Conceptions and Sources
newsections,foundatCnidus,oftheRoman‘‘piratelaw’’ofcirca..^100
Asnotedearlier(textton.)theimportantnewseriesofrepublicandocu-
mentsinGreekfromAphrodisiasalsobringsextensivefurtherevidence,and
furtherproblems.But,themajorindividualdocumentsapart,thereareonly
limitedcategoriesofinscriptionswhichareimportantforthehistoryofthe
Republic.Onesuchcategory,whichisbestconsideredasbeingevencloser
toliteraturethanmostothers,isthehistorical(orpseudo-historical)inscrip-
tionsputupinRomeandrepresentingoneaspectoftheAugustanrevival:
the lists (fasti) of the pairs of consuls since the beginning of the Republic
andofthetriumphatores(the generals who celebrated a triumph in Rome);
andalsotheelogia(eulogies)recordingtheachievementsofthegreatmilitary
commandersoftheRepublic,whichweredesignedtoaccompanythestatues
ofthesemenputupintheForumofAugustus.^101 Ascontemporaryproducts,
directdocumentaryparallelstotheliteraryworksofVirgilandLivy,these
areofgreatinterest.As‘‘documentary’’attestationsofallegedhistoricalfacts
theirstatuscannotbeanyhigherthanthatoftheliterarysourcesofthesame
period.
The epigraphic record of the Roman Republic in the provinces is still
sparse,except—asalways—intheGreekEast,^102 anditisperhapsonlyinthe
rapidly developing epigraphic material of Italy, which can be followed in
theannualsurvey‘‘Rivistadiepigrafiaitalica,’’publishedsinceinStudi
Etruschi,thatitisbeginningtobepossibletotracemajorthemes(cf.alsotext
ton.).
Itisoneofthemostmarkedfeaturesofthecultureoftheimperialperiod
thatthissituationaltersprogressively.IntheEast,asmentionedearlier,the
massofcityinscriptionscontinuesasbefore,closelyassociated,aboveallin
thesecondcentury..,withveryextensivepublicbuilding.Fromthefirst
century..onwardsthesameistrueofLatin-speakingNorthAfrica,con-
trastingsharplywiththealmosttotalabsenceofepigraphicrecordfromthe
firstoneandahalfcenturiesofRomanrulethere.Itisobviousthatinagen-
. M.Hassall,M.Crawford,andJ.Reynolds,‘‘RomeandtheEasternProvincesatthe
EndoftheSecondCenturyB.C.,’’JRS():.Forsubsequentdiscussions,seethe
surveybyJ.Reynolds,M.Beard,R.Duncan-Jones,andC.Roueché,‘‘RomanInscriptions,
–,’’JRS():.
. CollectedandeditedinA.Degrassi,Inscriptiones ItaliaeXIII.:Fasti consulares et tri-
umphales(Rome,);XIII.:Elogia(Rome,).
. Note, e.g., K.Tuchelt,Frühe Denkmäler Roms in Kleinasien: Beiträge zur archäologi-
schen Überlieferung aus der Zeit der Republik und des AugustusI:Roma und Promagistrate(Tubin-
gen,);R.Mellor,ΘΕΑ ̔ΡΩΜΗ:The Worship of the Goddess Roma in the Greek World
(Göttingen,).