Staging Death : Making a différence. : Carmina Latina Epigraphica from African Provinces

Abstract

The Roman Latin inscriptions in verse, commonly known as carmina Latina epigraphica, represent astylistic epigraphic phenomenon that spread across the Roman Empire starting in the 1st century CE. The majority of these carmina (approximately 80% of a corpus of 4,000 inscriptions) were composed to be engraved on epitaphs or the facades of mausoleums. This dissertation examines the corpus of non- Christian funerary carmina found in three Roman provinces: Africa Proconsularis, Numidia, andMauretania Caesariensis. This corpus comprises around 300 inscriptions, whose length and qualityvary significantly. The study is organized into two volumes. The first volume is structured into twosections, each subdivided into four chapters. The first section provides a general introduction to thecarmina, exploring their role in epigraphy, their quantity and distribution in the African context,the mediums on which they were engraved, and the identities of the deceased who commissioned these inscriptions. The second section addresses the inscriptions from the perspective of self-representation. It analyzes how the deceased and the dedicator, through these metrical inscriptions, sought to construct a self-image that was both positive and socially acceptable, aligning with a set of values shared by their community. The goal of these representations was to ensure the longevity of their name and their “epigraphic portrait” in the collective memory of future readers. This pursuit of posterity relied on rhetorical strategies that influenced both the content and the form of the carmina, which this study endeavors to analyze in detail. A second volume complements this research, offering an anthology of transcribed, translated, and commented inscriptions, accompanied by a bibliography and two indexes.