The editors were right to use the plural ‘epigraphic cultures’ in the title: this much-needed volume deftly portrays the diversity and vitality of inscriptional practice in the late Roman world. The seventeen essays, plus an introduction, include both regional and thematic studies and cover a broad geographical scope, from the Iberian peninsula to the province of Arabia. The volume does not purport to be comprehensive; a map in the introduction (22) helpfully indicates which regions have been left out, notable among which are Egypt, Syria and Britain. The temporal range is primarily from the late third century c.e. to the end of the sixth, with some essays stretching into the eighth and beyond.
The papers are for the most part expansions on those presented at a conference in 2009, with essays submitted in 2010–11 and some subsequently updated. Although the publication of the volume is long overdue, the reader hardly notices the time-lag since, with some exceptions, the bibliographies have been brought up to date and in several instances the approaches of these authors are on the cutting edge of epigraphic studies more broadly, with emphasis laid on the context of the inscribed texts. Written both by well-established scholars in the field of late antique epigraphy and by newcomers, the essays are in English (11), German (4), Italian (1) and French (1) and are divided into three sections: I ‘Regional Studies’, II ‘Genres and Practices’ and III ‘The (New) World of Christian Epigraphy’. As is to be expected, the material covered is mainly that on stone or, on occasion, mosaic. Several papers include appendices with collected data.
The regional studies begin with Christian Witschel's overview of late antique epigraphic culture in the West (33–53), which sets the stage for the following essays dealing with the same area. He offers both quantitative analyses and a consideration of the display of the texts. Judit Végh's entry (55–110) synthesises a great quantity of material from Hispania and offers two in-depth case studies: a comparison between provincial capitals, Tarraco and Augusta Emerita, and a close look at a small town, Myrtillis (Lusitania). Lennart Hildebrand (111–46) asks whether elites in southern Gaul still used inscriptions as a means of representation in Late Antiquity. A descriptive list of civic texts, milestones and Christian inscriptions follows, with a particular analysis of those relating to Rusticus, Bishop of Narbonne. Katharina Bolle (147–212) rounds out the overview of south-western Europe with an in-depth look at the province of Tuscia et Umbria in central Italy. A visual juxtaposition between a second-century Roman bath dedication and a late antique text inscribed on its reverse is particularly innovative. The gradual fading of the habit of erecting inscriptions in public spaces is charted, as is the increased concentration of ‘Inschriftlichkeit’ in Christian contexts (201).
Ignazio Tantillo's contribution (213–70) on North Africa begins with a traditional overview of the number of dedications under each emperor, before forcefully arguing that the type of quantitative analysis he has just offered tells only half the story: at Leptis Magna, a significant percentage of older bases were reused or erased, thereby becoming desemanticised. In the third and fourth centuries, the number of these ‘phantom’ inscriptions was greater than newly carved texts: ‘il tasso di mortalità era più alto di quello di natalità’ (237). Stephen Mitchell (271–86) provides an overview of the burgeoning Christian epigraphic habits of inland Asia Minor and posits that the rigorist sects there created an atmosphere that encouraged the projection of pious Christian identity on gravestones. Leah di Segni (287–320) provides an update to her previous work on the late antique inscriptions of Palaestina and Arabia, with a quantitative analysis showing a peak in the sixth century and a comparison of material from the regions to the east and west of the Jordan.
The second section of the volume, ‘Genres and Practices’, begins with Carlos Machado's inventive exploration of the reuse of statue bases in Italy (323–57). Rather than a sign of decline or decadence, the practice of reuse ‘helped to define a specific epigraphic culture as different from the one that preceded it’ (351). Ulrich Gehn (363–405) gives an art historical analysis of togate statues and their inscribed bases, arguing that those in the West maintained imperial toga types to project the traditional role of the senatorial aristocracy. Silvia Orlandi (277–94) compares honorary texts with earlier Roman ones, identifying a process of ‘rhetoricisation’ in which highly decorative language was used, as opposed to the earlier Roman preference for clarity and concision. Lucy Grig's masterful analysis of the metrical inscriptions of Rome (427–47) pairs nicely with Orlandi's essay: Grig argues that these texts embody the performance of literary culture as an element of cultural capital and an attempt to carve out a place among the increasing number of late Roman senatorial elites, both Christian and pagan. Continuing the theme of epigrams, Erkki Sironen (449–71) documents the use of mythological/historical vocabulary in epigrams in Greece, and especially in Achaia. Denis Feissel (473–500) examines the inscriptional evidence for three poorly understood late antique civic offices (curator, defensor and pater civitatis) and their activities in the cities of the East.
In Section III, ‘The (New) World of Christian Epigraphy’, Charlotte Roueché and Claire Sotinel (503–14) assess the development of the field as a whole and the historical cleaving of ‘Christian’ and ‘Classical’ epigraphies. They argue for care in the use of the term ‘Christian’ inscriptions, a point which some of the other authors in the volume may wish to consider. The next essay, by Georgios Deligiannakis (514–33), explores the potential heterodox background of a number of inscriptions from the Aegean islands, eschewing scholarly certainty to offer thought-provoking, ‘unorthodox’ (530) readings of these texts. Rudolf Haensch (535–54) usefully compares the church dedicatory inscriptions from two distinct regions: Italy (minus Rome) and the eastern patriarchates of Jerusalem and Antioch. Although the exact numbers of texts and percentages may depend on preservation bias, general epigraphic features in the two regions (e.g. the use of the bishop as a dating formula in the East but not the West) emerge clearly. The final paper, by Mark A. Handley (555–93), considers western devotional graffiti from several angles, including variations in regional practices and the difficulties of identifying the individual behind the graffito.
Although the essays vary somewhat in quality, each provides something of interest. The region of Italy is particularly well treated, with eight papers wholly or partially devoted to it. Throughout, the production quality of the volume is high: the editing is thorough, the printed illustrations are sharp and the maps are uniform. Some of the colour pie-charts at the end of the volume would have been equally intelligible in black and white, but that is of no concern to the reader. The Greek and Latin texts are sometimes translated and sometimes not; this reviewer thinks that including translations heralds not the demise of rigorous language training, but rather makes the material more accessible to non-philologists. As a whole, this volume serves as both an in-depth introduction to the field of late antique epigraphy for scholars new to the topic and a thought-provoking impetus for further work for those already engaged in it. It was certainly worth the wait.
