Taught MA – Seminar 9
Local cultures
AEC 02/16
Taught MA – Epigraphy
Seminar 9 – Regional Epigraphic Cultures in the Roman World
The aim of this seminar is to allow us to revisit some of the types of inscription studied
earlier in the module, in order to focus upon the question of the extent to which a
homogeneous epigraphic culture emerged throughout the Roman world. This is not just
applicable to the provinces within Rome’s empire, but also to the peninsula of Italy itself,
whose regions arguably retained their own distinctive identity and culture.
Some questions to think about:
 How important is regionalism in determining the types of inscription set up?
 Should we look for distinctiveness in areas as large as a province, or a town and
its territory, or an individual unit such as a particular rural shrine?
 Consider whether certain types of monuments are more likely than others to be
regional in character (think perhaps about tombstones, religious dedications,
honorific statue bases, and building inscriptions).
 Is there variety within a region depending upon who (whether individual or
group) is setting up the inscription?
 Do inscriptions concerned with the central authorities at Rome tend to be
homogeneous in language and monumental format?
 What factors lie behind the choice of language(s) in inscriptions?
 Do we find more homogeneity in language than in monumental format? How
widespread are particular epigraphic formulae? To what extent do local languages
survive both in Italy and in different areas of the empire?
 What contribution do bilingualism and multilingualism play in creating distinctive
localised epigraphic cultures?
Fundamental reading:
Bruun, C. & Edmondson, J., eds (2015) The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy chapter 8 ‘The “epigraphic habit” in the Roman world’
Carroll, M. (2006) Spirits of the Dead: Roman funerary commemoration in Western
Europe (OUP) [DG 103.C2] ch. 5, 9
Cooley, A.E. ed. (2003) Becoming Roman, Writing Latin?: literacy and epigraphy in
the Roman west (esp. intro, Afterword by Woolf, Edmondson on
Lusitania)
@MacMullen, R. (1966) ‘Provincial languages in the Roman empire’, AJPhil 87: 1-14
Parca, M. (2001) ‘Local languages and native cultures’, in Bodel, J. ed. Epigraphic
Evidence 57-94
Woolf, G. (1994) chapter on Gaul in Literacy and Power in the Ancient World eds A.K.
Bowman & G. Woolf
Bilingualism/ Multilingualism
Adams, J. & Swain, S. (2002) ‘Introduction’ in Bilingualism in Ancient Society:
Language Contact and the Written Word, eds J.N. Adams, M. Janse, S.
Swain pp.1-22
Adams, J.N. (2003) Bilingualism and the Latin Language [PA 2057.A3]
Adams, J.N. (2007) The Regional Diversification of Latin 200 BC-AD 600 [PA 2057.A3]
Taught MA – Seminar 9
Local cultures
AEC 02/16
Cooley, A.E. (2012) Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy section 2.5.2
@Mullen, A. (2013) Southern Gaul and the Mediterranean. Multilingualism and
Multiple Identities in the Iron Age and Roman Periods [e-book]
Case-studies
1. Italy
Bruun, C. & Edmondson, J., eds (2015) The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy ‘Local languages in Italy and the West’
Cooley, A.E. ed. (2003) Becoming Roman, Writing Latin?: literacy and epigraphy in the
Roman west (chapters by Cooley on Oscan, Haussler on n. Italy)
Crawford, M.H. (1996) ‘Italy and Rome from Sulla to Augustus’, CAH X (2nd edn)
pp.414-33
Keay, S. & Terrenato, N. (2001) Italy and the West: comparative issues in romanization
– chapter by Benelli
Leiwo, M. (2002) ‘From Contact to Mixture: Bilingual Inscriptions from Italy’, in
Bilingualism in Ancient Society: Language Contact and the Written Word,
eds J.N. Adams, M. Janse, S. Swain pp.168-96
Lomas, K. (1993) Rome and the Western Greeks, 350 B.C. - A.D. 200: Conquest and
Acculturation in Southern Italy [DG 55.M3] esp. chapters 8-10
Wallace-Hadrill, A. (2008) Rome’s Cultural Revolution (CUP)
2. Britain
@Adams, J. N. (1992) ‘British Latin: the text, interpretation and language of the Bath
curse tablets’, Britannia 23: 1-26
(1995) ‘The Latin of the Vindolanda writing tablets,’ JRS 85: 86-134
Blagg, T.F.C. (1990) ‘Architectural munificence in Britain: the evidence of inscriptions’,
Britannia 21: 13-31
Hope, V. (1997) ‘Words and Pictures: the Interpretation of Romano-British Tombstones’
Britannia 28: 245-58
3. Tripolitania (esp. Lepcis Magna and Bu Njem)
@Adams, J.N. (1994) ‘Latin and Punic in contact? The case of the Bu Njem ostraca’. JRS
84: 87-112
@(1999) ‘The Poets of Bu Njem: Language, Culture and the Centurionate’, JRS
89: 109-34
Cooley, A.E. (2012) Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy section 2.4
@Millar, F. (1968) ‘Local cultures in the Roman empire: Libyan, Punic, and Latin in
Roman Africa’, JRS 58: 126-34
Whittaker, C.R. (1996) ‘Roman Africa: Augustus to Vespasian’, in CAH X (2nd edn) esp.
pp.610ff
@Wilson, A. (2012) ‘Neo-Punic and Latin inscriptions in Roman North Africa’ in
Mullen & James, eds. Multilingualism in the Graeco-Roman Worlds [e-book]
Taught MA – Seminar 9
Local cultures
AEC 02/16
4. Syria (esp. Palmyra)
Butcher, K. (2003) Roman Syria pp. 283-89 [DG 59.S9]
@Cotton, H M (1995) 'The Archive of Salome Komaise, Daughter of Levi', ZPE 105:
206 ff.
Kaizer, T. (2002) The Religious Life of Palmyra [BL 1640.K35]
Millar, F. (1983) 'The Phoenician Cities: a case-study of Hellenisation', PCPhS: 55-71
[Arts Periodical]
(1987) 'Empire, Community and Culture in the Roman Near East', Journal of
Jewish Studies 38: 143-164 [Arts Periodical]
(1993) Roman Near East, (espec. on monumental Aramaic inscriptions in
Palmyra; pp.225-35) [DS 62.1.M4 + e-book]
Sartre, M. (2005) The Middle East Under Rome chapter 9 [DS 62.1.S2]
@Segal, J.B. (1954) 'Some Syriac Inscriptions of the 2nd-3rd Century AD', Bulletin of
School of Oriental & African Studies 16:13-36
Smith, A.M. (2013) Roman Palmyra: Identity, Community, and State Formation
Taylor, D.G.K. (2002) ‘Bilingualism and Diglossia in Late Antique Syria and
Mesopotamia’ in Bilingualism in Ancient Society: Language Contact and
the Written Word, eds J.N. Adams, M. Janse, S. Swain