The Antiquarian Alessandro Totti da Brescia: His Annotated Copy of the Epigrammata Antiquae Urbis (Rome, 1521) and his Autograph Papers in Vat. lat. 5237

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Abstract

In 2022 the Johns Hopkins University purchased an annotated copy of the Epigrammata Antiquae Urbis (Rome, 1521), the earliest published collection of inscriptions from Rome. A paleographical comparison shows that the annotator was the Servite friar Alessandro Totti (1498–1570), a little-studied Brescian antiquarian. The present study confirms him as the source of numerous papers within Vat. lat. 5237 (a composite epigraphic manuscript assembled by Aldo Manuzio the Younger), and sheds light on his exchange of antiquarian information with Ottavio Pantagato, Paolo Manuzio, and his son Aldo Manuzio. The analysis of Totti’s annotations in the Epigrammata, written in the 1550s, reveals not only his detailed study of Rome’s inscriptions, but also his interest in two of the most heated antiquarian debates at the time: Roman chronology as attested by the discovery of the Fasti Capitolini, and the identification of the 35 Roman tribes.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-31
Number of pages31
JournalErudition and the Republic of Letters
Volume9
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Mar 2024

Keywords

  • antiquarianism
  • antiquarian humanism
  • Ottavio Pantagato
  • Aldo Manuzio the Younger
  • marginalia
  • antiquarian literature

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