Per una storia del libro latino antico: i papiri latini di contenuto letterario dal I sec. a.C. al I ex.-II in. d.C.

In this article an analysis is given of the Latin literary papyri between the ist century B.C., period to which the most ancient Latin volumina can be assigned, and the Iex.-IIin. A.D., the date of the first Latin book in the form of a codex. Graphical and material skills, by which they differ from the contemporary Greek books on papyrus roll, are described. Such skills tend to disappear during the II century A.D., and this is due to the gradually stronger influence of the Greek bibliological models on the Latin. Papyri from the “Villa dei Papiri” in Herculaneum, the fortress of Masada in Palestine and Egypt are described. Accounts are given of the different level of the Capital script that can be seen in these papyri. Part of the essay is dedicated to the other writing supports of the Roman world, like the wooden (and waxed) tablets and the parchment folia, both of which testify the old and continuous familiarity of the Romans with the form of the codex. Literary sources dealing with the history and the format of the book are also discussed, and special attention is paid to those concerning the interpunctio.