Papers by Eleonora Selvi
Pulvirenti, E. (ed.) Anatolian Interactions Criss-Cross Contacts and Cultural Dynamics in the First Millennium BCE, 2024
Is Network Analysis useful for understanding cultural and linguistic contact in border areas like... more Is Network Analysis useful for understanding cultural and linguistic contact in border areas like Pamphylia? This research applies computer-based Social Network Analysis to funerary inscriptions from Hellenistic Aspendos, detailing how to carry out SNA on a corpus of ancient artifacts and discussing results and future perspectives of Network Analysis in epigraphy.
PhD Dissertation, 2024
This dissertation explores the history and the epigraphic culture of the dialect-speaking communi... more This dissertation explores the history and the epigraphic culture of the dialect-speaking communities of Aspendos, Perge and Sillyon in Pamphylia (5th-2nd cent. BCE ca.), bringing together linguistics, epigraphy, history, archaeology and computational analysis. The dissertation is structured in four chapters: 1- State of the art; 2- History and contacts with the Greek-speaking world; 3- Origins and development of the Pamphylian alphabet; 4- Funerary and epigraphic culture.
Supervisor: Prof. Marco Bettalli; Reviewers: Prof. Alfredo Rizza; Prof. Lorenzo d'Alfonso; Final reviewers: Prof. Giovanni Salmeri; Prof. Recai Tekoglu; Dr. Andrea Angius.
[Please write an email to eleonoraselvi.siena@gmail.com if you wish to read the dissertation or parts of it].
Kadmos. Zeitschrift für vor- und frühgriechische Epigraphik , 2023
[Read PREPRINT full text here https://shorturl.at/qq8Db]
The origins and development of the Pamp... more [Read PREPRINT full text here https://shorturl.at/qq8Db]
The origins and development of the Pamphylian alphabet and its relations with the other Greek alphabetic traditions have so far remained obscure.
This study aims at elucidating the feature that, more than any other, has resisted a safe interpretation: the coexistence, without parallels in the Greek world, of at least two graphemes, namely <Ͷ> and <Ϝ>, representing the posterior approximant. To unravel the intricacy, we adopt a novel perspective, namely the ‘corpus doctrinae theory’, in order to address potential biases arisen from structuralist approaches. Preliminarily, we argue, on the basis of the distribution of the two graphemes, that such a cohabitation cannot always be explained by phonetic reasons. Therefore, we discuss the selection of <Ͷ> and <Ϝ> in the broader frame of the formation and transmission of the Greek alphabets, showing that Pamphylian did not stem from a single matrix-script, but rather goes back to the NE Peloponnesian corpus doctrinae. Such a filiation explains the origins of <Ͷ>, as both its paleography and phonetic value show that it is an adaptation of the Corinthian-type <B>.
David F. Mora-Marín & Lynne Cahill (eds.). On the Systematic Nature of Writing Systems. Written Language and Literacy 26/1 [Special Issue], pp. 78-98, 2023
[Read preprint full text here https://shorturl.at/lnVMk]
In the Hellenistic age, contact with th... more [Read preprint full text here https://shorturl.at/lnVMk]
In the Hellenistic age, contact with the Ionic alphabet used to write koine Greek rapidly changed the Pamphylian alphabet, initiating the processes of koineization and standardization. The analysis of three case studies (personal names with -muu̯a; personal names built from the root ϝαναξ-; -αυ and -ευ diphthongs) shows how the need to write dialectal personal names led to the creation of a ‘local standard’ of spellings suited to the koine alphabetic set. However, some features of the epichoric alphabet survived in competition with this local standard. It is therefore argued that the process of standardization of the Pamphylian alphabet in contact with the koine alphabet affected different alphabetic features according to the social and identity values given to them by the community.
Liverani, P./Foschi, M./Casadei, A. (eds.): ILLA. Espressioni e poetiche dell’identità. Pisa, Pisa University Press. ISBN 9788833395906, 2022
The oldest attestations of writing known from Pamphylia are two inscribed ceramic fragments from ... more The oldest attestations of writing known from Pamphylia are two inscribed ceramic fragments from the 6 th cent. acropolis of Perge. These documents will be discussed through an approach based on Prosdocimi's theory on the transmission of the alphabet. The alphabet inscribed on the fragments is therefore thought to represent a very early stage of a tradition that will later led to the Sidetic alphabet. At that stage, the alphabet would still show features of a "blue" Greek alphabetic corpus doctrinae, which could be possibly connected with the Pamphylian alphabet.
Bednaříková, B.; Lavička, D.; Maleňáková, Z. (eds.). Jazyky v pohybu a potenciál změny: Sborník příspěvků z 19.–23. ročníku mezinárodního setkání mladých lingvistů. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci. ISBN 978-80-244-6473-2., 2023
This work focuses on the Mycenaean e-re-ta tablets from Pylos (PY An 610 and 724). The terms pos... more This work focuses on the Mycenaean e-re-ta tablets from Pylos (PY An 610 and 724). The terms posi-ke-te-re (610.6) and wo-qe-we (610.7, 724.13) are reconsidered. A reconstruction *pod-seik- > posikt- ‘the ones who go by foot’ is proposed for the hapax po-si-ke-te-re, while wo-qe-we could be an occupational name going back to PIE *√wokw- ‘to say’ after the regular *-eu- suffixation. It is argued that An 610.4-10 is purposefully organized in two columns. The first column lists place-names, while the
second records individuals by social class or occupation. An 724 is divided into two sections (ll. 1–10 and 11–14). The first records with the absence of some rowers. The second is analysed as a record of men who were actually disposable and who received a retribution (o-no).
Conference Presentations by Eleonora Selvi
Seminario Avanzato di Epigrafia Greca VIII, 2023
La ricerca proposta discute IG I 3 153 e IG I 3 154, due decreti della seconda metà del V sec. r... more La ricerca proposta discute IG I 3 153 e IG I 3 154, due decreti della seconda metà del V sec. relativi alle strutture portuali del Pireo, alla luce dei dati emersi da scavi recenti.
Language and Identity in Antiquity - Langue et identité dans l'antiquité, Lausanne 19-21/07/2024, 2024
This proposal aims to investigate the relationship between language choices and identity reflecti... more This proposal aims to investigate the relationship between language choices and identity reflections within Hellenistic Pamphylian funerary epigraphy using a statistical approach. By employing Social Network Analysis (SNA), this study will focus on funerary epitaphs from the dialect-speaking community of Hellenistic Aspendos in Pamphylia. Through SNA, I will explore which language features were utilized as markers of identity and how language choices interact with other markers of identity.
XLVIII Convegno della Società Italiana di Glottologia La storia, le storie e la linguistica Sapienza Università di Roma, 24-26 ottobre 2024, 2024
[F. Bastici, A. Rossi & E. Selvi 2024] Nella letteratura hurritologica vi è un certo consenso sul... more [F. Bastici, A. Rossi & E. Selvi 2024] Nella letteratura hurritologica vi è un certo consenso sulla scarsità di aggettivi primari in hurrita (Giorgieri 2000: 194). Wegner e Bomhard (2020: 30) individuano soltanto tre aggettivi primari. Questa situazione è compatibile con la forte variazione interlinguistica osservata nella dimensione delle classi di aggettivi (Dixon 2006: 10). Il hurrita apparterrebbe dunque al gruppo delle lingue con una classe di aggettivi primari numericamente estremamente esigua. Tuttavia, il tipo morfologico del hurrita e le difficoltà connesse alla sua attestazione suggeriscono la necessità di una nuova riflessione sistematica sulle radici. Infatti, la tradizione lessicografica hurritologica (si veda in particolare Richter 2012) ha trattato molte radici come verbali (stative, es. pic-, ‘essere felice’; tag-, ‘essere luminoso’), anche se la loro semantica di base sembrerebbe invece avvicinarle maggiormente agli aggettivi. Il presente studio propone una rianalisi delle basi attestate in hurrita in prospettiva tipologica. Partendo da uno spoglio dei dati lessicografici basato sulle classi semantiche di aggettivi individuate da Dixon (2010: 73-76), si intende analizzare e classificare le radici attraverso un’analisi incrociata che distingua il contenuto semantico dalla funzione svolta nel testo, impiegando le attese di marcatezza (strutturale, flessiva e distribuzionale) come discusse in
Croft (1991) per individuare le basi aggettivali in hurrita.
3th International Workshop on Writing Systems and Literacy - AWLL13: On the systematic nature of writing systems, 21-23 October 2021, University of North Carolina, USA, 2021
Poster presented during the 13th International Workshop on Writing Systems and Literacy - AWLL13:... more Poster presented during the 13th International Workshop on Writing Systems and Literacy - AWLL13: On the systematic nature of writing systems, 21-23 October 2021, University of North Carolina, USA
Anatolian Interactions. Criss-cross contacts and cultural dynamics in the first millennium BCE. University of Trento, Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Laboratorio di Scienze dell’Antichità (LabSA), Trento - 9th. - 10th December 2022, 2022
Computer-based Social Network Analysis applied to Pamphylian Hellenistic funerary epigraphy
International Colloquium of Ancient Greek Linguistics, Madrid 2022, 2022
ICAGL 10th - Abstract Santamaria & Selvi
UCL Lyceum Seminars, 2019
My talk investigates the social composition of the Mycenaean navy of the kingdom of Pylos (Late H... more My talk investigates the social composition of the Mycenaean navy of the kingdom of Pylos (Late Helladic IIIB) and the relationship between the social status of the men recruited on the ships and their military role.
Building a Borderland: Tales and Traditions on Pamphylia
15-17/10/2020, 2nd International Conference for Postgraduate Students and PhD Candidates in Classics ''Discourses about Otherness: Forms of the Other in Ancient Greek and Latin Literature'', 2020
Ethnogenesis and myth in Pamphylia. From Calchas to Plancia Magna
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Papers by Eleonora Selvi
Supervisor: Prof. Marco Bettalli; Reviewers: Prof. Alfredo Rizza; Prof. Lorenzo d'Alfonso; Final reviewers: Prof. Giovanni Salmeri; Prof. Recai Tekoglu; Dr. Andrea Angius.
[Please write an email to eleonoraselvi.siena@gmail.com if you wish to read the dissertation or parts of it].
The origins and development of the Pamphylian alphabet and its relations with the other Greek alphabetic traditions have so far remained obscure.
This study aims at elucidating the feature that, more than any other, has resisted a safe interpretation: the coexistence, without parallels in the Greek world, of at least two graphemes, namely <Ͷ> and <Ϝ>, representing the posterior approximant. To unravel the intricacy, we adopt a novel perspective, namely the ‘corpus doctrinae theory’, in order to address potential biases arisen from structuralist approaches. Preliminarily, we argue, on the basis of the distribution of the two graphemes, that such a cohabitation cannot always be explained by phonetic reasons. Therefore, we discuss the selection of <Ͷ> and <Ϝ> in the broader frame of the formation and transmission of the Greek alphabets, showing that Pamphylian did not stem from a single matrix-script, but rather goes back to the NE Peloponnesian corpus doctrinae. Such a filiation explains the origins of <Ͷ>, as both its paleography and phonetic value show that it is an adaptation of the Corinthian-type <B>.
In the Hellenistic age, contact with the Ionic alphabet used to write koine Greek rapidly changed the Pamphylian alphabet, initiating the processes of koineization and standardization. The analysis of three case studies (personal names with -muu̯a; personal names built from the root ϝαναξ-; -αυ and -ευ diphthongs) shows how the need to write dialectal personal names led to the creation of a ‘local standard’ of spellings suited to the koine alphabetic set. However, some features of the epichoric alphabet survived in competition with this local standard. It is therefore argued that the process of standardization of the Pamphylian alphabet in contact with the koine alphabet affected different alphabetic features according to the social and identity values given to them by the community.
second records individuals by social class or occupation. An 724 is divided into two sections (ll. 1–10 and 11–14). The first records with the absence of some rowers. The second is analysed as a record of men who were actually disposable and who received a retribution (o-no).
Conference Presentations by Eleonora Selvi
Croft (1991) per individuare le basi aggettivali in hurrita.