was the Norman court of Sicily in the mid-twelfth century under King Roger II 6. At that time, inter alia, many Greek manuscripts (for example, the famous manuscript Scylitzes Matritensis, Cod. Matr. Gr. Vitr. 26-2) 7 and Greek inscriptions were produced in Palermo and other sites 8. The epigraphs were attached to 3. H. ENZENSBERGER, Charters and Administration in Norman Italy, in The Society of Norman Italy, ed. by G. A. LOUD and A. METCALFE, Leiden-Boston-Cologne, 2002, pp. 117-150. 4. J. HOECK and R. LOENERTZ, Nikolaos-Nektarios von Otranto, Ettal, 1965 (Studia Patristica et Byzantina, 11); F. CEZZI, Il metodo teologico nel dialogo ecumenico. Uno studio su Nicola d’Otranto abate italogreco del sec. XIII, Rome, 1975. 5. Cf., e.g., S. LUCÀ, Scritture e libri in Terra d’Otranto fra XI e XII secolo, in Bizantini, Longobardi e Arabi in Puglia nell’alto medievo. Atti del XX Congresso internazionale di studio sull’alto medioevo (Savelletri di Fasano [BR], 3-6 novembre 2011), Spoleto, 2012 (Atti dei Congressi, 20), pp. 487-548; ID., La produzione libraria, in Byzantino-Sicula VI. La Sicilia e Bisanzio nei secoli XI e XII. Atti delle X Giornate di Studio della Associazione Italiana di Studi Bizantini (Palermo, 27-28 Maggio 2011), ed. by R. LAVAGNINI and C. ROGNONI, Palermo, 2014 (Istituto Siciliano di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici “Bruno Lavagnini”, Quaderni, 18), pp. 131-174. 6. H. HOUBEN, Roger II. Von Sizilien. Herrscher zwischen Orient und Okzident, Darmstadt, (2nd), 2010; D.M. HAYES, Roger II of Sicily. Family, Faith, and Empire in the Medieval Mediterranean World, Turnhout, 2020 (Medieval Identities: Socio-Cultural Spaces, 7); A. ACCONCIA LONGO, La letteratura italogreca nell’ XI e XII secolo, in LAVAGNINI and ROGNONI, Byzantino-Sicula VI cit. (nota 5), pp. 107-130. 7. V. TSAMAKDA, The Illustrated Chronicle of Ioannes Skylitzes, Leiden, 2002; E. N. BOECK, Imagining the Past. The Perception of History in the Illustrated Manuscripts of Skylitzes and Manasses, Cambridge, 2015. 8. A. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie, Rome, 1996 (Collection de l’École Française de Rome, 222), pp. 154-234; A. JACOB, Épigraphie et poésie dans l’Italie méridionale hellénophone, in L’épistolographie et la poésie épigrammatique: projets actuels et questions de méthodologie. Actes de la 16e Table ronde organisé par W. Hörandner et M. Grünbart dans le cadre du XXe Congrès international des Études byzantines (Collège de France - Sorbonne, Paris, 19-25 août 2001), Paris, 2003 (Dossiers byzantins, 3), pp. 161-176; A. RHOBY, Byzantinische THE GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF NORMAN-STAUFIAN APULIA 395 buildings, objects and tombstones that were commissioned by the court and the Grecophile aristocracy. What is also remarkable is the co-existence of Greek and Latin, of Byzantine and Western traditions. As for epigraphs, those in Latin and those in Greek co-exist with each other. Bilingual inscriptions played a vital role, not only in Sicily but also in Apulia 9. One also has to take into account a considerable number of Jewish inscriptions which were executed simultaneously. They are preserved in Sicily but also quite numerously in Apulia, as Linda Safran clearly demonstrated in her book about medieval Salento a couple of years ago 10. Therefore, Peter of Eboli’s statement of Palermo as urbs felix dotata populo trilingui in his panegyric poem De rebus Siculis, written in 1194 when Henry VI acceded to the throne of Sicily and southern Italy 11, was not only true for Palermo and Sicily but also for Apulia. What follows now are several lists exhibiting numbers and statistics of Greek inscriptions in Apulia. The Greek inscriptions that I collected date between the year 1071 (the year of the capture of Bari by the Hauteville army) and the year 1268/69 (the fall of Frederick II’s grandson Conradin to Charles I of Anjou) 12. Since not all inscriptions can be dated precisely – because they do not bear a date –, the list also encompasses inscriptions which, e.g., date to the eleventh/twelfth centuries, the thirteenth/fourteenth centuries etc. I counted 78 Greek inscriptions (see Appendix) which date to the mentioned period 13. Only 22 of them can be dated Epigramme auf Stein (= Byzantinische Epigramme in inschriftlicher Überlieferung, 3), Vienna, 2014 (Veröffentlichungen zur Byzanzforschung, 35), pp. 405-412, 417-420, 422-431, 464-506. 9. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit. (nota 1), pp. 51-54. On bilingual inscriptions in Byzantium, see A. RHOBY, The Context of Bi- and Multilingual Inscriptions in Byzantium, in Language Multiplicity in Byzantium and Beyond, ed. by E. BONFIGLIO, E. MITSIOU and C. RAPP, Vienna (in print). 10. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit. (nota 1), pp. 41-46. 11. Th. KÖLZER and M. STÄHLI, Petrus de Ebulo. Liber ad honorem Augusti, sive de rebus siculis, Codex 120 II der Burgerbibliothek Bern. Eine Bilderchronik der Stauferzeit. Textrevision und Übersetzung von G. BRECHT-JÖRDENS, Sigmaringen, 1994, p. 45 (l. 56). Cf. B. ZEITLER, “Urbs felix dotata populo trilingui”. Some Thoughts about a Twelfth-Century Funerary Memorial from Palermo, in « Medieval Encounters », 2/2 (1996), pp. 114-139; see, also V. VON FALKENHAUSEN, Una Babele di lingue. A chi l’ultima parola? Bilinguismo sacro e profano nel regno normanno-svevo, in « Archivio storico per la Calabria e la Lucania », 76 (2010), pp. 13-35. 12. But, of course, Greek inscriptions were also produced before 1071, and the production of Greek inscriptions also continued after that period, namely also in the fourteenth century and beyond. See, e.g., GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit. (nota 8). 13. There is, of course, no guarantee of completeness, and I left out inscriptions painted on scrolls of saints and similar pieces. 396 ANDREAS RHOBY precisely to one specific year because they are dated according to the Byzantine era. The chronological distribution is as follows: – 11th c. (after 1071): 9 inscriptions – 11th-12th c.: 2 inscriptions – 11th-14th c.: 1 inscription – 12th c.: 29 inscriptions – 12th-13th c.: 2 inscriptions – 12th-14th c.: 10 inscriptions – 13th c. (until 1268/69): 17 inscriptions – 13th-14th c.: 7 inscriptions – late medieval: 1 inscription 14 The fact that the majority of the collected Greek inscriptions date to the twelfth century is not surprising if we compare this evidence with the quantity of Greek inscriptions which were created at the same time under Norman rule in Sicily. As to categories, the following numbers can be mentioned: – Epitaphs (most of them with the formula ’Ekoimäqh – ‘he/she fell asleep, i.e. died’ or ’Enqáde keîtai – ‘Here lies’): 24 inscriptions – Invocations (many of them starting with Kúrie boäqei – ‘Lord, help’): 16 inscriptions – Commemorations (starting with Mnäsqhti – ‘Remember’): 15 inscriptions; according to Linda Safran the popularity of Mnäsqhti, Kúrie (‘Remember, Lord’) in Apulia is not paralleled in other regions, including Greece, Cappadocia and the Balkans 15. – Dedicatory/building inscription: 5 inscriptions – Cryptograms/Tetragrams (two of them IC XC NIKA – ‘Jesus Christ conquers’): 5 inscriptions – Date (just the date with Greek letters according to the Byzantine era): 3 inscriptions – Devotional inscription (starting with ‘Upèr a’fésewv a‘martiøn – ‘For remission of sins’): 1 inscription – Label of a depicted person: 1 inscription – Mention of a birth: 1 inscription 14. The date of this inscription is unknown: cf. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit. (nota 1), p. 287: « Late antique triconch with late medieval paintings ». 15. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit. (nota 1), pp. 49-50. THE GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF NORMAN-STAUFIAN APULIA 397 – Function unknown (because the inscriptions are too fragmentary): 7 inscriptions Most of the Greek inscriptions are still preserved in situ, others are to be found in museums – many of them in Lecce in the Museo Provinciale ‘Sigismondo Castromediano’. The preserved material is divided between inscriptions on stones (incised, not in relief) and painted fresco inscriptions. A considerable number of Greek inscriptions are inscribed in the rockcut cave churches of Apulia. These grotto churches (‘chiese ipogeiche’) are generally localized in southern Apulia, in Taranto, in the neighborhood of Taranto and in the modern province of Lecce: – Taranto: churches Santa Chiara alle Petrose, Chiesa del Redentore – Crispiano (north of Taranto): church Santi Crispo e Crispiniano – Massafra (northwest of Taranto): churches San Giovanni, San Marco, San Posidonio, Santa Marina – Mottola (northwest of Taranto): church Santa Margherita – Palagianello (northwest of Taranto): churches Santi Eremiti, Sant’Andrea, Santa Lucia – Faggiano (east of Taranto): church San Nicola – Carpignano Salentino (south of Lecce): church Santa Cristina – Miggiano (south of Lecce / south of Maglie): church Santa Marina – Poggiardo (south of Lecce / southeast of Maglie): church Santa Maria degli Angeli – San Vito dei Normanni (west of Brindisi): Cripta di San Giovanni – near San Vito dei Normanni (west of Brindisi): church San Biagio – Valle delle Memorie (near Otranto): church San Nicola – Uggiano la Chiesa (southwest of Otranto): church Sant’Angelo 2. FORMAL AND INFORMAL GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF APULIA (ELEVENTH-THIRTEENTH CENTURIES) 16 Most of the epigraphs in these rock-cut churches are informal inscriptions, this means rather simple, unpretentious commemorations or 16. Inscriptions are quoted with their numbers in the Appendix, where the bibliographic references are also presented. Unless otherwise indicated, English translations are taken from SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit. (nota 1). 398 ANDREAS RHOBY invocations. They follow a standardized formula, which is also used in other parts of the Byzantine commonwealth. They are not executed officially but are personal records of the churches’ visitors. For modern scholarship, they are of specific interest, because they are a treasure of names and prosopography respectively: Greek names, and sometimes Latin names in Greek transcription 17. Very often, it is not only one person for whom help or remembrance is requested, but the inscription mentions an entire family including wife and children. At Uggiano la Chiesa, in the rock-cut church Sant’Angelo in Valle dell’Idro, even the parents of a certain supplicant Basil are mentioned. The inscription (no. 53), dating between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, is placed under the right wing of the Archangel Michael:Mnäsqhti K(úri)e toû d(oú)l(ou) s(ou) Ba[si]läou kè t(oû) patéra tou kaì tæn mhtéra tou. ’Amän (‘Remember, Lord, your servant Basil and his father and his mother. Amen’). In this case, it seems as if Basil was a very young man, apparently unmarried, and with his parents as his closest relatives. Occasionally, Latin inscriptions are preserved alongside Greek ones. This is, for example, the case in the rock-cut church San Marco in Massafra: in this church, only two simple Greek inscriptions – one fragmentary commemoration (no. 73: Mnä(sqhti) K(úri)e...) and one fragmentary invocation (no. 74: K(úri)e boäqou toû doú[lou ...]) – are preserved. The number of preserved Latin epigraphs is much bigger: a graffito in the south arcosolium in the narthex mentions a monk Radelchis (?) 18. Another graffito, here transcribed according to Linda Safran’s edition, preserves the name of the priest John (Iohannes), who asks the visitors of the church to pray for him: EGO IO(HANNES) CO(N)VEN(I)E(N)ES AD ISTUM ... SIDI (?) ORATE O(M)NE(S) PRO ME (‘I, John, coming to this ... all pray for me!’) 19. In the rock-cut church of Santa Lucia, at Palagianello, one encounters Greek invocations and commemorations alongside Latin epigraphs. Also, in this case, the officials of the church (priest, deacon) have their graffiti written in Latin 20, while the Greek epigraphs (nos. 46, 47) seem 17. Ibid., pp. 17-37 (chapter 1 “Names”). 18. Ibid., p. 285, no. 66.D: RADELC[HIS?] Safran. 19. Ibid., p. 285, no. 66.I. 20. Ibid., pp. 299-300, nos. 94.B-G, I-M. THE GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF NORMAN-STAUFIAN APULIA 399 to stem from non-officials, this means from visitors to the church and members of the church’s congregation respectively. Only very rarely are formal Greek inscriptions preserved in the mentioned rock-cut churches. In the church of San Biagio (Grotta di San Biagio) near San Vito dei Normanni (west of Brindisi) a substantial building inscription (no. 24) is painted on the ceiling (though not fully preserved) 21. It is shaped on the traditional pattern of such inscriptions: [’Anoi]kodomäqh kaì a’[nistorä]qi o‘ pánseptov naòv t(oû) a‘gí(ou) ‘ieromárthrov Bla[síou toû p]atròv [h‘møn e’pì 22 toû] kär(ou) h‘goumén(ou) Benedít(ou)v kaì dià sundro(mñv) 23 toû M[atq]aíou ten... kaì dià ceiròv mafistrou Danhæl k(aì) Mar[tín(ou)?] (mh)nì ’Okt(wb)r(í)o h’, eºtouv, cye’, ’ind(iktiønov) ie’ (‘The most sacred church of our father the holy hiero- martyr Blasius was built and decorated by the lord abbot Benedict and with the financial support of Matthew and by the hand of Master Daniel and Martin (?), on the 8th of October, year [6]705 (= 1196), indiction 15’). The date is corrupt because instead of stigma (v) (the letter for 6000) the painter wrote chi (c) (the letter for 600). This might mean that the painter or the member of the workshop who was responsible for the painting of the inscription was not fully familiar with the meanings of the Greek letters for dating. The abbot of the monastery, to which the church belonged, had a Latin name (Benedictus) which was transcribed in Greek as undeclined Benedítouv 24. It is of interest from a linguistic point of view that the Latin name is reproduced in Greek with Beta (spoken as wita) at the beginning 25, while in Byzantine (and Post-Byzantine) vernacular literature we find the name transcribed with My-Pi (Mp) at the beginning 26. My-Pi (Mp) was and still is (in Modern Greek) the equivalent of (Latin) B (because B is otherwise W). This, and the wrong transcription of the date, may indicate that the painter did not have Greek as his mother tongue. If we take a closer look at the paleography 27, the 21. See, also A. GUILLOU, Aspetti della civiltà bizantina in Italia, Bari, 1976, p. 71. 22. epo Safran. 23. sundro(mhn) Safran. 24. Cf. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit. (nota 1), p. 50. 25. Cf. also inscription no. 49. 26. Cf., e.g., P. SCHREINER, Die byzantinischen Kleinchroniken, vol. 1, Vienna, 1975 (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae, 12.1), p. 302, no. 37.21: Mpenedétov. 27. See, SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit. (nota 1), p. 309, fig. 109.A. 400 ANDREAS RHOBY Greek letters resemble Latin letters, which underlines the hypothesis that the painter was of Western origin. Unfortunately, we are not informed about the background of the sponsor of the church, Matthew, because this part of the inscription does not exist anymore. What is remarkable, however, is the mention of the painters (Daniel and Martin [?]). In Byzantium painters are hardly mentioned in inscriptions before the Palaiologan period 28. The rock-cut church of Santa Chiara alle Petrose at Taranto, whose paintings date between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, is another testimony for the mention of the painter in an inscription. The painter’s devotional inscription (no. 48) on the lower stratum of the northwest wall runs as follows: [‘U]pèr a’féseov a‘marthøn (toû) taphnoû ’Iw(ánnou) zougrá[fou] (‘For remission of sins of the humble painter John’). The spelling zougrárov instead of zwgráfov is a vernacular form, which, however, is not particularly typical for Southern Italian Greek, because words with zougraf- instead of zwgraf- occasionally also appear in other texts (charters, inscriptions) from Byzantium 29. The rock-cut church of Santa Marina at Miggiano (in the province of Lecce, south of Maglie), probably to be dated to the thirteenth century, represents one of the rare cases in which the Greek labels of depicted persons are preserved 30. On the perpendicular wall to the lower right of Saint Michael two persons are depicted. They are labelled as Leon and Nicholas, and we learn from their labels (no. 68) that they were monks: Léou m(on)acoû and Níkola monacoû 31. The phrase Níkola monacoû is preceded by pro[s]känisiv (‘worship’), and we can assume that the term proskúnhsiv also existed in front of Léou m(on)acoû. Also, this inscription is of linguistic interest: Léou is the genitive of the proper name Léov which is a side- and vernacular form respectively of Léwn, -ontov. According to Caracausi’s dictionary there 28. Cf. S. KALOPISSI-VERTI, Painters in Late Byzantine Society. The Evidence of Church Inscriptions, in « Cahiers archéologiques », 42 (1994), pp. 139-158; generally on artists’ signatures in Byzantium, see also M. LIDOVA, Manifestations of Authorship. Artists’ Signatures in Byzantium, in « Venezia Arti », 26 (2017), pp. 89-105. 29. Cf. E. KRIARAS, Lexikò tñv mesoaiwnikñv e‘llhnikñv dhmådouv grammateíav, 1100-1669, vol. 7, Thessalonica, 1980, s. v. zwgrafiá, zwgrafízw, zwgrafistóv and zwgráfov. 30. Since the evidence is very scarce, most of the depicted persons seem to have been unlabeled in the rock-cut churches of Apulia. 31. Safran reads monakou, but as a closer look at the image (SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit. [nota 1], p. 288, fig. 73.A.1) reveals, at least Léou m(on)acoû is written with Chi. THE GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF NORMAN-STAUFIAN APULIA 401 are also other attestations of this form in medieval Greek documents of Southern Italy 32. It is also worth having a look at the inscription (no. 67) on the orb of Saint Michael the Archangel, who is depicted on the left side of the monks. It consists of four letters which are inscribed in the corners of the cross. Such cryptograms or tetragrams (because they consist of four letters or four pairs of letters) – the most common ones of these are IC XC NIKA (‘Jesus Christ conquers’) and FCFP (‘The light of Christ shines for all’) – are attested hundredfold in connection with images of the cross on various media (frescoes, stones, icons, portable objects, and in manuscripts) 33. Their meaning is apotropaic and protective, and they stress the significance of the cross for the salvation of humanity. The one used here, M[.]PT (the second letter is, unfortunately, destroyed) 34, is not attested elsewhere, and we can, therefore, only speculate about the solution of the letters 35. A very similar depiction of the Archangel Michael with an orb and an inscribed cross on it containing a tetragram (no. 63) is also preserved in the rock-cut Cripta di San Giovanni in San Vito dei Normanni, which seems to date to the thirteenth century. The cross has the letters MQPF inscribed, which is not attested elsewhere either. At San Mauro, north of Gallipoli, a similar tetragram (no. 65) on the orb of the Archangel Michael is preserved as well. The frescoes of this rock-cut church may date to the late thirteenth century 36. Perhaps the same painters’ workshop was responsible for the decoration. 32. G. CARACAUSI, Lessico greco della Sicilia e dell’Italia meridionale (secoli X-XIV), Palermo, 1990, s. v. Léov. 33. Cf. Chr. WALTER, IC XC NI KA. The Apotropaic Function of the Victorious Cross, in « Revue des Études Byzantines », 55 (1997), pp. 193-220; A. RHOBY, Secret Messages? Byzantine Greek Tetragrams and Their Display, in « in-scription: revue en ligne d’études épigraphiques », 2017: https://in-scription.edel.univ-poitiers.fr/index.php?id=180; ID., “Das Licht Christi leuchtet allen” - Form und Funktion von “Tetragrammen” in byzantinischen Handschriften, in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Art: Crossing Borders, ed. by E. MOUTAFOV and I. TOTH, Sofia, 2018, pp. 71-90. 34. See, SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit. (nota 1), p. 288, fig. 73.A.1. 35. L. SAFRAN, Greek Cryptograms in Southern Italy (and Beyond), in « in-scription: revue en ligne d’études épigraphiques », 2017: https://in-scription.edel.univ-poitiers.fr/index.php? id=177, § 15 reads M QU P T but this is doubtful. SAFRAN (ibid.) also interprets M Q U as the abbreviation of Mäthr Qeoû but this is hardly likely either because tetragrams traditionally refer to Christ and/or the cross and never to the Mother of God. 36. Cf. M. FALLA CASTELFRANCHI, Gli affreschi della chiesa di San Mauro presso Gallipoli. Note preliminary, in « Byzantion », 51 (1981), pp. 159-168. 402 ANDREAS RHOBY The use of cryptograms/tetragrams in Apulia (and Southern Italy in general) does not seem to have been very widespread. However, the mentioned examples of depictions with the Archangel Michael and tetragrams on his orb testify to the knowledge of the apotropaic and protective power of such compositions. With the cross and the tetragram the magically protective potential of the Archangel Michael 37 is given even greater emphasis. In the imagination of the contemporary beholders, this was the ultimate protection a church could have. The following Greek inscription, preserved in a rock-cut church of Apulia, is the most impressive one – and this for several reasons: the frescoes of the rock-cut church Santa Cristina (formerly Santa Marina e Cristina) at Carpignano Salentino (northwest of Otranto) can be traced back to the tenth century. Some devotional inscriptions are even dated; their time range is from the middle of the tenth to the middle of the eleventh century 38. The inscription in question, which apparently dates to the last decades of the eleventh century, actually consists of two inscriptions, namely two epitaphs (nos. 7, 8). One (no. 7) reports the death of a certain Strategoules, a child, who is mourned by his father. Both inscriptions are very mutilated, but one can learn from the second inscription (no. 8) that Strategoules’ father, whose name was perhaps Magiouréllhv (possible reconstruction of the lacuna in v. 6) (spoken as Majourélles) 39, sponsored the painting of new images (ei’kónev) in the church and also provided his tomb. Inscription no. 7: 5 ¢En[qa té]qaptai Stratigoúlaiv o‘ prâov, o‘ fältat[óv] mou k(aì) poqhtòv toîv p[â]sin, [pa]tróv tai légw k(aì) tîv m(h)tr(ó)v tou [pá]noi, tøn a’delføn tou o‘moû k(aì) e’xadélfwn, tøn [f]íl[w]n pántwn o‘moû k(aì) sunskoleítwn, t[øn]n yucaríwn aºfqwnov cwrhgía. √ sper strouqäon eº[fug]en e’k ceirøn mav, w e’lúpisén tai pat[éran] k(aì) mhtéran, toùv kasignítav sùn tøn fhltátwn fäl[w]n. 37. Cf. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit. (nota 1), p. 163. 38. Ibid., pp. 262-266. 39. Cf. A. RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Fresken und Mosaiken (= Byzantinische Epigramme in inschriftlicher Überlieferung, vol. 1), Vienna, 2009 (Veröffentlichungen zur Byzanzforschung, 15), pp. 271-272. THE GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF NORMAN-STAUFIAN APULIA 10 15 403 ¥ María, qeå<p>tiv k(aì) kuría, a’ll’ w ‘ v ou¥sa pigæ tøn(n) carismátwn pántwn, w sùn Nikoláo to swføı pumenárcei, sùn a’qlhfår<wı> k(aì) m(á)r(turi) Cristäni, e’n [kó]lpoiv táxon tò fúltatón mou téknon toû patriár]cou] ’Abraàm toû me[gálou], [....................................] [....................................] Here is buried the gentle Strategoules, my very dear child loved by all and above all, I would say, by his father and his mother, by his brothers and at the same time by his cousins, by all his friends and at the same time by his schoolmates, a generous benefactor of slaves. Like a sparrow, he flew from our hands and filled with sadness his father and his mother, his brothers and his beloved friends. O Mary, divine mistress, since you are the source of all graces, with Nicholas, the wise shepherd, with the victorious martyr Christine, place my very dear child in the bosom of the great patriarch Abraham ... Inscription no. 8: 5 10 [’E]pamfíasa ’ikónav k(ai)nourgíaiv, º ruxa pròv tafæn k(aì) kideían túmbon w toû såmatóv mou toû giänou plasqéntov. ’ nómatov légiv. peræ dè au’toû w h¥ täv ei¥ k(aì) póqen h¥ı o‘ mérwy ouƒtov; [...]ura[...] touºno[m]a, kalòv toîv tråpo[iv], sp[a]q[ár]ióv t[e] oi’kôn e’n Kar[pi]niána, u‘pou[rgòv] Crist[oû kaì] tøn a‘gíon toútwn, tîv panacrántou Despoínoiv Qewtókou k(aì) [Ni]koláou t[oû] Múrwn [e’piskópou] [........................ ............]. I have recovered with new images, I have excavated a tomb for the shrouding and burial of my body, which was formed of earth. But regarding the name itself, you say, Who could this mortal have been, and from where is he? Magiourellis (?) is his name 40, virtuous his habits, spatharios and resident of Carpignano, servant of Christ and of the saints seen here, the all-immaculate Lady Theotokos and Nicholas of Myra ... Both inscriptions differ from the others from rock-cut churches of Southern Apulia: they are composed in verse form. In comparison with 40. ...yra... is his name Safran. 404 ANDREAS RHOBY verse epitaphs produced in Byzantium (some of them by famous poets such as John Mauropous, Theodore Prodromos or Manuel Philes), the epitaphs of Carpignano Salentino are of very mediocre quality because the prosody of the dodecasyllabic trimester 41 is not regarded 42. What we learn from these epigraphs is the following: the father bears the title spatharios; this rank, however, had already lost its significance by that time, although it is attested in Southern Italy as a mark of dignity as late as the year 1086 43. Their aristocratic household also had servants (which is a better translation of the Greek term yucária than ‘slaves’ as translated by L. Safran), and the deceased young Strategoulis was a benefactor for them 44. Strategoulis’ tomb inscription also testifies to the existence of a ‘school’ since his schoolmates (no. 7, v. 5: suscolîtai) are mentioned. It would not be surprising if the author of the verses were a teacher at this school. 3. VERSE INSCRIPTIONS Out of the collected 78 Greek inscriptions which date to the Norman and Staufian period of Apulia, only 9 of them are written in verse form as are the two previously discussed inscriptions from Carpignano Salentino. This relatively low number, however, is not surprising. On the contrary, it more or less coincides with the percentage of metrical inscriptions within the inscriptional heritage of Byzantium, especially after the sixth century 45. 41. On the Byzantine iambic trimeter (= dodecasyllabic verse), see P. MAAS, Der byzantinische Zwölfsilber, in « Byzantinische Zeitschrift », 12 (1903), pp. 278-323 (= ID., Kleine Schriften, ed. by W. BUCHWALD, Munich, 1973, pp. 242-288). 42. Cf. RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Fresken und Mosaiken cit. (nota 39), p. 272. 43. A. JACOB, L’inscription métrique de l’enfeu de Carpignano, in « Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici », n.s. 20-21 (1983-1984), pp. 103-122, at 112. On Spatharios, which is also attested as family name in Southern Italy, see St. G. GEORGIOU, The Name Spatharios in Twelfth and Thirteenth Century Southern Italy, in « Aiônos. Miscellanea di Studi Storici », 22 (2018-2019), pp. 135-144. 44. On slaves in late Byzantium, see G. PRINZING, Zu Sklaven und Sklavinnen im Spiegel des Prosopographischen Lexikons der Palaiologenzeit, in Koinotaton Doron. Das späte Byzanz zwischen Machtlosigkeit und kultureller Blüte (1204-1461), ed. by A. BERGER, S. MARIEV, G. PRINZING and A. RIEHLE, Berlin-Boston, 2016 (Byzantinisches Archiv, 31), pp. 125-147. 45. Cf. RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Fresken und Mosaiken cit. (nota 39); RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Stein cit. (nota 8). THE GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF NORMAN-STAUFIAN APULIA 405 Of different metrical and prosodic quality (in comparison with the Carpignano epigrams) are the verse inscriptions which date toward the end of our time range: the (now lost) epigram (no. 55) from the monastery of San Michele Arcangelo in Monopoli (on the coast between Bari and Brindisi) and the two epigrams (nos. 56, 57) from the famous Santa Maria di Cerrate near Squinzano (between Brindisi and Lecce) serve as examples. They date to the years 1268/69 and 1269 respectively, i.e. exactly to the end of Staufian rule in Apulia. The monastery of the Archangel Michael in Monopoli was a metochion of the famous monastery San Nicola di Casole near Otranto. Due to its rich library and the activities of the above-mentioned Nicholas-Nektarios from Otranto, towards the end of the twelfth and in the first decades of the thirteenth century it was a very learned center 46. The twelve-verse epigram (no. 55) reports in a highly elaborated poetical style the activities of the abbot Nikodemos (perhaps a former student of Nicholas-Nektarios) 47 inter alia the creation of the facilities of the wine business and the digging of a well. At the end of the epigram, the monastery’s monks are asked to pray for Nikodemos for the forgiveness of his sins. The learned character of the epigram is especially testified by the verses 7-10 that are entirely devoted to the mention of the date (6777 = a. 1268/69): 10 eºtouv trécontov e‘xákiv ciliádov, aºlloiv e‘katòn e‘pákiv metrouménoiv, toútoiv dekákiv e‘ptà sumplhrouménoiv. e‘ptà sùn au’toîv a’kribøv prosqhtéon. The phenomenon of providing the date given in verse shape is also attested elsewhere, i.e. in other metrical Byzantine inscriptions from the early tenth onwards, both in Asia Minor and Greece 48. It is also employed in seven inscriptional epigrams dating between the years 1136/37 and 1150/51 found in Norman Sicily, especially in Palermo 49. In the case of 46. Th. KÖLZER, Zur Geschichte des Klosters S. Nicola di Casole, in « Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken », 65 (1985), pp. 418-426. 47. RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Stein cit. (nota 8), pp. 429-430. 48. Cf. A. RHOBY, “When the year ran through six times of thousands ...”: The Date in (Inscriptional) Byzantine Epigrams, in “Pour une poétique de Byzance”. Hommage à Vassilis Katsaros, ed. by St. EFTHYMIADIS, Ch. MESSIS, P. ODORICO and I. POLEMIS, Paris, 2015 (Dossiers byzantins, 16), pp. 223-242. 49. Ibid., pp. 240-241 (nos. 4-10). 406 ANDREAS RHOBY the epigram from Monopoli, it testifies to the fact that the epigram’s author was familiar with this kind of playing with verses. Since it is also used in Latin inscriptions in Southern Italy 50, he must have known this phenomenon from these testimonies. But he also may have known it from manuscripts in which it sometimes occurs in the scribes’ colophons 51. Interestingly enough, a certain Drosos, a minor poet from Salento, who flourished at the beginning of the fourteenth century, also employs the device of metrical dating 52. Drosos might have known this play with numerals from inscriptions, or it was the other way round, namely that he came across it in manuscripts he consulted. Whatever the case, one can see the mutual influence of manuscripts and inscriptions 53. Professional poets are also behind the epigrams (nos. 56, 57) in the famous Santa Maria di Cerrate church near Squinzano. Being incised in the architrave of the church’s ciborium, they mention the abbot Symeon and the craftsman and priest Taphouros. Inscription no. 56: 5 Púkasma terpnòv tñv trapézhv K(urío)u o√per kateskeúaze Tafoûv qúthv kópoiv Sumeœn toû proestøtov tóde. o‘røn, qe<a>tá, dóxan u‘yístwı néme e’x ouƒ káteisin a’gaqøn pâsa dósiv. Gracious protection of the altar of the Lord, which the priest Taphouros constructed thanks to the expense of the abbot Symeon; when you see it, beholder, give glory to the Highest, from whom all good things come. 50. Ibid., pp. 238-239. 51. P. G. NIKOLOPOULOS, ¢Emmetrov dälwsiv toû crónou ei’v toùv kolofønav ceirográfwn kwdíkwn, in « Athena », 84 (2012), pp. 195-265; RHOBY, “When the year ran through six times of thousands ...” cit. (nota 48), pp. 223-225. 52. A. ACCONICA LONGO and A. JACOB, Une anthologie salentine du XIVe siècle: le Vaticanus gr. 1276, in « Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici », n.s. 17-19 (1980-1982), pp. 149-228, at pp. 162, 166, 189-191; A. JACOB, Une bibliothèque mediévale de terre d’Otranto (Parisinus gr. 549), in « Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici », n.s. 22-23 (1985-1986), pp. 285-315, at pp. 287-288; D. R. REINSCH, Einige Verse aus dem Kreis des Drosos aus Aradeo (Salento) im Parisinus gr. 2062, in Alethes philia. Studi in onore di Giancarlo Prato, ed. by. M. D’AGOSTINO and P. DEGNI, Spoleto, 2010, pp. 575-586; RHOBY, “When the year ran through six times of thousands ...” cit. (nota 48), p. 234. 53. On this issue, see A. RHOBY, Inscriptions and Manuscripts in Byzantium: A Fruitful Symbiosis?, in Scrittura epigrafica e scrittura libraria: fra Oriente e Occidente, ed. by M. MANIACI and P. ORSINI, Cassino, 2015 (Studi e ricerche del Dipartimento di Lettere e Filosofia, 11), pp. 15-44. THE GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF NORMAN-STAUFIAN APULIA 407 Inscription no. 57: Doúlouv tréfe trapézhı (kaì) stoâı sképe, tòn Sumeån te ktätora r‘akend[ú]thn, Tafoûron au¥ deímanta tòn xésthn, Qeé. a’män. e’n eºtei ,vyoz’, mhnì Martío, ’indiktoiåniv ib’. Nourish the servants at your table and protect them under your Stoa, and Symeon, the rag-wearing patron, as well as he who constructed it, Taphouros, the engraver. Amen. In the year 6777, in the month of March in the twelfth indiction 54. A third metrical inscription, a metrical epitaph (no. 25) reused on the west façade of the church, dates to the year 1197/98. These verses are of good metrical and prosodic quality and are, therefore, absolutely comparable to similar inscriptions which were created in the Byzantine mainland. All three epigrams testify to the thriving and prosperous Greek culture at this monastery which flourished in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Verse inscriptions were, of course, of very high value, and it was a challenge to have them composed. Only few patrons could afford to hire a poet who could at least compose simple dodecasyllabic verses. Throughout the Byzantine Empire we know of inscriptions in which the attempt to create verses is very visible. Such epigraphs contain some parts which are metrical, whereas the rest is unpretentious prose. Such an inscription was also produced in twelfth-century Apulia. A stone fragment, now in the Museo provinciale ‘Sigismondo Castromediano’ at Lecce, bears an incised inscription (no. 32), which, despite its fragmentary condition, can be identified as an invocation to God. It is originally from Roca Vecchia, a location on the coast southeast of Lecce. The text, which was partly reconstructed by André Jacob, reads as follows: ’I(hsoû)v C(ristò)v u‘(iò)[v] [Q(eo)]û nhkâ. K(úri)e ’I(hso)û C(rist)è o‘ Q(eó)v mou o‘ prwsdéxamenov toû telónou tœn ste[n]agm[òn k]aì [tñv] pó[rnhv] tà [dák]rua p[rósdexai] ka’moûtoû[a‘]martoloûBashläou <tæn déhsin> tñdunámh toûthmíou sou st(au)roû sképe froúr[h] fúlate tòn sœn (i‘)[k]éthn Kalorítzi [p]té{i}santa polà e’n bíw. Jesus Christ, Son of God, conquers. Lord Jesus Christ, my God, who receives the lament of the publican (= Luke 18:13) and the tears of the prostitute (= Luke 7:38) receive the prayer of my sinner Basil with the strength of your 54. English translation by L. Safran, with adaptations. 408 ANDREAS RHOBY venerable cross. Protect, shelter, guard your suppliant Kaloritzis who has sinned a lot in his life 55. As correctly discovered by Jacob, the part starting with sképe forms two Byzantine dodecasyllables. In normalized orthography they read: Sképe, froúrei, fúlatte tòn sòn ‘ikéthn Kalorítzh ptaísanta pollà e’n bíwı. The phrase Sképe, froúrei, fúlatte is also attested in inscriptions from Greece: we find it in a cave on the island of Tinos in the form çAgie Stéfane, sképe, froúr[ei], fúlate tòn doûlón sou Basíleion aºrconta ... 56. Even more striking is the parallel found in an epigram from the middle of the eleventh century attached to the church of the Panagia Protothroni on the island of Naxos. The first two verses read: Q(eotó)ke, déspoina kaì m(ät)hr tou K(urío)u sképe, froúrei, fúlate toù(v) soù(v) oi’[ké]tav 57. In variations, this phrase is also attested elsewhere, i.e. in other inscriptions and also in manuscripts (some of them even of Southern Italian origin) 58, and on lead seals 59. The phrase has its origin in Byzantine liturgy: it is used in the so-called megalynaria of the Orthros of the service of the day of Hypapante (Presentation of Jesus at the Temple): Qeotóke h‘ e’lpív, pántwn tøn Cristianøn, sképe, froúrei, fúlatte, toùv e’lpízontav ei’v sé ... 60. 55. My translation. 56. D. FEISSEL, Inscriptions byzantines de Ténos, in « Bulletin de correspondance hellénique », 104 (1980), pp. 477-518: p. 483, no. 2. 57. RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Stein cit. (nota 8), p. 313, no. GR95. 58. Cf. G. PALLIS, Inscriptions on Middle Byzantine Marble Templon Screens, in « Byzantinische Zeitschrift », 106 (2013), pp. 761-810, at p. 771; A. JACOB, La grotte de San Cristoforo à Torre dell’Orso (Lecce) et ses inscriptions byzantines, in « Atti della Pontificia Accademia Romana di Archeologia », ser. III, Rendiconti 86 (2013-2014), pp. 513-536, at pp. 521-522. 59. A.-K. WASSILIOU-SEIBT, Corpus der byzantinischen Siegel mit metrischen Legenden, Teil 2: Siegellegenden von Ny bis inclusive Sphragis, Vienna, 2016 (Wiener Byzantinistische Studien, 28/2), pp. 284-285, nos. 1954, 1955. 60. Mhnaîon toû Febrouaríou. ¢Ekdosiv tñv ’Apostolikñv Diakonív tñv ’Ekklhsíav tñv ‘Elládov, Athens, 1972, p. 19 (cf. PALLIS, Inscriptions on Middle Byzantine Marble Templon Screens cit. [nota 58], p. 771, n. 30); see also JACOB, La grotte de San Cristoforo cit. (nota 58), pp. 521 and 526, n. 39. THE GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF NORMAN-STAUFIAN APULIA 409 The use of a phrase taken from liturgy was not random. It is an intentional device to underline the divine content and strengthen the supplicant’s, in our case Kaloritzis’, prayer for salvation. In the period in question, especially the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries, most of the preserved evidence is from Southern Apulia, especially from the modern province of Lecce 61. Evidence from farther north is scarce, which, however, differs from the period when Apulia was still under Byzantine rule. Inscriptions from Bari and its neighborhood testify to this argument 62. The aforementioned epigram (no. 55) from Monopoli, from the (now lost) monastery of San Michele Arcangelo, is an exception to the rule because it transmits a highly elaborated verse inscription in a place which is located north of the region from which most of the presented materials stem. Unfortunately, a considerable number of Greek stone inscriptions, which are now preserved in the Museo ‘Sigismondo Castromediano’ at Lecce or in other collections, cannot be located anymore. I will end my brief overview of the production of Greek inscriptions in Apulia under Norman and Staufian rule with such an inscription that is of unknown origin. The inscription (no. 9) in question is a graffito incised into a fragmented stone block (52/53 cm high, 22 cm wide), which now belongs to the University of Lecce, Institute of Classical Archaeology. Its original location is unknown, but it was later reused in the Castle of Soleto (south of Lecce). A diplomatic transcription of the inscription’s text is due to André Jacob, who also dated it to the late eleventh century 63; comparison can also be made with another inscription (no. 13) from Soleto, namely a now lost epitaph of an Armenian called Asotes who died in 1109. The text of no. 9 runs as follows: ’Egénisen u(i‘ò)n u‘mîn {ke} u’v teìv ke’ h’ou[n]äou u‘méraı Sábaton {Sábabaton}. Eu’fránqhti Zacaría (kaì) ’Elusabèl metá sou o√ti (kaì) metà gîrav (kaì) metà nékrosh melôn téxasa [t]òn profíthn (kaì) pródromon toû K(urío)u. 61. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit. (nota 1), p. 39. 62. On these inscriptions, see GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit. (nota 8), no. 145 and RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Stein cit. (nota 8), nos. IT1, IT2. 63. A. JACOB, Notes sur quelques inscriptions byzantines du Salento méridional (Soleto, Alessano, Vaste, Apigliano), in « Mélanges de l’École française de Rome », 95/1 (1983), pp. 65-88, at pp. 66-68. 410 ANDREAS RHOBY A son is born to us on Saturday, June 25th. Rejoice, Zachariah, and Elizabel with you, because despite age and bodily decrepitude she has brought into the world the prophet and precursor of the Lord. This text, which also consists of vernacular elements and spoken language (u’v teìv ke’ h’ou[n]äou = ei’v tìv ke’ ’Iou[n]íou); nékrosh), reports the birth of a son on a Saturday, June 25th (possible years might be 1092 or 1098). Neither the son’s name nor the names of the parents are mentioned. However, mention is made of the biblical story of Zacharias and Elisabeth, the parents of John the Forerunner, who was born due to divine intervention although his mother was already very old (Luke 1, 5-25). This might also be a hint that the unidentified parents were already of advanced age when their son was born. The inscription’s composer, perhaps the father of the newly born son, was familiar with phrases that occur in hymnography: Eu’fránqhti Zacaría is an address to Zacharias which is also attested elsewhere, as is the whole phrase. Hymns for June 24th, the feast day of John the Forerunner, run as follows (passages used in the Soleto inscription are underlined): ’Akouétwsan steîrai kaì u‘mneítwsan tòn qeón. ’idoù gàr ’Elisábet e’kboâı: «metà gñráv mou ui‘òn kaì metà nékrwsin meløn eºscon tòn pródromon. Eu’fraínou, Zacaría, kaì a’gállou nûn e’n qeøı. ’idoù gàr ’Elisábet malouceî metà gñrav ui‘òn kaì metà nékrwsin meløn Cristoû tòn pródromon 64. A connection to this hymnal passage might be given by the fact that this text is mainly based on manuscripts from Italy, namely the Grottaferrata monastery 65. Some of these manuscripts date to the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Whether the inscription indeed refers to the birth of a son at all cannot be proven. It might be merely a text celebrating the feast day of St. John the Forerunner. Whatever the case, the inscription is a good testimony for the reception of hymns chanted in the church. 64. A. ACCONCIA LONGO, Analecta Hymnica Graeca e codicibus eruta Italiae inferioris, pt. X: Canones Iunii, Rome, 1972, p. 206, ll. 742-753 (XVI, ode 9). See also, JACOB, Notes sur quelques inscriptions byzantines du Salento méridional cit. (nota 63), p. 70. 65. ACCONCIA LONGO, Analecta Hymnica Graeca e codicibus eruta Italiae inferioris cit. (nota 64), pp. V-VIII. THE GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF NORMAN-STAUFIAN APULIA 411 4. CONCLUSION The preserved Greek inscriptions of the late eleventh, the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries offer many insights into the continuation of Greek culture at a time when Byzantine control of the region and direct influence had long been over. They testify to the active church life and to the coexistence of both Latin- and Greek-speaking populations. Additional aspects are still worth studying, especially the inscriptions’ language 66 and their paleography with a specific focus on the interaction of Latin and Greek script 67. 66. E.g., SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit. (nota 1), nos. 66.G (= no. 74): boäqou; 72.A (= no. Mné(s)q[iti]; 94.A (= no. 46): Mnästhth; 114.H (= no. 77): Memnäsq...; 143.A (= no. 48): zougráf[ou]; 143.D (= no. 51): boéqei. 67. On this issue very briefly, W. KOCH, Inschriftenpaläographie des abendländischen Mittelalters und der früheren Neuzeit. Früh- und Hochmittelalter. Mit CD-ROM, Vienna and Munich, 2007, pp. 174-181. 78): 412 ANDREAS RHOBY APPENDIX: CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF APULIA UNDER NORMAN AND STAUFIAN RULE, BETWEEN 1071 AND 1268/69 (WITH THE 68 MOST RECENT BIBLIOGRAPHY) . nn. 7-8, 11, 25, 55-58, 71 = metrical n. 32 = semi-metrical 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. a. 1075: origin unknown (now Bari, Museo Nicolaiano): ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 146 (epitaph) a. 1076/77: Casaranello, Santa Maria della Croce; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 33.K (epitaph) 69 a. 1088/89: Casaranello, Santa Maria della Croce; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 33.K (epitaph) 70 a. 1094/95: Casaranello, Santa Maria della Croce; ed. A. JACOB, Deux épitaphes byzantines inédites de Terre d’Otranto, in Studi in onore di Michele D’Elia, Matera, 1996, pp. 166-172, at p. 169; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 33.I (epitaph) a. 1096/97: near Squinzano, Santa Maria di Cerrate; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 114A (epitaph) a. 1098/99: Casaranello, Santa Maria della Croce; ed. JACOB, Deux épitaphes byzantines inédites de Terre d’Otranto cit, p. 169; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 33.J (epitaph) s. XI (late): Carpignano Salentino, Santa Cristina; ed. JACOB, L’inscription métrique de l’enfeu de Carpignano cit.; RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Fresken und Mosaiken cit., no. 186; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 32.J; L. SAFRAN, La mise-en-page dei testi pubblici nel Salento medievale, in « Rudiae. Ricerche sul mondo classico », n.s. 3 (s.c. 26) (2017), pp. 271-290, at p. 276 (epitaph) s. XI (late): Carpignano Salentino, Santa Cristina; ed. JACOB, L’inscription métrique de l’enfeu de Carpignano cit.; RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Fresken und Mosaiken cit., no. 187; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 32.J; J. SAFRAN, La mise-en-page cit., p. 276 (epitaph) s. XI (late): origin unknown (reused in castle of Soleto, now University of Lecce, Institute of Classical Archaeology); ed. JACOB, Notes sur quelques inscriptions byzantines du Salento méridional cit., pp. 66-71; GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 149; M. BERGER and A. JACOB, La chiesa di S. Stefano a Soleto. Tradizioni byzantine e cultura tardogotica, Lecce, 2007, p. 9; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 112 (mention of a birth) 68. Not included are minor Greek inscriptions on scrolls of saints etc. 69. One word only: apoqane (sic). 70. One word only: apoqane (sic). THE GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF NORMAN-STAUFIAN APULIA 413 10. s. XI-XII: Ruffano (now Lecce, Museo Castromediano); ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 150; A. JACOB, L’anthroponymie grecque du Salento méridionale, in « Mélanges de l’École française de Rome », 107/2 (1995), pp. 361-379, at p. 366; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 105 (invocation for a deceased) 11. s. XI-XII (?): Apigliano (now University of Lecce, Museo storico-artistico); ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 5; RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Stein cit., no. IT7; A. JACOB, Epigrammes byzantines de l’Italie méridionale gravées sur pierre. Quelques observations sur un ouvrage récent, in « Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici », n.s. 51 (2014), pp. 175-215, at pp. 189-194 (epitaph) 12. s. XI-XIV: Nociglia, Santa Maria de Itri; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 80.A (commemoration) 13. a. 1109: Soleto (formerly collection of Giuseppe Manca); ed. JACOB, Notes sur quelques inscriptions byzantines du Salento méridional cit., pp. 71-74; GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 174; BERGER and JACOB, La chiesa di S. Stefano a Soleto cit., p. 10; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 111 (epitaph) 14. a. 1117: Quattro Macine (near Giuggianello) (now Lecce, Museo Castromediano); ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 98 (epitaph) 15. a. 1126/27: Casaranello, Santa Maria della Croce; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 33.H (date [of a lost epitaph?]) 16. a. 1130: Alessano (now Lecce, Museo Castromediano); ed. JACOB, Notes sur quelques inscriptions byzantines du Salento méridional cit., pp. 74-78; GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 152; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 2.A (epitaph) 17. a. 1135: origin unknown (now Taranto, Museo Archeologico): ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 176; JACOB, Notes sur quelques inscriptions byzantines du Salento méridional cit., p. 82; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 137.A (epitaph) 18. a. 1135: near Borgagne (lost Greek text, transcribed in Italian); ed. JACOB, Deux épitaphes byzantines inédites de Terre d’Otranto cit, p. 169, n. 23; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 15 (epitaph) 19. a. 1143: Vaste (now Lecce, Museo Castromediano); ed. JACOB, Notes sur quelques inscriptions byzantines du Salento méridional cit., pp. 83-85; A. JACOB, Vaste en Terre d’Otranto et ses inscriptions, in « Aevum », 71/2 (1997), pp. 243-271, at pp. 253-255; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 155.A (epitaph) 20. a. 1148/49: Fulcignano, destroyed church of the Virgin; ed. A. JACOB, Une fondation d’hôpital à Andrano en Terre d’Otranto, in « Mélanges de l’École française de Rome », 93/2 (1981), pp. 683-693, at p. 691; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 46 (dedicatory/building inscription) 21. a. 1152?: Santa Maria di Aurio, Basilica (near Lecce); ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 60.A (date [of a lost epitaph?]) 414 ANDREAS RHOBY 22. a. 1174/75: Quattro Macine (near Giuggianello) (now University of Lecce, Laboratorio di archeologia medievale); ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 99.A (epitaph) 23. a. 1176/77: Castro, castle; ed. A. JACOB, L’épitaphe du hiéromoine Antoine à Castro en Terre d’Otranto, in « Nea Rhome », 12 (2015), pp. 129-136, at p. 135 (epitaph) 24. a. 1196: near San Vito dei Normanni, San Biagio; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 109.A (dedicatory/building inscription) 25. a. 1197/98: near Squinzano, Santa Maria di Cerrate; ed. A. JACOB, L’épitaphe métrique du prêtre Jean à Cerrate, in « Nea Rhome », 10 (2013), pp. 139-154; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 114.B; RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Stein cit., no. IT34; JACOB, Epigrammes byzantines de l’Italie méridionale gravées sur pierre cit., pp. 175-179; SAFRAN, La mise-en-page cit., p. 279 (epitaph) 26. s. XII (a. 1152?): origin unknown (now Taranto, Museo Archeologico); ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 177 (epitaph); SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 138.A (epitaph) 27. s. XII (a. 1152?): origin unknown (now Taranto, Museo Archeologico); ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 138.B (tetragram) 28. s. XII: Santa Maria di Aurio, Basilica (near Lecce); ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 60.E (invocation?) 29. s. XII: Santa Maria di Aurio, Basilica (near Lecce); ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 60.B (function unknown) 30. s. XII: Santa Maria di Aurio, Basilica (near Lecce); ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 60.C (function unknown) 31. s. XII: Santa Maria di Aurio, Basilica (near Lecce); ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 60.D (function unknown) 32. s. XII: Roca Vecchia (now Lecce, Museo Castromediano); ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., p. 153; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 104; JACOB, La grotte de San Cristoforo cit., pp. 527-528 (invocation [with metrical ending]) 33. s. XII: origin unknown (now Lecce, Museo Castromediano); ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 154 (function unknown) 34. s. XII: origin unknown (now Lecce, Museo Castromediano); ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 155 (epitaph) 35. s. XII (?): Cerfignano, found in fill of Chiesa dell’Immacolata; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 40.A (tetragram) 36. s. XII (?): Cerfignano, found in fill of Chiesa dell’Immacolata; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 40.B (epitaph) 37. s. XII (?): Valle delle Memorie, San Nicola (near Otranto); ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 88.A (commemoration) 38. s. XII (?): Poggiardo, Santa Maria degli Angeli; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 97.A (commemoration) THE GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF NORMAN-STAUFIAN APULIA 415 39. s. XII (?): Poggiardo, Santa Maria degli Angeli; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 97.B (date) 40. s. XII (?): origin unknown (now Lecce, Museo Castromediano); ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 158; JACOB, La grotte de San Cristoforo cit., p. 533 (invocation) 41. s. XII (?): origin unknown (now Lecce, Museo Castromediano); ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 156; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 160 (invocation?) 42. s. XII-XIII: Palagianello, Sant’Andrea; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 89.A (commemoration) 43. s. XII-XIII: origin unknown (now Lecce, Museo Castromediano); ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 157 (function unknown) 44. s. XII-XIV: Massafra, Santa Marina; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 67.A (commemoration) 45. s. XII-XIV: Palagianello, Santi Eremiti; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 91.A (commemoration) 46. s. XII-XIV: Palagianello, Santa Lucia; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 94.A (commemoration) 47. s. XII-XIV: Palagianello, Santa Lucia; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 94.H (commemoration) 48. s. XII-XIV: Taranto, Santa Chiara alle Petrose; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 143.A (devotional inscription) 49. s. XII-XIV: Taranto, Santa Chiara alle Petrose; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 143.B (commemoration) 50. s. XII-XIV: Taranto, Santa Chiara alle Petrose; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 143.C (invocation) 51. s. XII-XIV: Taranto, Santa Chiara alle Petrose; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 143.D (invocation) 52. s. XII-XIV: Taranto, Santa Chiara alle Petrose; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 143.E (invocation) 53. s. XII-XIV: Uggiano la Chiesa, Sant’Angelo (in Valle dell’Idro); ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 153.A (commemoration) 54. a. 1238: near Cavallino (lost, drawing extant in Lecce, Biblioteca provinciale); ed. A. JACOB, Iscrizioni bizantine di Cavallino, in Caballino, Capone, 1984, pp. 241-246, at pp. 245-246; A. JACOB, Inscriptions byzantines datées de la Province de Lecce, in « Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rendiconti della Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filologiche », ser. 8, 37 (1982), pp. 41-62, at pp. 54-55; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 37 (epitaph) 55. a. 1268/69: Monopoli, monastery of San Michele Arcangelo (now lost); ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 165; RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Stein cit., no. IT9 (dedicatory/building inscription) 416 ANDREAS RHOBY 56. a. 1269: near Squinzano, Santa Maria di Cerrate; ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 171; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 114.C; RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Stein cit., no. IT35; JACOB, Epigrammes byzantines de l’Italie méridionale gravées sur pierre cit., pp. 179-182 (dedicatory/building inscription) 57. a. 1269: near Squinzano, Santa Maria di Cerrate; ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 169; A. JACOB, Le ciborium du prêtre Taphouros à Sainte-Marie de Cerrate et sa dédicace, in Cavalieri alla conquista del Sud. Studi sull’Italia normanna in memoria di Léon-Robert Ménager, ed. by E. CUOZZO and J.-M. MARTIN, Rome and Bari, 1998, pp. 117-133; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 114.C; RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Stein cit., no. IT36 (invocation) 58. s. XIII (before 1268/69): Gallipoli, Sant’Agata; ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 147; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 49; RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Stein cit., no. IT4; JACOB, Epigrammes byzantines de l’Italie méridionale gravées sur pierre cit., pp. 183-188 (dedicatory/building inscription) 59. s. XIII: Massafra, San Giovanni; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 64.A (invocation) 60. s. XIII: Massafra, San Marco; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 66.F (invocation) 61. s. XIII: Massafra/Crispiano, San Posidonio; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 71.A (invocation) 62. s. XIII: Mottola, Santa Margherita; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 75.pg (function unknown) 63. s. XIII: San Vito dei Normanni, Cripta di San Giovanni: SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., 163 (tetragram) 64. s. XIII: Taranto, Chiesa del Redentore; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 142.A (commemoration) 65. s. XIII (late): near Gallipoli, San Mauro, ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., 163 (tetragram) 66. s. XIII?: Faggiano, San Nicola; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 45.A (function unknown) 67. s. XIII?: Miggiano, Santa Marina; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., p. 288, fig. 73.A.1 (tetragram) 68. s. XIII?: Miggiano, Santa Marina; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 73.B (label of a depicted person) 69. s. XIII?: Nardo, Santa Maria dell’Alto; ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 166; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 79.C (invocation) THE GREEK INSCRIPTIONS OF NORMAN-STAUFIAN APULIA 417 70. s. XIII?: Nardo, Santa Maria dell’Alto; ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 167; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 79.D (invocation) 71. s. XIII/XIV: Quattro Macine (near Giugianello) (now Lecce, Museo Castromediano); ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 158; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 100.A; RHOBY, Byzantinische Epigramme auf Stein cit., no. IT6; JACOB, Epigrammes byzantines de l’Italie méridionale gravées sur pierre cit., pp. 194-199 (invocation for a deceased?) 72. s. XIII/XIV: Crispiano, Santi Crispo e Crispiniano; ed. A. JACOB, Un nouvelle Amen isopséphique en Terre d’Otranto, in « Rivista di Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici », n.s. 26 (1989), pp. 187-195, at p. 190; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 44.A (invocation) 73. s. XIII/XIV: Massafra, San Marco; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 66.F (commemoration) 74. s. XIII/XIV: Massafra, San Marco; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 66.G (invocation) 75. s. XIII/XIV: origin unknown (now Lecce, Museo Castromediano); ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 159 (epitaph?) 76. s. XIII/XIV?: San Cataldo (now Lecce, Museo Castromediano); ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 160; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 107 (epitaph) 77. s. XIII/XIV?: near Squinzano, Santa Maria di Cerrate; ed. GUILLOU, Recueil des inscriptions grecques médiévales d’Italie cit., no. 170; SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 114.H (commemoration) 78. late medieval: Mesagne, San Lorenzo; ed. SAFRAN, The Medieval Salento cit., no. 72.A (commemoration)