La definizione «spaccato» negli Inventari e nei Cataloghi dei Papiri Ercolanesi

This work aims to investigate the meaning of the definition «spaccato», which occurs for the first time in Piaggio’s Memorie and in the most ancient Inventory of the Herculaneum Papyri. Along with the detailed examination of the documents showing the term, the morphological analysis of the papyri recorded as «spaccato» and «spaccato per mezzo» has revealed in 1823, 1824, and 1853 Inventories a technical sense of these wordings, which cannot be found in later inventories. As already in Piaggio, the term is closely related to the well-known practice of opening the rolls by cutting them along the length, inaugurated by Paderni.