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| Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae | |
|---|---|
| Name | Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae |
| Author | Hermann Dessau (editor), subsequent editors include Franz Bücheler, Carl Pauli, and U. Wilcken |
| Language | Latin, with scholarly apparatus in German and Latin |
| Subject | Roman epigraphy, Latin inscriptions |
| Genre | Corpus, reference |
| Publisher | Weidmannsche Buchhandlung (initial volumes) |
| Published | 1892–1916 (main series), later supplementary fascicles |
| Media type | |
Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae is a multi-volume scholarly corpus of Latin inscriptions assembled for use by classicists, historians, and epigraphists. It presents selected Latin texts from stone, metal, pottery, and other durable media, with critical apparatus, commentary, and indices intended to supplement comprehensive corpora such as Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum and serve specialists working on Roman Empire, Roman Republic, Augustus, Trajan, and other principal persons and institutions. The work has been influential in shaping modern approaches to epigraphy, prosopography, and the study of Roman law and religion.
The corpus collects representative Latin inscriptions from the ancient Mediterranean and beyond, edited with attention to paleography, orthography, and context concerning sites such as Rome, Pompeii, Ostia Antica, Athens, Ephesus, and Leptis Magna. Editors provide notes linking texts to monuments associated with figures like Marcus Aurelius, Hadrian, Julius Caesar, Augustus (title), and municipal institutions such as the Curia, Colosseum, and provincial centers like Lugdunum. The volumes aim to make inscriptions accessible for research into topics connected with the Pax Romana, Roman provincial administration, Legio X Equestris, and religious cults involving deities such as Jupiter, Diana, and Isis.
Conceived in the late 19th century amid rising professionalization of classical studies, the series was initiated by editors trained in the traditions of Prussian Academy of Sciences, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the German school of epigraphy associated with scholars like Theodor Mommsen, Eduard Norden, and Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff. Early compilation drew on field reports from excavators at Herculaneum, Delphi, Sardis, and colonial sites in North Africa and Asia Minor, and on collections held by institutions such as the British Museum, Vatican Museums, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The editorial project responded to the perceived need for a selective, portable corpus to complement the exhaustive but unwieldy Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum initiated by Theodor Mommsen and colleagues.
Volumes are organized thematically and geographically, grouping funerary inscriptions, dedicatory texts, legal inscriptions, military diplomas, and honorary decrees. Entries present a critical Latin text, restorations, and commentary addressing papyrological parallels from Oxyrhynchus Papyri, paleographic comparisons to hands attested in Vindolanda tablets, and references to juridical sources like the Twelve Tables and imperial constitutions of Diocletian. Indices enumerate personal names (nomenclatures linking to gens such as Julii, Cornelii, Aemilii), magistracies (e.g., consul, praetor), and topographical entries referencing sites like Forum Romanum and Circus Maximus. Cross-references point to literary witnesses from authors such as Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny the Younger, Cicero, and Livy.
Although based primarily on inscriptions in situ and in museum collections rather than manuscript transmission, editorial practice mirrors philological standards used in editions of texts by Virgil, Ovid, and Horace; apparatus criticus records variant readings preserved in squeezes, drawings, and earlier transcriptions by antiquarians like Giacomo Boni and Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Major editions of the series appeared between 1892 and 1916, with later fascicles and supplements edited by scholars working at institutions including Universität Berlin, University of Cambridge, and the École française de Rome. Reprints and revised editions incorporate photographic plates, indices compiled using methodologies similar to those in the Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, and digital cataloguing approaches pioneered at repositories like the Epigraphic Database Heidelberg.
The corpus gained rapid acceptance among practitioners of epigraphy, classical archaeology, and Roman law studies, shaping curricula at universities such as University of Oxford, Harvard University, University of Bologna, and Sapienza University of Rome. It influenced interpretive work on inscriptions associated with emperors including Nero, Constantine the Great, and Claudius II Gothicus, and provided source-material for prosopographical projects like the Prosopographia Imperii Romani. Critics and admirers alike acknowledged its role in enabling comparative studies involving regional corpora such as Inscrizioni antiche d'Italia and thematic collections of dedicatory inscriptions relating to cults of Serapis and Mithras.
Scholars employ the series for textual reconstruction, onomastic analysis, epigraphic typography, and study of Roman administrative formulae; it has been cited in publications dealing with the Edict of Caracalla, lex Iulia, and municipal law codes from provincial cities. Criticisms address selection bias—choices about which inscriptions to include—and occasional reliance on earlier transcriptions later shown defective when compared to field photographs and autopsy; these debates echo methodological controversies between proponents of documentary harmonization exemplified by Theodor Mommsen and advocates of rigorous in situ reinspection exemplified by later field epigraphers working with the American Academy in Rome. Recent digital projects and databases have mitigated some limitations by integrating images, GIS coordinates, and machine-readable indices, prompting ongoing reassessment of editorial practice and selection criteria.
Category:Latin inscriptions Category:Classical studies