Latin Epigraphy Research Articles

INHABITING A LETTERED WORLD: EXPLORING THE FRINGES OF ROMAN WRITING HABITS

Abstract Based on a survey of the evidence for perishable and liminal Roman material writing habits that might appropriately be described as ‘fringe epigraphy’, this paper invites a conceptual re-evaluation of writing and the role of letters, words, and texts – including their perception – in the Roman world. It thus challenges recent attempts of an all too narrow disciplinary, institutional view of what might constitute Latin epigraphy. Much rather, it is argued, it seems appropriate to think of the Roman world as a fundamentally lettered one – a world that is not only described and perceived, but, in actual fact, even imagined and explained in such terms, allowing for fluid transitions from monumental to informal, from serious and communication-driven to playful, pointless, and sensational, and ultimately from real to imagined.

(J.) Bodel and (N.) Dimitrova Eds Ancient Documents and their Contexts: First North American Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy (Brill Studies in Greek and Roman Epigraphy 5). Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2014. Pp xv + 333. €123. 9789004269309.

(J.) Bodel and (N.) Dimitrova Eds Ancient Documents and their Contexts: First North American Congress of Greek and Latin Epigraphy (Brill Studies in Greek and Roman Epigraphy 5). Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2014. Pp xv + 333. €123. 9789004269309.

CLaSSES: a New Digital Resource for Latin Epigraphy

CLaSSES (Corpus for Latin Sociolinguistic Studies on Epigraphic textS) is an annotated corpus aimed at (socio)linguistic research on Latin inscriptions. Provided with linguistic, extra- and meta-linguistic features, it can be used to perform quantitative and qualitative variationist analyses on Latin epigraphic texts. In particular, it allows the user to analyze spelling (and possibly phonetic-phonological) variants and to interpret them with reference to the dating, the provenance place, and the type of the texts. This paper presents the first macro-section of CLaSSES, focused on inscriptions of the archaic and early periods (CLaSSES I).

<em>Socrus non socra (App. Pr.</em> 170). El dossier epigráfico hispánico

The use of socra instead of socrus is common in the Latin epigraphy of the Principate. In the whole Roman Empire, textual evidences of socra/socera surpass the testimonies of socrus . In the light of the expression socrus non socra collected in the Appendix Probi , are discussed the five testimonies of the word socra known today in the Roman inscriptions of the Iberian Peninsula. The article includes a textual correction of a Roman stela from Campo Arcis (Requena, Valencia. Hispania citerior).

Profesionales de la educación en la Hispania romana

La epigrafía latina nos ha legado el recuerdo de doce docentes y un grupo de maestros de escuela en Hispania. Los diferentes textos, la mayoría de carácter funerario y procedente del ámbito urbano, nos aportan información acerca de las funciones que estos profesionales desempeñaron en la sociedad hispana, así como del contexto socio-jurídico del que provenían. En este sentido, la pieza más valiosa es la inscripción dedicada a un gramático llamado L. Memmius Probus en la antigua Tritium Magallum, gracias a la cual conocemos las circunstancias concretas en las que trabajó este educador.

A epígrafe latina como elemento didático (xxxiv): a inscrição neoclássica da mansão Renier, em Creta

A epígrafe latina como elemento didático (xxxiv): a inscrição neoclássica da mansão Renier, em Creta

CLaSSES: a new digital resource for Latin epigraphy

CLaSSES (Corpus for Latin Sociolinguistic Studies on Epigraphic textS) is an annotated corpus aimed at (socio)linguistic research on Latin inscriptions. Provided with linguistic, extra- and meta-linguistic features, it can be used to perform quantitative and qualitative variationist analyses on Latin epigraphic texts. In particular, it allows the user to analyze spelling (and possibly phonetic-phonological) variants and to interpret them with reference to the dating, the provenance place, and the type of the texts. This paper presents the first macro-section of CLaSSES, focused on inscriptions of the archaic and early periods (CLaSSES I).

Book review: The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy, written by Cooley, A.E.

Book review: The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy, written by Cooley, A.E.

A epígrafe latina como elemento didático (XXXIII): o colégio dos sêxviros: religião e poder em evidência

A epígrafe latina como elemento didático (XXXIII): o colégio dos sêxviros: religião e poder em evidência

Opening Address at the Symposium: Epigraphical Evidence for the Formation and Rise of Early Śaivism

In my contribution I note the influence of emergent Latin and Greek epigraphy on the birth of Indian epigraphy as well some differences in the location of inscriptions between ancient Greece and India. Subsequently, I make some observations on the usage of the terms ‘sect’ and ‘sectarian’ in the study of Indian religion.

Los "medici" en la epigrafía de la Hispania romana

Latin epigraphy reveals the existence of twenty-six physicians in Roman Spain who worked in various spheres of activity and specialist areas. Thanks to the information provided by the texts of inscriptions we are able to study matters such as the socio-legal status typical of the persons who carried out this activity, possible improvements in the financial level they may have encountered and the type of displacement inherent in this profession. The greater concentration of inscriptions in ancient Emerita Augusta and Gades leads us to think that these cities may have been important medical centres during the early imperial period in Roman Spain.

L’elogium dans les inscriptions honorifiques de Narbonnaise

The corpus of honorary inscriptions from Gallia Narbonensis includes but a few number of elogia. In other Western provinces, such elogia became rather common in latin epigraphy from the IInd century AD onwards. One may wonder why such a common figure of latin epigraphy is lacking in this particular province. It may be but a case, but evidence driven from ten inscriptions, where something like an elogium does appear, seem to indicate that elogia were not entirely unknown in this province, but found little local echo, and probably under external influences.

Textual Permanence: Roman Elegists and the Epigraphic Tradition by Teresa R. Ramsby

188 PHOENIX chapter reviews inscriptions from Ephesus and E. Forbis-Mazurek's work on honorifics in Italian inscriptions. Morgan includes as a proverb only the material that is overtly marked as such by the ancient reporter (those introduced by "they say.. .")• This efficient criterion ignores questions of form, a difficulty not helped by the decision to exclude the original Greek and Latin. On the other hand, Morgan richly uses papyrological evidence—excellent for her demonstration of the breadth of themes. Her treatment of the practice and pleasure of reading a miscellany is commendable. Much remains to be done, especially in the relation of key terms to popular morality. Abstract virtues are here said to be widely held, demonstrated by a variety of citations, and at the book's end distinguished from philosophical usages. Yet there is hardly any lexicography and scant reference to important, helpful bibliography (more positively, the footnotes are filled with references to the ancient evidence). The TLL, Hellegouarc'h on moral terms, a host of studies on particular terms (e.g., humanitas), any number of studies on the particular authors vital to this study, Phaedrus and Valerius Maximus in particular, are ignored or under-utilized. Habinek on the social meaning of bonus or Henderson on the political and literary context of Phaedrus, for example, cannot be dismissed for tying a moral term to a social group. Their work inter alios has much to say about the structure and categories of understanding and presentation of the authors Morgan is mining. A small example: when Phaedrus uses the word improbus, one cannot decide that he is communicating a popular moral truth about the wicked without considering that the improbi are at least also a literary category. An imperial reader would know Virgil's and Horace's use of the term, and Phaedrus' allusions. And the review of bibliography given in the first chapter is summary. Dover is rightly credited for treating Athenian morality, but he is presented as an item in a list. His contribution or the grounds for real debate and disagreement about moral terms (e.g., Adkins versus Lloyd-Jones) do not emerge. University of Notre Dame W. Martin Bloomer Textual Permanence: Roman Elegists and the Epigraphic Tradition. By Teresa R. Ramsby. London: Duckworth. 2007. Pp. ix, 197. Sexy was perhaps one of the last adjectives many classicists would have reached for in past years to describe Latin epigraphy. The worm, however, has turned. Today a growing number of individuals conducting research in different fields within Roman studies have begun to rely on inscriptions as a fundamental component of their work. This in part stems from, and in turn contributes to, a more integrated approach to our interpretation of ancient culture. But it also no doubt develops from a renewed and growing recognition, especially among the previously neglectful, of the numerous ways inscriptions intersect with various aspects of Roman culture. Ramsby's study of the use of inscriptions by Roman elegists is an important contribution to this larger trend. Over the course of six chapters she explores the role and function of epitaphs, votive inscriptions, graffiti, and tituli in the works of Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, and, at greatest length, Ovid. In her introduction and first chapter Ramsby reviews the relevant historical background for an analysis of elegy and inscribed text and establishes the theoretical foundations of her study. The defining characteristic of Ramsby's approach is her emphasis on the need to understand these literary inscriptions within the context of contemporary Roman culture. She fully acknowledges the debts Roman elegists owed to hellenistic poets in the matter of BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 189 inscribed verses, but also rightly argues that we must interpret examples provided by Latin authors within the framework of why and for what ends Romans of the late republic and early principate employed inscriptions. This viewpoint, Ramsby argues, helps to reveal the extent to which the use of inscriptions by the elegists reflects Roman social practice. Her analysis of Catullus and Propertius in Chapter Two provides specifics and fleshes out her approach. In her discussion of Catullus 65 and 68a-b, for instance, Ramsby illustrates how the poet's incorporation of epitaphic elements, particularly...

Latin Epigraphy, an interdisciplinary approach to the ancient world

Conference Report. Instrumenta Inscripta Latina, Austria, May 5th to 8th, 2005.

Inviter Les Dieux, Sacrifier, Banqueter: Quelques Nuances de la Religiosité Gréco-Romaine

Nous sommes dans le monde gréco-romain, sous l'Empire ; dans laClé des songe. d'Artémidore, un passage qui n'a pas retenu l'attention nous fait decouvrir une pratique de piete curieuse : ceux qui en avaient les moyens offraient des sacrifices aux dieux, mais ils pouvaient également les recevoir à leur table. Voila une religion où on traite la divinité comme on traite les humains ; en latin, « inviter un dieu »(inuitare deum. est une expression usuelle. Des rites publics beaucoup plus anciens en sont proches, les théoxénies grecques ou les lectisternes romains, où des dieux étaient conviés à venir se restaurer ; nous nous interrogerons aussi sur certains « repas de dieux » dont parle une fois Horace. Ce sont quelques-unes de ces transpositions métaphoriques de I'ordre humain à I'ordre divin qui sont la voie de la création religieuse avant l'age de la théologie métaphysique.

Monumental Writing and the Expansion of Roman Society in the Early Empire

The vast majority of surviving Roman inscriptions originated in a cultural phenomenon that is characteristic of, and in some senses defines, the early Roman Empire. At the end of the last century B.C. — roughly co-incident, then, with the transition to autocracy, the Roman cultural revolution, and the formative period of provincial cultures throughout the Empire — an epigraphic boom occurred, in Italy and in every province of the Empire. That explosion of new inscriptions, and the subsequent rise and fall of an epigraphic culture, was experienced by eastern and western provinces alike, in Greek as well as in Latin epigraphy. Many regional epigraphies remain to be characterized in terms of their chronology, but such local studies as have been done strongly suggest that, although there was certainly some inter-regional variation in the scale, rate, and timing of this phenomenon, in its broad outlines this pattern was very widespread. Across the entire Empire, the number of inscriptions set up each year began to rise from the Augustan period and increased more and more steeply through the second century. In every region that has been examined in detail, the majority of extant inscriptions were produced in the late second and early third centuries. The peak or turning-point seems to have been reached at slightly different times in each area. But everywhere the subsequent decline was much faster than the original rise, reaching a new low between the middle and the end of the third century A.D. Epigraphy does survive into the fourth century — in most areas of the Empire, if not in most cities — but late imperial inscriptions are very much rarer and differ markedly from early imperial examples in genre, form, and style.

Monumental Writing and the Expansion of Roman Society in the Early Empire

The vast majority of surviving Roman inscriptions originated in a cultural phenomenon that is characteristic of, and in some senses defines, the early Roman Empire. At the end of the last century B.C. — roughly co-incident, then, with the transition to autocracy, the Roman cultural revolution, and the formative period of provincial cultures throughout the Empire — an epigraphic boom occurred, in Italy and in every province of the Empire. That explosion of new inscriptions, and the subsequent rise and fall of an epigraphic culture, was experienced by eastern and western provinces alike, in Greek as well as in Latin epigraphy. Many regional epigraphies remain to be characterized in terms of their chronology, but such local studies as have been done strongly suggest that, although there was certainly some inter-regional variation in the scale, rate, and timing of this phenomenon, in its broad outlines this pattern was very widespread. Across the entire Empire, the number of inscriptions set up each year began to rise from the Augustan period and increased more and more steeply through the second century. In every region that has been examined in detail, the majority of extant inscriptions were produced in the late second and early third centuries. The peak or turning-point seems to have been reached at slightly different times in each area. But everywhere the subsequent decline was much faster than the original rise, reaching a new low between the middle and the end of the third century A.D. Epigraphy does survive into the fourth century — in most areas of the Empire, if not in most cities — but late imperial inscriptions are very much rarer and differ markedly from early imperial examples in genre, form, and style.

Nîmes préromaine : cultes indigènes

Local cults in pre-Roman Nîmes In the Fontaine sanctuary at Nîmes, names of pre-Roman divinities are known either through indigenous Gallo-Greek epigraphy (including a dedication formerly copied by Séguier and here discussed at length) or through Latin epigraphy (as loans — such is the case of "Nemauso" — or as translations — such is the case, here lengthily discussed, of "Proxumis")

Ian Worthington (ed.): Acta of the University of New England (Armidale, Australia): International Seminar on Greek and Latin Epigraphy (12–14 July, 1989). Pp. iv + 214; 8 plates. Bonn: Rudolf Habelt, 1990. Paper.

Ian Worthington (ed.): Acta of the University of New England (Armidale, Australia): International Seminar on Greek and Latin Epigraphy (12–14 July, 1989). Pp. iv + 214; 8 plates. Bonn: Rudolf Habelt, 1990. Paper. - Volume 43 Issue 2

Pervivencia del grafema <i>K</i> en la onomástica latina epigráfica

This paper deals with the constant use of the graphic symbol K in Latin epigraphy over a long period of time (VII-VI B.C.-VII-VIII A.D.). Evidence has been divided in two groups: that which relates to the alphabetical symbol, and that which deals with the letter as the first, the middle or the final syllable of a common or proper name, that are in this case anthroponyms, toponyms, ethnic or theonyms. This study increases the number of names that have so far been recorded in dictionaries, and provides extensive information on their distribution, vowel quantity, as well as on the phonetic, semantic, etymological and chronological fields.