Antiquity Made Whole

Alessandro Barchiesi, NYU Moderated by Ida Caiazza, NYU In ENGLISH Across the European Renaissance, ancient literature circulated in damaged, incomplete, and fragmentary forms. Missing lines, lost endings, and textual gaps were not obstacles to reading the classics; instead, they were invitations to fill in the blanks. Antiquity Made Whole uncovers a neglected literary archive of supplements and continuations, in which authors set out to restore and revive antiquity through creative means. Though often overlooked in studies of classical transmission and reception, supplements appeared in manuscripts and printed books wherever classical literature was studied and published between 1400 and 1700. These texts were closely tied to early classical scholarship, sharing methods and materials with textual criticism, translation, and imitation. By studying ancient writers such as Vergil, Plautus, and Cicero alongside the early modern authors who wrote in the gaps, from Maffeo Vegio to Thomas May, this book reveals how Renaissance readers understood preservation as an active, generative process. Situating supplements within the history of philology and classical reception, Antiquity Made Whole offers a new account of Renaissance classical culture and its afterlives, providing timely insight into contemporary debates about restoration, conservation, and the stewardship of the past.