Connecting Late Antiquities – Digitisation of Archives

Two case studies advancing our understanding of late antiquity.

When: to April
Where:Boniface Centre, Church Lane, Crediton, EX17 2AH
Who:Dr Charlotte Tupman
Dr Charlotte Tupman  is Senior Research Fellow in Digital Humanities and Director of Global Engagement for Classics, Ancient History, Religion & Theology at the University of Exeter.

I am a member of the Department of Classics, Ancient History, Religion & Theology and the Digital Humanities Lab (DH Lab), with research interests in Latin Epigraphy. I am also an affiliated academic in the Institute for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. As one of the authors of the EpiDoc Guidelines I am actively involved in the collaborative development of international standards for the encoding and publication of inscriptions and papyri. I have worked in the fields of Digital Humanities and Digital Classics for more than a decade, specialising in the analysis and digital publication of ancient textual materials.

The completion of two case studies that demonstrate the utility of these resources for challenging the existing limitations of prosopographical scholarship and advancing our understanding of late antiquity: the first, on North Africa, will explore the interconnectedness of the so-called ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ spheres, an artificial separation currently encouraged by the division of the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire and the Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire into discrete projects. This research will reveal the workings of elite networks and how they altered when their members entered the Church, as well as demonstrating the wider intellectual potential of reintegrating two halves of an originally unified prosopographical project. The second case study, on Britain, will expand beyond the coverage of Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire to incorporate material concerning other attested figures from late-antique Britain, including clerics and soldiers.

Publications include:
Tupman C (2021). Where can our inscriptions take us? Harnessing the potential of Linked Open Data for Epigraphy. In Velazquez Soriano I, Espinosa Espinosa D (Eds.) Epigraphy in the Digital Age. Oppurtunities and Challenges in the Recording, Analysis and Dissemination of Inscriptions, Archaeopress Archaeology, 115-128

Admission: CAHMS members £2, non-members £5, including refreshments. 


Link to CAHMS winter 2024/5 programme