Inscriptions 177with Latin but also with Greek inscriptions (other languages were seldom used for
inscriptions referring to religion and cults until the late empire – the case of Egypt
is a special one). Accordingly, we have to discuss not only the gods of the Greek
and Roman pantheons, but also the Near Eastern ones and the huge mass of regional
and local ones. If we define our subject in such a way (cf. Cancik and Rüpke 1997,
2003) there are almost no comparable introductions. Certainly, all introductions to
Greek or Latin epigraphy normally have a chapter about “dedicatory inscriptions”
(e.g. Guarducci 1967–77: II 121ff., III 1ff.; Schmidt 2004: 44ff.). But they take a
linguistic phenomenon and not the historical reality as the starting point for their
remarks. Only recently some very short attempts in a new direction have been made
(Rives 2001: 126ff.; cf. Corbier 1998: 97ff.; see also Rüpke 2005a: 1501–16). Given
this traditional proceeding, it goes without saying that a different approach in this
field cannot pretend to give a complete and exhaustive overview for the time being.
Secondly, we have to deal with various kinds of epigraphical evidence. On the
one hand, some inscriptions preserved texts which originally were written on other
materials, as for example on wooden tablets (Eck 1998), papyrus, or parchment. These
texts – as for example sacred laws (ILS4906 –16), the commentariiof the fratres
Arvales, the decisions of Roman priests (ILS4175, 8380) or of authorities concerning
religious matters (Haensch 2006), municipal decrees referring to religious matters
(ILS112, 154), calendars, ritual texts (ILS112, 4907), inventories (ILS4423, 4921),
lists of participants in a cult – were originally not conceived as inscriptions. There-
fore, the texts are often long and of a more literary nature than the great majority
of inscriptions.
The most important group of those inscriptions were the so-called dedications,
that is, the tens of thousands of inscriptions on dedicated monumental objects such
as temples, altars, statues, vases, etc., or referring to these things. The first examples
date as far back as early republican times (see for example ILS 2988 =CIL 12 .1439;
cf. pp. 840, 987 and AE1979, 136 =CIL 12 .2832a with Beard et al. 1998: 17f.
and now Hartmann 2005: 138ff., 200f., 213, 260f.). In ancient times, there were
probably even more graffiti and other painted inscriptions of a religious nature
(see for example Pliny, Epist.8.8.7; Beard et al. 1998: 316ff.; Geraci 1971; Scheid
2005b: 219), which got lost without doubt more easily than the monumental stone
inscriptions. The same is true for inscriptions on wood (Scheid 2005b) and on metal
objects, which were often melted down (e.g. CIL 12 .383 =ILS6132 from Firmum
Picenum; RIB218 from Britain; ILS1010 from Germania Superior; CIL5.6881
from the St. Bernhard). The number of tomb inscriptions is even higher than that
of the dedications. We find reflections of religious convictions in their texts, but in
a very indirect way only, and often of such a kind that we cannot decide if we are
confronted only with a formula or with the result of a conscious conviction.
Calendars
During the high empire, the number of inscriptions that hand down Latin texts
referring to religious matters, originally not intended for publication as monumental