Rosario Pintaudi

Rosario Pintaudi (born 10 November 1947) is an Italian papyrologist and archaeologist, who taught at the University of Messina and directed archaeological excavations at Medinet Madi (1995–2007) and Antinoöpolis (2000–2020).

Biography Born in Sant'Angelo di Brolo near Messina, his family moved to Florence when he was a child. Pintaudi graduated from the Scuole Pie of the Piarists in 1967 and enrolled in the University of Florence in the same year, studying Greek Paleography under Giovan Battista Alberti and Papyrology under Manfredo Manfredi. In 1970 he travelled to Cairo and worked on the papyri of the Egyptian Museum. He graduated in 1971 with a thesis in Greek Paleography (tutored by Alberti): "L’Etymologicum Parvum: introduzione ed edizione critica"; in the same year he published his first scholarly works and enrolled in the specialized program in Greek Paleography and Papyrology of his alma mater, graduating in 1972 with a thesis in Papyrology: "Testi recuperati dai Papiri Fiorentini (P.Flor. II). Edizione e commento". In 1974 he travelled to Antinoöpolis where the University of Florence had an active archeological mission.

Since 1969 he frequented the Laurentian Library on a daily basis. In 1971, Manfredi and the Library assigned Pintaudi to the restoration, study and publication of the papyri kept at the Laurentian Library. In 1976 he was officially hired by the Library as an external expert. At the same time, he obtained a research grant from the University of Florence, then becoming Researcher; in 1980 he also started working on the Wessely papyri of the Czech National Library in Prague. In 1984 he became Professor of Papyrology at the University of Messina, where he served until his retirement from teaching in 2018.

Pintaudi started three scholarly series, also serving as general editor of each:

1975: "Papyrologica Florentina" (Pap. Flor.), started by Pintaudi with Alfiero Manetti (owner of the publishing house Libreria Antiquaria Gonnelli); initially intended to celebrate Gonnelli's hundredth anniversary, it is devoted to the publication of monographs in the fields of papyrology and classical philology. 1989: "Analecta Papyrologica" (APapyrol), a scholarly journal devoted to papyrology, published in Messina. 2002: "Carteggi di filologi", which edits letters of classical scholars, including that of Domenico Comparetti.

In the period 2001-2025 he was director of "Aegyptus", the scholarly journal of egyptology and papyrology published by the Catholic University of Milan. In 2012, a Festschrift was edited to celebrate his 65th birthday.

Prizes

2004: Praemium Classicum Clavarense. 2007: Anassilaos Prize for classical scholarship. 2017: Golden medalist of the Associazione Italiana di Cultura Classica.

Research activity Although some of his early publications technically pertain to the field of Byzantine and Renaissance lexicography, Pintaudi is primarily a papyrologist and an archaeologist. He has restored, edited and published Greek papyri from Italian and European collections, including Florence, London, Vatican City and Prague. He has edited four volumes of papyri of the Laurentian Library and one of the Papiri della Società Italiana, the archive of Aphrodito (from papyri kept at the Vatican Library), three volumes of papyri of the Karl Wessely collection of Prague, two of the Greek papyri of the Martin Schøyen collection (London – Oslo), a volume of ostraka from the Cairo Egyptian Museum (co-edited with Claudio Gallazzi and Klaas Worp) and two of ostraka from Medinet Madi – the second one as a two-parts article published in the scientific journal Chronique d'Égypte –, and a volume of waxed and wooden tablets; additionally, two papyrological miscellanies, three papyrological Festschriften and several pieces published in scholarly journals such as the Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. Furthermore, he co-edited the catalogue of the Ashburnham manuscripts in the Laurentian library.

In 2010, he promoted and edited the Italian translation of Ulrich Wilcken's Introduction to Papyrology. He also researched the history of his discipline and in he published an important essay on the history of Papyrology in Italy, which started a series of further researches by Pintaudi and others. Other than the 24 volumes (as of 2022) of the "Carteggi di Filologi" series – two of which co-edited by Pintaudi himself –, several minor letter collections were mainly published through «APapyrol», by Pintaudi and others.

In 2000, he and Edda Bresciani re-opened the archaeological mission in Antinoöpolis, at the same time continuing the excavations at Medinet Madi (Narmouthis) until 2007. In 2000 he founded the Accademia Fiorentina di Papirologia e Studi sul Mondo Anrico, a private organization which helps the University of Florence and the Laurentian Library in promoting papyrology in Florence.

As of 2022, he has published more than 600 scholarly works in the field of papyrology. In his earlier years, he occasionally wrote on the classical tradition and the reception of classical literature in Italian Renaissance and on the history of Italian libraries.

Selected works

Monographs

Laurentian Papyri and PSI

Schøyen Papyri (London – Oslo)

Wessely Papyri (Prague)

Ostraka from Cairo and Medinet Madi.

Other papyrological monographs (tablets, Festschriften, miscellanies, Wilcken)

Archaeological reports.

History of papyrology and philology and «Carteggi di Filologi»

Catalogue of the Ashburnham manuscripts of the Laurentian Library

Selected papers