Dificultades presentadas en la realización de la transversalización en el MINJUS

recording its repair/^ M arliani argued that the 140 warehouses of the R om an people were between the T iber and M onte Testaccio on the basis of an inscription found there/'* H e was even prepared to state that a site uncovered in excavations under the temple of C oncord was were public acts were recorded, citing an inscription that recorded a schola and various curatores w ho w orked there/^ Scholars’ use of inscriptions to provide topographical inform ation could also apply to the structure of individual buildings. Justus Lipsius, for example, w hen looking at amphitheatres, cited three inscriptions m entioning a ‘podium ’ to prove that it was built on top of these structures’ walls.^^ T he reliance on inscribed evidence to assert the existence of particular places was m ore com m on outside Rom e, where ancient literary sources were less likely to m ention a variety of sites. A good example is the w ork on the ‘Arx Britannica’ undertaken by several north ern European humanists, including the Laurin brothers, A braham O rtelius and H u b ert G oltz in the 1560s. T hrough examining an inscription on this structure, G uy Laurin was able to conclude that it was first built by Claudius, and hence that it was from here that he sailed to invade Britain.^^

As records of individuals’ careers, inscriptions provided inform ation about the offices that they held, w hich could again confirm literary accounts o r add to them . In the second part of his Commentariorum libriy Panvinio shifted his focus from the city of Rom e to the empire, w hich led him to examine w hen certain offices originated. In the section on priesthoods, to confirm the existence of those recorded in literary sources he cites various inscriptions, usually at the end of the discussion.^® F o r some flamineSy his only evidence is epigraphic.^’ H e later looks at civic magistrates, following the same procedure.^® Again,

O . Panvinio, C om m entariorum libri, p. 181. B. Marliani, Topographia 1544, p. 63. B. Marliani, Topographia 1544, p. 29.

Lipsius, D e am phitheatro, p. 42.

J. H essels, Epistulae ortelianae, no. 16 pp. 34-5 (5 M ay 1566). O n these hum anists’ w ork on the A rx Britannica, see T. M eganck, ‘Abraham O rtelius, H ubertus G oltziu s en G uido Laurinus’. ^® For example, for a m a terfla m in ia {C om m entariorum libri, p. 345), or a fla m en m artialis {C om m entariorum libri, p. 346).

O . Panvinio, C om m entariorum libri, p. 350, ‘Flam inem V irbialem deo V irbio, idest H ip p o ly to consecratum , nullus quod sciam antiquus scriptor com m ém orât. Eius ego m en tion em extare vidi R om ae in antiquo inscriptione...’. A s Panvinio was finishing th e w ork , A gustin w rote to him discussing the question o f flam in es and asking w hether he could supply th e names o f the fifteen

such inscriptions were particularly valuable for historians trying to determ ine the offices and form of governm ent of tow ns in the Rom an empire. G uillaum e Paradin, for example, in his history of Lyons published in 1573, w rote that ‘Semblablem ent ilz y erigerent plusieurs grandz estatz & offices: dont se trouvent encores des vestiges & brisees, par les inscriptions des pierres. C om m e estoient ceulx, qui avoient toute la superintendence sus les m archans de la province Lyonnoise: lequel estoit nom m é Summus Curator, qui se pourroit auiourd'huy dire vn Conservateur. Et de cestuy est faite m ention en plusieurs inscriptions...’.^^ Paradin w ent on to argue that the tow n had a senate of 60 members on the basis of an epitaph to a m an described as ‘prim us de Ix’.^^

As well as inform ation about individuals’ careers, inscribed epitaphs also gave their full names, from which general rules for the form ation of names could be established. The w ork of Giuseppe Castiglione, a hum anist at w ork in Rom e at the end of the sixteenth century, reveals how widely inscriptions could be exploited in this work.^^ Castiglione’s Variae lectiones include several works examining nom enclature, including essays on the praenomina of boys and wom en, how children take their parents’ names, as well as a discussion of the meaning of the term alumnus in a person’s title. In the essay on the

flam in es w h ich Festus m entioned existed. H e was n ot sure w hether tw o typ es evidenced in inscriptions w ere priesthoods in the city o f R om e or from elsewhere (A. A gustin, Epistolario, no. 211 p. 313, 29 July 1558 = M ilan, Biblioteca Am brosiana MS D 501 inf., fol. 133): ‘U n Virbiale et un Ligulare trovo in sassi, ma non ho authori da confirm arli, et potria esser che fossero M unicipali’. Shortly afterwards, A gustin w rote discussing the question again in response to P an vin io’s reply, arguing that ‘Ligulare’ was a m istranscription o f ‘Luculare’ (A. A gustin, Epistolario, no. 213 p. 315, 14 A ugust 1558 = M ilan, Biblioteca Am brosiana MS D 501 inf., fol. 135): ‘La parolla Ligulare credo sia venuta di varieta di scrittura nel copiar questa inscrittione. Tanto che questo F lam ine sara m unicipale.’

C om m entariorum libri, pp. 580-621; he ends this discussion detailing th o se offices attested in inscriptions (p. 617): ‘H i om nes ut scribae, accensi, praecones, lictores, viatores u n o nom ine apparitores vocabantur sive statores quod apparerent et praesto essent ad obsequium magistratuum confundi tam en om nia haec n om in e ex his inscriptionibus anim adverti.’

G. Paradin, Mémoires, pp. 11-12.