HOW TO READ THE LATIN INSCRIPTIONS
IN THE ROMAN GALLERY
This guide provides you with everything you should need to understand the language of Latin
inscriptions in the Roman Gallery, starting from the Entrance Gallery near the elevators.
I. Stepping into the Entrance Gallery
As you exit the third-floor elevator into “Worlds Intertwined: Etruscans, Greeks, and
Romans”, be careful not to overlook the display case around the corner to the right, next to
the video theater, labeled “Written Evidence”.
Q1. Why has this case been placed here so close to the entrance?
Q2. Of the several writing media represented here, which do you expect to see in the museum galleries, and why?
Q3. Of the medium represented by Apuleius’ Opera, where might you go at Penn to see more examples?
As you proceed toward the Etruscan Gallery several cases on your left help you discover a
lot about writing conventions in the Etrusco-Greco-Roman world.
Q4. What is the relationship between the Etruscan alphabet and the Greek and Roman alphabets?
Q5. How might you improve upon the glosses that have been given for these Latin terms on the rotating cylinders: P.M., vice
versa, alter ego?
II. The Roman Gallery: Writing on objects
Once you’ve arrived in the Roman Gallery proper and have begun to look around, notice the
different types of object that have been written on. One scholar of Roman history has described
the Romans as having an “epigraphic habit”. What this means is that they wrote on objects
frequently, and that this use of writing played a central role in both public and private life.
(The Greek term epi-graphô [ἐπι-γράφω] “write on” is equivalent to the later Latin term inscribo.)
Q6. Choose three individual inscribed objects in the Roman Gallery and identify which of the following terms best describes
the function served by the writing: COMMEMORATIVE (commemorating who or what?); IDENTIFICATIVE (identifying who
or what?); DEDICATIVE (dedicating what to whom?); CELEBRATIVE (celebrating what or whom?). Or is there another
term that better captures the function of your chosen object?
Q7. What types of object in the Roman Gallery are inscribed that tend not to be inscribed in other historical periods or in
other cultures with which you are familiar (and vice versa)?
As you tour the Gallery, can you find any of these more interesting items connected with
writing:
Q8. A stylus made from bone is identified as having been used for writing -- writing on what?
Q9. Writing has been erased from a monument that once celebrated an emperor -- but what happened afterward to the object
on which it had been written?
Q9. The goddess Victory is depicted on a coin in the act of writing -- but what is she writing, and on what?
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III. Making out the text
When you read an inscription, the first challenge is to figure out what letters and words
you’re reading, and there are several factors to take into consideration, including:
• Font:
Most of the inscriptions are in variations on square capitals. Compare this with rustic capitals (which show
more influence from writing with pen and ink); cursive (seen mostly in graffiti); and uncials (the later script
formed by cursive influence on capitals).
SQUARE CAPITALS
RUSTIC CAPITALS
CURSIVE
UNCIALS
• Orthography (i.e., spelling and writing conventions):
Consonantal “J” is consistently written “I”: e.g., TRAIANO. Vocalic “U” is written “V”: e.g., AVG.
• Fragmented text:
Since some of the objects are broken and text is missing, you’ll see from the curators’ captions that the missing
text is often supplied in square brackets:
e.g., PHILA[DELPHVS]·POLITOR
• Word-breaks:
Ancient inscriptions are notorious for supposedly having no breaks between words. When no word-breaks are
marked, in practice it’s fairly easy to figure out where one word (or abbreviation) ends and a new word begins.
Besides, you’ll also see that the Romans did make fairly widespread use of spaces between words, arrangement
of words across the stone, and also “interpuncts”:
e.g., OSSA·HIC·SITA
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• Abbreviations:
Due to constraints of space, names and formulaic expressions are frequently abbreviated. Note these common
examples:
COS
CO(N)SVL
(The omission of N is sometimes taken as evidence that the N was
pronounced only as a nasalized vowel, not as a full consonant.)
consul
DD
DONVM DEDIT/DONO DEDIT
(DONO is a dative of purpose.)
gave as a gift
DM
DIS MANIBVS (dat.)
(Sometimes accompanied by a genitive indicating the name of the
deceased person.)
(to) the divine
departed spirits (of)
F
FILIVS/FILIA
(Preceded by the praenomen of the parent: e.g., T. CLAUDIUS TI. F.
“Titus Claudius son of Tiberius”.)
son / daughter
HSE
HIC SITVS EST/HIC SITA EST
is buried here
L
LIBERTVS/LIBERTA
(Preceded by the name of the ex-master: e.g., PLOTIVS L. L. ACVTVS
“Plotius Acutus freedman of Lucius”.)
freedman/freedwoman
• Names:
Roman citizens typically have the so-called tria nomina, though you will see that full names are not always given,
even for men:
PRAENOMEN
NOMEN GENTILICIUM
COGNOMEN
Marcus
Marcus
Lucius
Gaius
Tullius
Perperna
Hostilius
Hosidius
Flavia
Cicero
Philadelphus
Saserna
Irene
The male praenomina are abbreviated as follows:
A = Aulus
M = Marcus
AP = Appius
M’ = Manius
C = Gaius1
P = Publius
CN = Gnaeus
Q = Quintus
D = Decius
SER = Servius/Sergius
• Numerals:
I=1
II = 2
III = 3
IIII (later IV) = 4
V=5
VI = 6
S(P) = Spurius
SEX = Sextus
T = Titus
TI(B) = Tiberius
V = Vibius
VII = 7
VIII = 8
VIIII (later IX) = 9
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X = 10
L = 50
C = 100
If you wonder why “Gaius” is abbreviated with C, there is a clue at the beginning of the Etruscan Gallery in
the chart showing how specific Roman letters were derived from the Greek alphabet.
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• Recurring words and abbreviations from
the Roman Gallery:
admoveô, admovêre, admôvî, admôtus 2 move
close to [+ dat.]
AVG = Augustus [hereditary title since
Octavian/Augustus, emperor 31 BCE - 14
CE]
BON EVENT = bonô eventuî “to good
outcome” [dat. < eventus, -ûs m.]
Caesar, -aris m. [hereditary title since Julius
Caesar, d. 44 BCE]
capiô, capere, cêpî, captus 3-i capture
Chiô, -ônis m. [name of Greek origin]
claudô, claudere, clausî, clausus (also clûdô) 3
close, shut
CENS = cênsor, cênsôris m. censor
colônia, -ae f. colony
CON = coniûnx, conjugis m./f. husband/wife
COS = co(n)sul, -ulis m.
DAC = Dâcicus [hereditary title since conquest
of Dacia]
D D = dônum (or dônô) dedit “gave as a gift”
[dônô is dat. of purpose]
dîvînus, -a, -um adj. divine
dîvus, -a, -um adj. deified
D M = dîs mânibus m. to the divine departed
spirits
DOMIT = Domitiânus, -î m. [emperor 84-96
CE]
eborârius, -a, -um adj. pertaining to ivory [from
ebur]
eius < is, ea, id pron. he, she, it [gen. “of him,
his”]
fêcit < faciô, facere, fêcî, factus 3-i make
FEL = fêlîx “fortunate”
Fourius, -î m.
GER = Germanicus [hereditary title for
emperors since conquest of Germany]
Germânia, -ae f. Germany
hîc adv. here
Iânus, -î m. Janus [god whose temple door was
closed during times of peace]
IMP = imperâtor, -ôris m. emperor [originally
“general”]
indulgentia, -ae f. favor, indulgence
invictus, -a, -um adj. unconquered
Iovî = dat. of Iuppiter, Iovis
L = lîbertus, -î m. / lîberta, -ae f. freed(wo)man,
ex-slave
L = Lucius, -iî m.
M = Marcus, -i m.
maximus, -a, -um adj. greatest
Nerva, -ae m. [emperor 96-98 CE]
O = officîna, -ae f. “workshop” [e.g., O. L. Valeri
Severi]
optimus, -a, -um adj. best
ôs, ossis m. bone
partâ < pariô, parere, peperî, partus 3-i give
birth to, bring forth
pater, patris m. father
patrônus, -î m. patron
pâx, pâcis f. peace
Peperna, -ae m. [a name of Etruscan origin]
PER/PERPET = perpetuus, -a, -um adj.
perpetual, for life
Philadelphus, -î m. [a name of Greek origin]
Philus, -î m. [name of Greek origin]
P M = pontifex maximus m. head priest
P P = pater patriae “father of the fatherland”
pôlîtor, -ôris m. polisher [from pôlîre]
P R = populô Rômânô [dat.]; or other cases:
populî Rômânî [gen.], populus Rômânus [nom.]
princeps, principis m. emperor
Puteôlânus, -a, -um adj. of Puteoli
salûs, salûtis f. safety, health
situs, -a, -um adj. located, buried
S C = senâtûs [gen.] consultô [abl.]
sibi [dat.] < sê, suî “for him/herself”
S M = sacra monêta “holy (official) mint” [often
followed by a letter code identifying the
specific mint: e.g., N for Nicomedia on the
Black Sea]
sol, sôlis m. sun
sunt < sum, esse, fuî, futûrus irreg. be
sub cûrâ “under the supervision (of)”
Traiânus, -î m. [emperor 98-117 CE]
TR P = tribûnîciâ potestâte “(with) tribunician
power” [abl. of description]
urbs, urbis f. city
V A = vîxit annîs “lived for … years” [abl. of
time of duration, typical in inscriptions]
Vespasiânus, -î m. [emperor 69-82 CE]
VICTORIB = victôribus [dat. of victor, victôris m.
winner, conqueror]
VINCLVSVS [an enigmatic mosaic-inscription:
can you solve it?]
VBIQ = ubique adv. everywhere
VOT = vôta [pl. of vôtum, -î n. vow, pray]
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IV. Further resources
There are some excellent guides available for working with inscriptions:
Bodel, John, ed. Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History from Inscriptions (New York, 2001) [University Museum
Library CN350 .E77 2001]
Gordon, A. E. Illustrated Introduction to Latin Epigraphy (Berkeley, 1983) [Van Pelt: CN510 .G63]
—————. Album of Dated Latin Inscriptions (Berkeley, 1958) [Van Pelt: Classics Resource Room, CN521
.G67 1958]
McCarthy, Brian C. J. Latin Epigraphy for the Classroom (Amherst, 1992) [Ask your instructor!]
The Penn inscriptions will soon be entered on the U.S. Epigraphy Project
(http://usepigraphy.brown.edu/), a handy database of all Greek and Latin inscriptions in
museums across the country. Presently the Penn holdings are described as follows:
The University Museum of the Universtiy of Pennsylvania has a large collection of ancient artifacts,
including a number of Greek inscriptions on stone and many vases and sherds with texts painted in Greek.
The Latin inscriptions on stone, though few in number, include a handsome series of inscribed marble
amphorae deposited as dedicatory offerings at the sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis at Lake Nemi south of
Rome. A rather more extensive collection of instrumentum inscribed in Latin has not been investigated and
cannot be itemized below. It comprises forty-seven amphora handles and pottery fragments from Monte
Testaccio in Rome (and one from elsewhere), nine stamped architectural terracottas, three Roman
brickstamps, one stamped pottery bowl, one pottery sherd from Orvieto, and a bronze strigil.
Inscriptions are often identified with a reference to CIL:
CIL = Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, multiple volumes [Van Pelt: Classics Resource Room, Folio CN520
.C6]
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