Qualche riflessione sulla questione dell'identificazione grafica nei papiri documentari. Il caso di Marcus figlio di Apa Dios (Syene, VI secolo)

This paper will analyze from a new perspective the case of the most prolific scribe and drafter attested in the Patermouthis Archive, Marcus son of Apa Dios, whose name appears in the completio or hypographe of twelve documents dating between 577 and 586. An in-depth study of Marcus’ handwriting, inserted in the broader context of the evolution of the Greek cursive, will give the opportunity to make some methodological considerations on the difficulties of graphic identifications in documentary papyri, and in particular on the limits of formal approach applied to non-stylized scripts, and on the possible solutions. Moreover, the analysis of the layout and structure of the documents signed by Marcus, focused on signs and graphic symbols and carried out in comparison with the ones drafted by other scribes in Syene, will also allow to reflect on the expedients of organizing the text on the page, as tools for orienting the readers and giving emphasis to the different sections of a document. Hopefully the following remarks will contribute to increase our knowledge of the mechanisms of production and use of documents in Late Antique Egypt. The analysis of the particular sign system designed by Marcus will also help to highlight the support given by these non-verbal elements in the attempts of graphic identification and, consequently, on the potential of a complex tool such as the NOTAE System, that will provide a large census of signs and symbols in pragmatical literature from the 5th to the 8th century.