ERC Stone-Masters Project

📚 A new book by our colleague Marina Bastero Acha!

We are very happy to share the publication of "Estatuas divinas. Un estudio de sus dedicaciones y contexto a través de la epigrafía hispana", a book that stems from Marina’s doctoral thesis on religious evergetism in Roman Hispania.
The book explores the dedication of divine statues through the epigraphic evidence, paying attention not only to the people who commissioned these monuments and the deities they honoured, but also to the contexts in which these statues and inscriptions were created, displayed and experienced.

This research connects particularly well with the interests of the ERC STONE-MASTERS project, especially through its focus on materiality. Looking at inscriptions and monuments as material objects allows us to go beyond the text itself and consider the stones, their production, their contexts and the people involved in their creation and use.

🔗 Find out more about the book here:
https://web-argitalpena.adm.ehu.es/listaproductos.asp?IdProducts=UVIPA267739&titulo=Estatuas%20divinas.%20Un%20estudio%20de%20sus%20dedicaciones%20y%20contexto%20a%20trav%E9s%20de%20la%20epigraf%EDa%20hispana

Estatuas divinas – UPV/EHU

As previously announced, our project co-organised a thematic session and a roundtable discussion at the 25th International Congress of Byzantine Studies in Vienna (24 to 29 August 2026). Our speakers delivered papers of a very high standard and presented unique photographic documentation on the selection of languages in the process of making inscriptions across different regions and cultural areas from the Roman Imperial to the Byzantine periods.

We would like to express our gratitude to the co-organisers and moderators: Ida Toth and Arietta Papaconstantinou, and to the speakers: Maria Aimé Villano, Nicholas Melvani, Ketevan Mikeladze, Nicholas de Lange, Lilyana Yordanova, Rodney Ast, Julia Borczyńska, Olivia Ramble, Andrés Rea and Michael Zellmann-Rohrer. Thank you all for making it happen!

We are also happy to let you know that during the Congress, Paweł Nowakowski was elected as a new member of the epigraphical commission of the Society of Byzantine Studies (AIEB), bringing the total number of members to 17.

The newspaper Main Echo wrote an article about Timo and Lorena's work at the epigraphical collection of the Römermuseum at Obernburg!

The 25TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF BYZANTINE STUDIES. BYZANTIUM BEYOND BYZANTIUM (Vienna, 24-29 August 2026) is coming, and together with it a thematic session and a round table co-organised by our project with Ida Toth (University of Oxford) and Arietta Papaconstantinou (Aix-Marseille Université).

During these meetings we will ask important questions about the role of language and multilingualism in the epigraphical production, among them about the linguistic education of stone-cutters and the challenges they faced while working with strangers' languages.

Our Round Table and Thematic Session explore epigraphic contexts attesting to the presence of two or more languages and their scripts in close physical proximity to each other. Our aims are as follows: 1) to identify epigraphic patterns, connections, and mutual influences; 2) to examine how language choices shape intended messages, and to explore the broader socio-cultural implications of this relationship, and 3) to highlight the role of language choice in the production of inscriptions and to assess the linguistic competence of their makers.

Schedule:

Tuesday, 25 August 2026
Location: BIG-HS (BIG-Hörsaal, Universität Wien)

Thematic Session 2.31: Epigraphic Diversities: Inscriptions from Comparative and Cross-cultural Perspectives

Conveners: Ida Toth, Paweł Nowakowski, Arietta Papaconstantinou

SPEAKERS:
Maria Aimé Villano, An Epigraphic Survey of the Pala d’Oro at the Basilica of San Marco in Venice
Nicholas Melvani, Multilingualism on Mount Athos: Greek and Slavic Inscriptions in the Sacred Space of a Monastic Community
Ketevan Mikeladze, Signatures of Medieval Painters on Georgian Wall Paintings: Their Function and Spatial Context
Nicholas de Lange, Greek and Hebrew in Byzantine Jewish Inscriptions
Lilyana Yordanova, Bilingualism in Art: Issues and Insights from the Bulgarian Material (13th–16th Century)

Wednesday, 26 August 2026
Location: BIG-HS (BIG-Hörsaal, Universität Wien)

Round Table 3.17: Epigraphic Diversities: Inscriptions from Comparative and Cross-Cultural Perspectives

Conveners: Paweł Nowakowski, Arietta Papaconstantinou, Ida Toth

SPEAKERS:
Rodney Ast, Whose Monument is This? Determining Agency in Bilingual Dedications from the Port of Berenike
Julia Borczyńska, Between Licentia Epigraphica, Linguistic Interference, and the Stonecutter’s Inexperience: Non-Professional Inscription-Making as a Mode of Epigraphic Practice in Late Antique Rome
Olivia Ramble, Trilingual and Bilingual Inscriptions of Sasanian Iran: Exploring a Nascent Dynasty’s Choice of Languages and Scripts
Andrés Rea, Shared Hands, Different Tongues? Multilingual Epigraphy, Workshop Practice and Craft Traditions in the Early Byzantine Eastern Mediterranean
Michael Zellmann-Rohrer, Multilingual Magical Texts in Early Byzantine Epigraphy

Our participants are early- and middle-career scholars as well as senior academics. They are epigraphy specialists working on multilingual inscriptional traditions from cross/intercultural and comparative perspectives. They will approach inscriptions diachronically and with an interdisciplinary (literary, historical, religious) focus while also closely engaging with any extant visual and material evidence.

You can find a printable pdf poster and the booklet of abstracts on our website. Please, feel free to share them! We hope to see you at our meetings!

On 2nd and 3rd July, the Faculty of History hosted the 1st Workshop on Outreach for Classicists "Antiquity Reaches Society". The workshop was co-organised by the University of Warsaw and the University of Silesia in Katowice. The main organisers were Marina Bastero Acha, Mariana Franco San Román, Paweł Nowakowski and Janek Kucharski.

This workshop combined specific training with the exchange of personal experiences in outreach across diverse social contexts in broadly understood studies on antiquity. As a special contribution of the Faculty of History, Łukasz Niesiołowski-Spanὸ spoke on the outreach activities carried in the podcast, Historia na2głosy.

A full-length report with recorded materials will follow in the second half of this year.

STONE-MASTERS at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds.

This year, the International Medieval Congress (IMC) took place in Leeds between 6 and 10 July. As part of this edition, Paweł Nowakowski and Konstanze Schiemann (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz) co-organised a session titled “The Perils of Nature: Environment, Time, and the Disintegration of the Vulnerable Human Body in Byzantium”. This session was organised as a result of Konstanze's time at the University of Warsaw in 2025 during the Mainz–Warsaw scholarly exchange programme.

Pawel seized the opportunity to present his research on late antique Syrian and Arabian mosaics depicting hunting scenes, examining whether a close study of small details in these types of decorative scenes could provide clues about the origin of the mosaic inscriptions that often accompanied them. This paper allowed for the practical application of the research questionnaire developed by the STONE-MASTERS team.

Konstanze presented a paper entitled "Torn, Scattered, Consumed: Natural Forces and Anxieties about the Fragile Human Body in the Late Antique and Early Byzantine Period", in which she surveyed late antique literature on the resurrection of flesh.

The two invited speakers were Dorothee Elm von der Osten (Humboldt University, Berlin) and Karl Heiner Dahm (Durham University). Dorothee's paper dealt with "'Damnatio ad bestias, perpetua felicitas': Time Awareness and the Female Life Cycle in the Passio Perpetuae', while Karl discussed "The Stench of Divine Justice: Pestilence and the Human Body during Late Antiquity" which raised important aspects of narrative patterns in John of Ephesus.

Robert Wiśniewski, our colleague from the same floor in Warsaw, chaired the session excellently. You can also see him in the photos ☺️

Lorena’s and Timo research trip to Obernburg am Main

In late June 2026, our team members Lorena Pérez Yarza and Timo Eichhorn undertook a research trip to Obernburg am Main, Germany.

During their stay from 28 to 30 June 2026, Lorena and Timo conducted autopsies on local votive altars from the statio of the beneficiarii consularis (staff officers) housed in the Römermuseum in the town of Obernburg am Main, a former Roman fort from Germania Superior. The primary aim of the research was to investigate whether and which votive altars – dating predominantly to the late second and early third centuries CE – could be assigned to a common local style, a shared workshop tradition, or even to the hand of the same stonecutter.

To address these questions, each monument was examined autoptically using the Stone Masters’ methodology, which integrates iconographic, formulaic, material and palaeographic analysis. Particular attention was paid to the style of engraving as well as the morphology and structural composition of the inscribed supports, together with iconographic programmes and formulae. The study also examined the expression of technical, military abbreviations, with special emphasis on the ex*****on of BF (beneficiarius consularis) with specific ligatures. The palaeographic analysis documented letterforms, terminal decorations, carving techniques, ordinatio (layout), and other graphic features relevant to identifying workshop practices and carving idiosyncrasies. The use of common graphic characteristics and features of supports as well as the evolution of iconographic changes and letter cutting have allowed Lorena and Timo to differentiate strict parallels of production, imitation of a main workshop and a potential evolution of the local epigraphic officina.

Lorena and Timo would like to extend their special thanks to Eric Erfurth, Director of the Römermuseum, and the museum staff for the opportunity to carry out this research and for their warm hospitality throughout their visit.

📢 Upcoming International Workshop | 2–3 July 2026

How can the Humanities and Classical Studies engage more effectively with society in an era shaped by artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and evolving educational challenges?

The Faculty of History at the University of Warsaw and the ERC Stone Masters Project invites researchers, educators, and students to participate in the international workshop "ANTIQUITY REACHES SOCIETY 1ST WORKSHOP ON OUTREACH FOR CLASSICISTS"

Over two days, participants will explore innovative approaches to public engagement, science communication, and knowledge exchange through keynote lectures, practical workshops, and collaborative discussions. Topics include communicating with policymakers, engaging children and young audiences, using accessible language, and sharing best practices for outreach activities.

The workshop provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on the societal impact of Humanities research and to foster dialogue on strengthening the relationship between academia and the wider public.

📅 Date: 2–3 July 2026
📍 Venue: Faculty of History, University of Warsaw

For the full programme and registration details, please visit:
https://historia.uw.edu.pl/en/workshop-thursday-2nd-friday-3rd-july-2026/

We look forward to welcoming you to Warsaw and online!

Last week, Julia Borczyńska took part in the conference Circulating Perspectives of the Past: Epigraphic Material in Manuscripts (15th–17th Centuries). Colloquium in memoriam Marco Buonocore, held at Sapienza University of Rome.

In her paper, entitled “Spatial Readings of Rome: Syllogae and the Micro-Topography of Late Antique Christian Inscriptions”, she addressed the use of medieval manuscript transmission for the study of the topography of Christian cult sites in Late Antique Rome. The paper focused on the question of how — and to what extent — inscriptions preserved in syllogae, their sequence within the manuscript, and the brief locative lemmata supplied by compilers can be used to reconstruct the topography of Late Antique places of worship. Particular attention was given to compilations such as the Sylloge Turonensis, the Sylloge Laureshamensis, and the Sylloge Virdunensis. Although the topographical indications they preserve are often laconic, and at times secondary or imprecise, they may nevertheless retain traces of direct observation of monuments in situ.

The paper was structured around four main issues. First, lemmata were considered as a kind of “map” of the compiler’s route, making it possible to reconstruct how he moved through sacred space. Secondly, it was shown that the combination of locative notes with the content of epigrams can assist in reconstructing lost decorative programmes envisaged by the commissioners and stone-carving workshops. Thirdly, the paper addressed the uncertainties of manuscript transmission: the sequence of epigrams and their lemmata does not always reflect the original arrangement of inscriptions and may instead be secondary, misleading, or difficult to reconcile with the reconstructed topography of a monument. Finally, the paper explored the possibility of reconstructing the very act of reading inscriptions, especially in cases where differences between manuscript witnesses reveal how a compiler saw, read, and ordered texts within a specific architectural setting.

Two weeks ago, on 19 May, Paweł Nowakowski visited Cracow to present the STONE-MASTERS project at the Copernicus Festival and spoke in a session on setting strong research proposals for ERC funding schemes. The panel was hosted by members of the Polish National Contact Point/Krajowy Punkt Kontaktowy Programów Badawczych UE

Photograph from: Krajowy Punkt Kontaktowy Programów Badawczych UE
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1421463940022905&set=pcb.1421464403356192