Author’s Prologue
copiesofasingleoriginaltext),andtheSenatusConsultumdeCn.Pisonepatre.^46
Iamnotsurewhethertobeencouragedordiscouragedbythereflectionthat
nearlyallofwhatIhavewrittenontheearlyimperialregimewillhaveto
bereadinfutureaspre-datingtheneweracreatedbythesetexts.
In‘‘inscriptions’’suchasthese,thebarrierbetween‘‘literature’’and‘‘docu-
ments’’essentiallydissolves,andweareforciblyremindedthatalldocuments,
eventhemostapparentlysimple(whichthesearedecidedlynot),arecon-
structswithalogicandrhetoricoftheirown.Butthatreflectionbringsus
backtothecentralpointoftheobservationsinthisprologue.Thatistosay
thatwhatwearepleasedtocall‘‘ancienthistory’’ismeaningfulandintelli-
gibletouspreciselybecauseitissorecent,andbecauseweareineverysense
soclosetoit.Aboveall,ahugeandever-growingstockofwordswrittenin
classicalantiquity,inscriptsandlanguageswhichhaveremainedfullyacces-
sibleeversince,isavailableforustoread.Muchthesameistrueoftheartand
iconography,thecoinswithlegendsandimages,andthearchitecturalstyles
and the urban plans which characterised Graeco-Roman civilisation.That
mayseemrewarding,andinmanysensesitis,aboveallifwetakewithinour
viewalsoJewishtradition,culture,andbelief,andfollowtheemergenceof
Christian monotheism from within the context of Graeco-Roman pagan-
ism.Butallthisprofusionofevidencenecessarilytendstoobscurefromus
thefactthatwhatwecanencounterbythesemeansisthehistoryofacul-
ture,ratherthanthewholehistoryofahumansociety,orratherofasetof
linkedsocieties,overmanycenturies.Inthepresentstate—andallimagin-
ablefuturestates—ofourknowledgeof humanhistoryinthelongperiod
andthevariedregionswhichwelabelthe‘‘ancient’’or‘‘classical’’or‘‘Graeco-
Roman’’world,wejusthavetoacceptthataverylargepartofitisbeyondour
grasp.Butwhatwecangraspisenormouslyrichandvaried,andincreasing
everyday.
FergusMillar
. For theTabula SiarensisandtheTabula Hebana,wecannowrefertotheeditionin
M.Crawford(n.),no./.Itremainsthecasethatthejointtextstillneedsdetailedstudy
frommanypointsofview—linguistic,institutional,cultural,andpolitical.FortheSenatus
consultumallthatisalreadyprovided,intheexemplarypublicationbyW.Eck,A.Caballos,
andF.Fernández,Das Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone Patre(),withthereviewarticle
byM.Griffin,‘‘TheSenate’sStory,’’JRS():,andthespecialissueoftheAmerican
Journal of Philology,editedbyC.DamonandS.Takács,The Senatus Consultum de Cn. Pisone
Patre,AJPh,no.().