La tentation de Byzance. Réflexions sur les inscriptions byzantines vues de la Latinité

International audienceAs its title indicates, the following short paper does not aim to oppose Latin and Byzantine inscriptions. On the contrary, it would like to highlight some common features of epigraphic practices across medieval Europe, and to erase the artificial separations established by scholarly traditions during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Nor does it aim to promote the existence of an epi-graphic koinè throughout the continent without taking into account the linguistic, social and religious specificities of both the Western Middle Ages and Byzantium. This paper however intends to underline the need for methodological collaborations and the importance of an intellectual dialogue among Latin and Byzantine epigraphists in order to highlight the richness and specificities of epigraphic practices in the large and long context of medieval written culture