Medea Vittoria Irma Norsa (1877–1952) was an Italian
papyrologist
Papyrology is the study of manuscripts of ancient literature, correspondence, legal archives, etc., preserved on portable media from antiquity, the most common form of which is papyrus, the principal writing material in the ancient civilizations ...
and
philologist
Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...
. She headed the
Istituto Papirologico Girolamo Vitelli in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
from 1935 to 1949.
Early life and education
Norsa was born to Michele Norsa and Silvia Vittoria Krosna in
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...
on 26 August 1877,
the oldest of four children.
She was christened Medea Vittoria Irma on 16 September 1877.
After Silvia's death in 1886, her father married Caterina Giovanna Furlani in 1894 and had three more children.
Norsa's heritage has been discussed by several scholars: Antonio Carlini calls her father Jewish,
[Carlini, Antonio (2019). 'Medea Norsa e Vittorio Bartoletti alla Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa,' in Munitoli, D. (ed.). ''Ricordo di Vittorio Bartoletti a Cinquant'Anni dalla Scomparsa (1967-2017). Atti della Giornata di Studio (Firenze, 5 dicembre 2017).'' Florence: Accademia Fiorentina di Papirologia e di Studi sul Mondo Antico, pp.21-34.] while Gino Bandelli describes her father's family as having ceased all relations with the local Jewish community in the Austro-Hungarian empire after the mid-1800s.
Her father's family is thought to have hailed originally from
Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...
.
Norsa studied at a girls' school in Trieste from 1891 and took the ''
maturità
or its translated terms (''Mature'', ''Matur'', , , , , , ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czec ...
'' exam in classics in 1900 at another school in
Koper
Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...
.
She then left for university in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, initially to study Italian literature.
[Criscuolo, Lucia]
Biography of Medea Norsa
/ref> However, she then moved to the Istituto di Studi Superiori in Florence in 1901 after one year in Vienna. Norsa's year in Vienna and subsequent transfer to an Italian university was likely reflective of typical behaviour by Italian scholars in the Austro-Hungarian empire
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
, to which Trieste belonged at the time. In 1906, she earned a degree in literature with full marks from the University of Florence, with a dissertation on Sophocles
Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...
' '' Ajax'' and Aeschylus
Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...
' ''Seven Against Thebes
The Seven against Thebes were seven champions in Greek mythology who made war on Thebes. They were chosen by Adrastus, the king of Argos, to be the captains of an Argive army whose purpose was to restore Oedipus' son Polynices to the Theban th ...
''.
In December 1906, she began to collaborate with her mentor Girolamo Vitelli and obtained a diploma from the school of palaeography
Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") ...
, still at the Istituto di Studi Superiori.
Career
Between 1907 and 1911, Norsa returned to Trieste and worked as a teacher at her former school. In this period, she also published part of her university dissertation in the school's journal.
In 1911, Norsa returned to Florence to work with Vitelli on the first volume of ''Papiri Greci e Latini della Società Italiana'' (PSI), which was published in 1912. Their ongoing collaboration continued up to Vitelli's death in 1935, and resulted in 11 volumes of the series.
For much of her career, Norsa continued to teach, first in ''licei classici'' in towns in Tuscany, then in Florence where she also obtained a university teaching post in classical papyrology in 1924.
Norsa was made conservator of the papyrus collection at the University of Florence in 1925. From 1926 until the beginning of the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, she travelled to Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
regularly to acquire papyri and participate in excavation campaigns. In 1935, she succeeded Vitelli as head of the Istituto Papirologico at the same university, which took on its founder's name to become the Istituto Papirologico Girolamo Vitelli. Norsa remained in the position of Institute head until 1949, overseeing excavations at Antinoopolis and another two fascicules of the ''PSI''.
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
directed against Norsa under Italian fascism made her stint as Institute head difficult. Mario Capasso
is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...
has argued that the reason for her not having been appointed professor at the University of Florence during this period was that the university considered her Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. The publication of some tables of literary papyri, originally intended to be published by the Institute of Classical Philology at Sapienza University of Rome, was repeatedly put off due to the insistence of Vincenzo Ussani, the institute director, on first clarifying Norsa's racial status. The tables were eventually published by the Scuola Normale Superiore
The Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa (commonly known in Italy as "la Normale") is a public university in Pisa and Florence, Tuscany, Italy, currently attended by about 600 undergraduate and postgraduate (PhD) students.
It was founded in 1810 wi ...
in Pisa
Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
. Norsa's application to visit Egypt for the second season of the Antinoopolis excavation in 1939 prompted an enquiry by the government into her racial status, meaning she was not able to go. The enquiry eventually declared her race to be ''mista non ebrea'' (mixed, not Jewish).
During her time at the Institute, Norsa played a key role in the acquisition of further papyri and ostraka, using funds offered by Enrico Rostagno, and maintained a network of other papyrologists and antiquities dealers.[Keenan, James G. (2009). 'The History of the Discipline' in: Bagnall, R. (ed.) ''The Oxford Handbook of Papyrology''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.] She is credited with the recognition and publication, in 1937, of a fragment of Sappho
Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...
found on an ostracon (Sappho 2
Sappho 2 is a fragment of a poem by the archaic Greek lyric poet Sappho. In antiquity it was part of Book I of the Alexandrian edition of Sappho's poetry. Sixteen lines of the poem survive, preserved on a potsherd discovered in Egypt and first ...
), and with the acquisition for the Institute of a papyrus copy of Callimachus
Callimachus (; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works in a wide variety ...
' ''Lock of Berenike'' (''PSI'' IX, 1092).
In 1947–8, Norsa stepped down as head of the papyrology course at the University of Florence and was replaced by Vittorio Bartoletti, another student of Vitelli. She retired from the position of head of the Istituto Papirologico in 1949, and was made the honorary president of the Association Internationale de Papyrologie in the same year.
Later life
Norsa's house had been bombed in March 1944 during the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, destroying all of her books and papers and killing her sister-in-law, Eugenia. Unable to afford any rebuilding work, she spent the rest of her life as a temporary guest first at the Laurentian Library
The Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana or BML) is a historic library in Florence, Italy, containing more than 11,000 manuscripts and 4,500 early printed books. Built in a cloister of the Medicean Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze ...
, then at various religious institutions. She suffered a stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
in 1947 and then a period of ill health that prompted her gradual retirement from teaching and leadership of the Institute.
The last three years of Norsa's life were spent at a care home run by Dominican nuns. She died in Florence on 28 July 1952, aged 74.
Posthumous legacy
In 1993, a posthumous festschrift
In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
was published in her honour entitled ''Omaggio a Medea Norsa'', edited by Mario Capasso.
In 2008, the Centro Papirologico "Medea Norsa" was founded by Silvia Strassi at the University of Trieste, named after Norsa. This moved to the Accademia Fiorentina di Papirologia e di Studi sul Mondo Antico in Florence in 2014.
Select bibliography
* (with Girolamo Vitelli) ''Papiri greci e latini'', I-XIII, Firenze 1912–1953.
* 'La collezione fiorentina di papiri greci e latini,' ''Atene e Roma'', n.s. 2., 1921, pp. 202–207.
* ''Papiri greci e collezioni italiane: scritture documentarie''. Roma 1929–1933.
*(with Girolamo Vitelli) ', Città del Vaticano, 1931.
*(with Girolamo Vitelli) ''Frammenti di scolii agli Aitia di Callimaco.' ''Bulletin de la Société Royale d'Archéologie d'Alexandrie'' 28, 1933, pp. 123–132.
*(with Girolamo Vitelli) ''Diegeseis di poemi di Callimaco in un papiro di Tebtynis'', Firenze 1934.
*'Un frammento di fisica aristotelica in un papiro fiorentino,' ''Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa'' 7, 1938, pp. 1–12.
* ''La scrittura letteraria greca dal secolo IV A.C. all’VIII D.C''., Firenze 1939.
*'Due frammenti fiorentini del papiro di Bacchilide ''P.Brit.Mus''. 733. Una circolare ai pagarchoi della Tebaide del secolo VIII,' ''Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa'' 10, 1941, pp. 155–170.
* ''Un frammento del Romanzo di Nino,' in ''Scritti dedicati alla memoria di Ippolito Rosellini nel primo centenario della morte (4 giugno 1943)'', Firenze, 1945, pp. 191–197.
* ''Papiri greci delle collezioni italiane. Scritture documentarie dal III sec. a.C. al sec. VIII d.C.'', Roma, 1946.
* 'Papiro Vaticano greco n. 2037A,' ''Aegyptus'' 32, 1952, pp. 232–240.
References
External links
Medea Norsa biography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norsa, Medea
Italian papyrologists
Italian philologists
Women philologists
1877 births
1952 deaths
Italian women archaeologists
Women classical scholars
Writers from Trieste
Italian people of Jewish descent