Prof Silvia Giorcelli Bersani
Latin Epigraphy

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What are those things we know only from epigraphy with no other source?

The fundamental contributions which epigraphic documents brought to our knowledge of Roman history are many. I can only write a list and make some significant examples.

I. The Romanisation, i.e. the impressive expansion process of Roman civilization, both in the East and in particular in the West, by which a systematic process of political and cultural integration of a conquered population took place. While we know the military and diplomatic steps of the conquest thanks to literary sources, we also know the varied and complex mechanism of expansion of the Roman institutions within the conquered territories only through epigraphic documents. For example: Inscriptions tell us about the mediating work of certain persons who, in particular in the East, attempted to defend their motherland from the arrogant meddling of Roman governors. Inscriptions attest the various ways Rome acted within the military occupied territories (as in Hispania), which caused the elimination or deportation of local populations; in the founding of colonies and in the distribution of parcels of land to the colonists. In Italy Alpine populations were reformed to administrative and jurisdictional Roman structures following different methods and charters which we know thanks solely to epigraphic documents. We understand the reorganization of the rural territory in the context of the colonization thanks to aerial photography, but also because of those inscriptions telling the names of the people who made surveys, those inscriptions documenting the close relationship between the colonies, the military and roads, those epigraphs identifying small rural settlements around the territory (such settlements being not even identifiable archaeologically today). Epigraphy also allows us to know about disputes (mostly territorial ones) between Romans and native populations and, in general, about incidents of resistance to Romanisation. Finally, epigraphic documentation records the passage from local languages to Latin. First there is the coexistence of two languages, then the use of the Latin alphabet to write the native language, then the use of Latin with more or less visible traces of local elements, and finally the normalization of writing, at this point conceived in the Latin way, where only the persistence of local linguistic rudiments indicates a link with previous tradition.

II. In the case of City structures and urban civilization, the most visible cultural manifestation is the epigraphy. We know of the urban civilization mostly thanks to the inscriptions. They played the role of a mass medium, the way to spread public and private messages. It was the main mean of interpersonal communication, so it is not surprising to notice a prevailing concentration within the city. The knowledge of the urban area too often is the fruit of epigraphic documentation. A high amount of inscriptions often is the sole clue of the existence of a city settlement, while within already individuated cities it is possible to find out the existence -without excavations- of functional areas of relevant importance (e.g. sanctuaries or religious spaces). Through the inscriptions found on them we know the name of a number of buildings, their destination, the
name and title of those who had them built, with whose money and why. In some cases we know a building existed by only the relevant inscription which has survived.. Private homes are identifiable through brick stamps, water conduits on which the name of the owner was written, and boundary stones, sacred or honorary inscriptions which can be found inside.
Funeral and honorary inscriptions are the most numerous sources to define many aspects of urban society. The political careers of the citizens and in general the leadership of the notables are largely represented, as well as the role of imperial legates and of patrons.
The picture is completed by decurional decrees, i.e. the decisions taken within the curia of the city (often imitating Rome's Senatus Consulta), and municipal laws, i.e. the constitutions which regulated the functioning of the city institutions. The latter in particular are a new element: we have a lot of fragments of municipal laws concerning several cities of Spain (Salpensa, Malaca and Irni), dating back to Domitian's reign (81-96 A.C.), which give us a lot of details about local justice, management of community goods, collection of taxes, public activities, patron/client relationships and the diplomatic relationship with the emperor or with the governor of the province, legations, magistrates' duties, magistrate's election systems, and more. No literary source could provide us with information about these aspects of the Roman citizen's life.

III. Discovering the Historiography of individuals. Epigraphs, both honorary and funeral, tells us the biography and the public and private profile of the people, both the elite (senators, equites and city aristocracies) and simple folk (citizens without any public role, workers, women, children, freedmen, slaves). As to senators and equites we know their careers which obviously changed as the time went on. We can follow the steps and the transformations of such careers thank hundreds inscriptions at our disposal. Also we know local notables, i.e. the upper class of the civic body holding economic power and monopolizing public offices. The analysis of their very wide epigraphic documentation allows us to understand, for example, how was it possible to climb the social pyramid, which offices were considered a privileged position of the political way, through which conduct and financial means allowed the families more opportunities to keep and increase their prestige and power. The most original information concerns the lower social class, which are not represented in literary sources (but in part in archaeological ones, at least as to material life aspects), so slaves, from those employed in rich houses to wretched men working in the mines, tradesmen and artisans, the slave and freed staff at the emperor's service, women, members of collegia and professional, religious, funeral and game corporations. It is in this viewpoint of social representation, that Latin epigraphy represents all of its documentary potential.