Disjecta membra

[3] In full, the term originally appeared as Invenias etiam disiecti membra poetae, in reference to the earlier Roman poet Ennius.

[4] Although Horace's intended meaning remains the subject of speculation and debate, the passage is often taken to imply that if a line from poetry were torn apart and rearranged, the dismembered parts of the poet would still be recognisable.

[5] In this sense, in the study of literature, disjecta membra is often used to describe the piecing together of ancient fragments of an identifiable literary source.

[6] Scholars have long referred to sherds of ancient Greek pottery as disjecta membra.

They have studied fragments of ancient Greek pottery in institutional collections, and have attributed many such pieces to the artists who made them.