La tradizione manoscritta delle epigrafi latine di Tarentum

Manuscripts with texts of Tarantine inscriptions date back to the 15th and 17th centuries and contain transcriptions by foreign and local scholars. The oldest manu- script containing Tarentine inscriptions is the Marucellian Code A 79 1, followed by the Vat. lat. 6039, 5237, 5241. In particular, the Vat. lat. 5241 preserves a trace of A. Paglia’s research on the impulse of Aldo Manuzio the Younger. However, also local scholars dealt with Latin inscriptions in their works: among these we note Giovanni Giovine and Ambrogio Merodio. Merodio’s transcriptions were inadvertently used by Mommsen, through the work of the Abbot Pacichelli. Most of the few inscriptions reproduced in the manuscript tradition (eight epitaphs and two honorary dedications) are now lost and were originally found in churches where they had been reused as spolia