Rome, the Greek World, and the East, Vol. 1 - The Roman Republic and the Augustan Revolution

Epigraphy 

Forthesereasonsitisthereadingofinscriptions,evenmorethanofpapyri,
whichwillprovidetheessentialdirectacquaintance,the‘‘feel’’forancient
society,withoutwhichtheformulationofprecisehistoricalquestionsorhy-
pothesesisanemptyexercise,indeedcannotproperlyproceedatall.Butas
soonasastudentdoesformulateanyspecificquestion,eveninthevaguest
outline,heorshewillwanttobeabletotracealltherelevantevidence.Itis
herethatthedifficultiesbegin,andsomeofthemarefundamental.Firstly,it
isabundantlyclearthatonlyaverylimitedrangeofhumanactivityandex-
perienceformedthesubjectmatterofinscribedmaterial.Literature,archae-
ology, numismatics,or papyrology may in certain cases provide an intelli-
giblecontextwhichtheinscriptions,inspiteoftheexplicitcharacterofthe
evidencetheyprovide,donot.Butepigraphycanneverescapefromtheco-
nundrumposedbyallthevast,varied,butirremediablypartialevidencesur-
vivingfromtheancientworld:howarewetoconstructanintelligibleand
notgrosslymisleadingframeworkwithinwhichtointerpretthatfragmen-
taryevidencewhichdoeshappentobelefttousfromantiquity?
Thatbringsustothesecondproblem.Whatwasoriginallyinscribedwas
inevitablypartialinwhatitchosetopresenttothecontemporaryreader;but
whathappenstohavesurvivedhappenstohavebeenseenorexcavatedinthe
modernworld,andhappenssubsequentlytohavebeenpublished—acon-
sequencewhichmayfollowverybelatedlyornotatall—isinfinitelymore
partial.Inseekingtogather‘‘alltheevidence’’onaparticularpointweareat
bestsummingupaminutesub-categoryofvariousinfinitelyrecedinglarger
categories.Butcanwedoeventhat?Giventhemultiplicityofformsof‘‘pub-
lication,’’whichincludelocalantiquarianjournalswhichneverreachawider
market, it is in fact never possible to be certain that all the published evi-
dencehasbeencollected.Butsomeapproximationtothiscanbeachievedby
reading—andusingtheindexesof—thethreemajorannual(ormoreorless
annual)surveysofGreekandLatinepigraphy:theSupplementum Epigraphi-
cum Graecum(SEG),published,withinterruptions,since,anddesigned
toreproducetextsofnewGreekinscriptionsandnoteimprovementsinones
alreadyknown;L’Année Épigraphique(AE),publishedsinceanddevoted
tothereproductionofthetextsofnewLatininscriptionsandofGreekones
relevant to Roman history; and, above all, theBulletin Épigraphique(BEor
Bull.Épig.),asurveyandanalysisofGreekinscriptions,publishedintheRevue
des Études Grecques.FromonwardsthislastwastheworkofJeanneand
LouisRobert,andithasbeen—andwillremain—essentialreadingforany-
onewhowishestounderstandGreekcivilisationasitwasinantiquity,above
allinthepost-classicalperiodandinAsiaMinor(present-dayTurkey),the
focusoftheRoberts’owninterests.ToreadtheBulletin Épigraphiqueisprob-