[Archport] Uma nota sobre Hispania Epigraphica

[José d'Encarnação <jde@fl.uc.pt>]

      Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2007.08.46

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      Joaquín Gómez-Pantoja, Hispania Epigraphica 1989-2000 (1 al 10).
Madrid:  Servicio de Publicaciones, 2006.  Pp. CD-Rom.  ISBN 84-95215-53-5.
?50.00 (individuals).  ?66.00 (institutions).


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      Reviewed by David Noy, University of Wales Lampeter (d.noy@lamp.ac.uk)
      Word count: 2067 words


      Rome's Iberian provinces have been the source of some of the most
important recent discoveries in Latin epigraphy, including the Lex Irnitana
and the SC de Cn. Pisone patre. Three volumes of a completely revised CIL II
have already appeared. Since 1989, Hispania Epigraphica (HEp) has been
providing an annual summary of publications on inscriptions up to the
Visigothic period, a regional version of the service which L'Année
épigraphique (AE) performs for the Roman world as a whole. HEp entries are
rather more detailed than those in AE: apart from the text of the
inscription, each one includes full details of the stone (size, location,
etc., and a useful note on word-dividers, e.g. "interpunción: triángulo")
and a summary in Spanish of the publication, as well as in many cases
comments in square brackets by the editors of HEp, often expressing strong
disagreement with the original publication. The most recent AE has 189
entries for the Iberian provinces, whereas each issue of HEp has over 600,
and some over 1000 (practicalities of publication seem to have limited the
size of the most recent issues). Of these, well over half each year refer to
previously unpublished inscriptions (including, admittedly, many very
fragmentary ones).

      Like all such publications, the title year of HEp refers to the year
covered by the volume, not the year of the volume's publication, i.e. 1989
covers epigraphic publications of 1989. Since HEp seems normally to have
appeared after AE for the same year, some AE entries are themselves
commented on in HEp. The most recent printed volume (no.12) covers 2002.
Only four libraries in the UK hold the printed volumes. Hence the
availability of volumes 1-10 on CD-ROM is greatly to be welcomed in making a
valuable resource more widely accessible. This review will look first at the
CD-ROM itself, and then, since HEp has not previously been reviewed in BMCR,
at a small selection of the contents.

      The ten volumes on the CD-ROM are in PDF format, with a left-hand-side
menu giving access to each section of each volume (arranged by modern
Spanish or Portuguese province; a map of ancient and modern provinces is
provided from volume 5 onwards). The PDFs for volumes 1-4 have been created
from photographic images rather than from text, which means that they are
not electronically searchable and cannot be cut-and-pasted; the quality of
some pages is not very high and Greek is particularly difficult to read. The
other volumes' PDFs are based on text. Some of the accented characters in
volume 10 do not display correctly in the version of Acrobat Reader provided
on the CD-ROM, although they do display correctly in a more recent version.
More seriously, many of the texts in volume 5 have been mangled in the
process of conversion to PDF. The problem seems to have arisen mainly around
bracketed text. For example, in 5.287 the text which should appear as
"[Imperator C]aesar divi Vesp(asiani) f(ilius)" has come out as "[Imperator
C]as(ar) iv s(asiani) f(ilius)". Similar clear examples are numerous and no
doubt there are others which are less obvious. Fortunately only volume 5 is
affected.

      These limitations of the CD-ROM can largely be resolved by using it in
conjunction with the Hispania Epigraphica section of the Ubi Erat Lupa
website, an excellent resource which, as a website, offers more flexibility
than the static form of a CD-ROM; it also includes inscriptions from CIL II
which have not been discussed in HEp. The texts provided online have not
suffered the misfortunes of volume 5 on the CD-ROM. They have HEp references
and extensive bibliography, photographs in some cases, and a very usable
search facility. The online texts do not, however, include all the
diacriticals (e.g. underdotting) or, at least at present, Greek texts (e.g.
for 7.962, a fragmentary Jewish inscription with apparently parallel texts
in Greek and Latin, the online database only gives the Latin with no
indication that the Greek exists). Commentaries or variant readings are also
not available online, so anyone wanting full information about an
inscription needs to go from the website to the CD-ROM. Another extremely
useful website, not directly connected with HEp but occurring in references,
is worth mentioning here: Centro CIL II, the website for the revised CIL II.

      One example may help to illustrate various points about what is
available on the CD-ROM and elsewhere. 4.724 is a Latin dedication from
Italica of a statue to Victoria Augusta by Vibia Modesta, who originated in
Mauretania and was twice flaminica. Exact details are given in the
inscription of the silver, gems and gold used in the statue from whose base
the text comes. A place was provided in the temple by the city council, and
Modesta also provided golden busts ("capitula") of Domina Isis, Ceres (with
silver hands) and Juno Regina. The inscription was mentioned in two volumes
of AE before HEp began, and the publication cited in HEp (by J. González) is
a revision with some new restorations, not the first publication of the
text. HEp quotes from the publication González' suggested date (first half
of the 3rd century). The HEp editors offer some slightly different readings
and restorations, not changing the sense at all, and suggestions on
understanding individual words. The Ubi Erat Lupa website entry for the text
(easily found by searching for Vibia Modesta) provides a fairly
low-resolution photograph, updated bibliography (AE 2001), and a slightly
different text which does not incorporate all the HEp suggestions. The text
given online as "II(unciarum) |(semunciae)" appears on the CD-ROM as ": £"
(presumably due to the PDF conversion process). Searching for Vibia Modesta
does not produce any results in the Heidelberg Epigraphische Datenbank; the
Clauss-Slaby Epigraphisch-Datenbank provides the same information as Ubi
Erat Lupa, without the photograph.

      The CD-ROM includes the epigraphic index for each volume of HEp, in
the form in which it was originally published, although revised versions for
volumes 1-7 using the format of the later volumes are promised. The indexing
has improved considerably over the years, and the more recent indexes
include, for example, "typology" (starting in volume 6) and "literary
references" (from volume 7). The section of the index entitled "Christiana"
up to volume 6 became "Christianae et Judaicae" in volume 7 but reverted to
"Christianae" in volume 8 despite there being some Jewish content. 9.731 is
a seal with the name Samuel and a menorah, the latter clearly identifying it
as Jewish, but in the absence of a "Judaicae" section in the index, anyone
hoping to find Jewish material without reading every entry would miss it
(they would not find it on the website either, since, although searching by
English keywords is possible there, "Jewish" is not one of them). In other
respects the small number of Jewish inscriptions are given due attention,
and in 9.39 the editors vigorously defend the Jewishness of three mosaic
inscriptions from Elche against a new attempt to argue that they are
Christian.

      The majority of inscriptions in HEp could come from anywhere in the
Latin-speaking world: standard epitaphs, dedications, statue bases,
milestones, decrees by city councils, etc. Some people commemorated their
origins elsewhere in the Roman Empire: several were born at Rome; a Samnite
gladiator was born in Greece (6.525); a Christian called Thecla came from
Egypt (10.700); and Julia Glyconis from Nicomedia had a Latin epitaph put up
by her two sons when she died at Mérida aged 45 (5.92). Two inscriptions
provide an answer to a debated question in Latin literature. In Petronius'
Satyricon (ch.30), an inscription in Trimalchio's house refers to the master
as "our Gaius" ("C. noster"), something which commentators have taken as
showing lax discipline and over-familiarity on the part of the household.
However, there is a dedication by a freed paedagogus to "M(arco) n(ostro)"
(1.527) and another by a steward to "C. n(ostro)" (5.314), so Petronius only
reproduced normal epigraphic practice. There is also an example from Spain
of a "beware of the dog" mosaic (3.417), found as a painting in Trimalchio's
house (Sat. 29).

      There are, however, many distinctive features of inscriptions from the
Iberian provinces. Local deities with more or less latinised names abound,
such as Mavus (7.976) and Moclevus (7.698); there is an extensive index of
"Hispanic divinities" in each volume. There are also many indigenous
personal names. 3.415, datable to 87 BC, contains a list of magistrates such
as "Lubbus Urdinocum Letondonis filius". 1.291, the dedication of a gate by
local notables dated to 49 BC and thus the oldest inscription from the
Cordoba region, names one of the the benefactors as Binsnes, "xvir
maxsumus". An example of particular significance in the UK is "Boudica
Flacci filia" (2.803), since whose publication it has become normal to write
the name of the Iceni queen with only one c. There are also a small number
of inscriptions in native languages ("Paleohispánicas" in the index), mostly
of very debated interpretation. Visigothic inscriptions in Latin contain
many features of Medieval Latin, particularly in the "pizarras": pieces of
slate used for the same sort of writing (mainly business transactions, but
also school exercises and religious texts) as wood or ostraka in other
provinces, mainly from Lusitania (e.g. 3.30-87). Some regional peculiarities
can be observed earlier, such as the recurrence of the phrase "pius in suis"
in epitaphs. A dating system using a local era also emerged in Late
Antiquity, usually designated by "era" or "cos" (for consulatu). In one case
(7.35), the HEp editors show that "aera DLX depundius" means year 562 (AD
524).

      Greek appears mainly in Christian epitaphs, but with a few earlier
examples, e.g. 7.289, an altar dedicated to theoi epekooi, named as Helios
and others, and some curse inscriptions (7.326-7). 7.1131 is a gold ring of
the 3rd or 4th century with an apparently magical inscription in Greek
asking "Theos Hypsistos" not to be unjust and adding "great is his name".
According to the summary of the publication (there are no additional HEp
comments), the god referred to is probably Zeus but could be the
Judaeo-Christian god. In fact the adjective hypsistos is also applied to
Serapis (5.1060).

      The Iberian provinces are very rich in municipal inscriptions such as
various leges municipiorum (e.g. 4.835) which have acquired huge
bibliographies. The early spread of the epigraphic habit means that there
are some from the 1st and even the 2nd century BC, including the submission
of local communities to Roman rule (deditio), e.g. by the Populus Seanocum
in 104 BC (2.151). Inscriptions record the co-option of leading Romans such
as Asinius Gallus as patrons (1.458, 3.247) and the tessera hospitalis which
set up a relationship between communities and individuals and their
descendants (e.g. 1.645). Other reminders of the early stages of Roman rule
include slingshots with the name of Sertorius (1.356, 362); the brief
existence of a provincia Transduriana mentioned in an edict of Augustus
inscribed on bronze (7.378); and a man described as "princeps Cantabrorum",
Doviderus son of Amparamus, commemorated with a conventional Latin epitaph
(7.380).

      Emperors inevitably feature prominently. Some striking examples
include: a bronze inscription pledging loyalty to Augustus, Gaius, Lucius
and Agrippa Postumus ("M. Agrippae Augusti nepotis"), the oldest such one
known from the Western Empire (2.623, 5.694); a dedication to Tiberius after
his adoption but before he became emperor (1.215); the erasure of Domitian's
name from the Aqua Nova Domitiana Augusta at Cordoba (1.251); a statue base
for Philip dedicated by the province of Baetica (1.248); evidence of the
damnatio memoriae of Gallienus (5.87); a milestone of Julian (7.519).

      Anyone who has emerged with an aching back and covered with dust after
a session with CIL will appreciate having inscriptions in a form accessible
from a desktop anywhere, although we are still a long way from the
epigraphic utopia of having all information about an inscription available
at the click of a mouse, or even from easily knowing where to click for the
information. It is not likely that anyone other than a reviewer will want to
go through ten volumes of HEp page by page, but the convenience of being
able to do so at home rather than in a library is clear. Electronic
publication offers other advantages too: ease of searching; updatable
bibliographies and concordances. The epigraphy of the Iberian provinces
seems to be particularly well-served electronically, and although the CD-ROM
version of HEp has some shortcomings, it will be extremely useful in
conjunction with other resources.



To read a print-formatted version of this review, see
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2007/2007-08-46.html