Proportions of Latin Letter Collections

In Sara Fascione’s volume Reading Ancient Latin Letter Collections, Joop van Waarden contributes a chapter entitled ‘The proportions of Latin letter collections: A probe’ (pp. 61-74). This is a sequel to Gibson & Morrison’s chapter ‘Patterns of Arrangement in Greco-Roman Letter Collections’ in the same volume:

‘As Roy Gibson introduced the Ancient Letter Collections project at the conference and expounded his idea of the Augustan poetry book having been seminal for the proportions of Latin letter collections, it occurred to me that a detailed wordcount might finetune our insight into the parameters that mattered for the editors (the authors or later caretakers) of these collections.’

This chapter comes with a complete digital set of calculations and graphs. Download this set here.

Fascione Reading Latin Letter Collections

Sara Fascione has published a volume of conference papers: Concatenantur sibi epistulae nostrae. Reading Ancient Latin Letter Collections (23-24 September 2021), Echo 38, Foggia: Il Castello Edizioni, 2022.

View the Introduction and ToC

Sidonius’ correspondence is among the collections analysed by Joop van Waarden in ‘The proportions of Latin letter collections: A probe’, pp. 61-74. Download the accompanying digital set of calculations and graphs.

Authors, Addressees, and Audiences

Authors, Addressees, and Audiences in Roman Letters

University of Edinburgh
Seminar Room 1, Chrystal Macmillan Building
Monday, 20th February 2023

This conference focuses on Roman letters from Cicero to Sidonius, and on the relationship of author, addressee, and audience. Each speaker will introduce either an individual letter or a small dossier of related letters for discussion.

This is an in-person event. Outside participants are very welcome to join us in Edinburgh, but please register with Giulia Marolla so we can distribute texts in advance and can plan catering.

Organising committee: Gavin Kelly, Giulia Marolla, Janja Soldo, and Joop van Waarden. Speakers include Roy Gibson, Gavin Kelly, Alison John, Laura Losito, Giulia Marolla, Andrew Morrison, Janja Soldo, Joop van Waarden, Willum Westenholz, and Matthijs Zoeter.

Download programme here

Classics Seminars Edinburgh

The Classics Department of Edinburgh University has announced its research seminars for the first half of 2023. For Sidonius and late antique Gaul they include:

Wednesday 8 Feb, 5.10, Teviot Lecture Theatre
Giulia Marolla (Bari) Four Burgundian kings in fifth-century Gaul? The case of Sidonius Ep. 5.7.

Thursday 18 May, 2.10, Sydney Smith Lecture Theatre
Adrastos Omissi (Glasgow) Late Roman Italy, late Roman Gaul: their strategic and geographic relationship

These are hybrid lectures. Please contact Dr Ben Harriman (Benjamin.Harriman [at] ed.ac.uk) for the link; please also contact him if you wish to be added to the seminar mailing list.

Seminar organisers: Ben Harriman, Gavin Kelly