The series editors are pleased to announce the recent publication of two new volumes of Brill Studies in Greek and Roman Epigraphy:
Inscriptions in the Private Sphere in the Greco-Roman World
Edited by Rebecca Benefiel and Peter Keegan
When one thinks of inscriptions produced under the Roman Empire, public inscribed monuments are likely to come to mind. Hundreds of thousands of such inscriptions are known from across the breadth of the Roman Empire, preserved because they were created of durable material or were reused in subsequent building. This volume looks at another aspect of epigraphic creation – from handwritten messages scratched on wall-plaster to domestic sculptures labeled with texts to displays of official patronage posted in homes: a range of inscriptions appear within the private sphere in the Greco-Roman world. Rarely scrutinized as a discrete epigraphic phenomenon, the incised texts studied in this volume reveal that writing in private spaces was very much a part of the epigraphic culture of the Roman Empire.
The Cave of the Nymphs at Pharsalus:
Studies on a Thessalian Country Shrine
Robert S. Wagman
Cave of the Nymphs at Pharsalus is the first book-length study of one of Greece’s most cited nymph sanctuaries. The volume includes a revised catalog, extensive new commentaries on the cave’s famous inscriptions, and a first-time investigation of the site’s topographical and archaeological layout. Also known as Alogopati or Karapla cave, the Pharsalian shrine holds a special place among ancient nymph caves as the only such site to feature an inscribed poetic chronicle of the shrine’s foundation and its founder, the mysterious nymph worshipper Pantalces. Based on years of fieldwork and archival research, Cave of the Nymphs challenges some commonly held views about the origin of this rock-cut ‘tale’ and offers a fresh perspective for understanding the Pharsalian cave in its proper historical context.
For further information, see the series webpage