Pratiques du grec dans l’épigraphie de l’Occident

Focusing on epigraphical texts (inscriptions, graffiti), this book, Proceedings of the XXIIth Rencontre franco-italienne sur l’épigraphie du monde romain, explores a new perspective for understanding the use of Greek language in the western provinces of the Roman Empire where Latin was the lingua franca beside local languages. The contributors to this volume challenge this perspective by offering analyses of various manifestations of greek epigraphy in private and public contexts. These themes are traced across a longue durée analysis, from the first century BC until Late Antiquity, with a view to highlighting continuities and changes. The authors address a broad range of theories – e.g. cultural transfers, bilingualism – and of topics, including religious practices, cultural use of the Greek Language, Greek language as a key element of self-identity among local élites, the presence of Greek merchants or Jews or Christians in the Latin West etc. With its substantial introduction, the volume is accessible both to specialists of Ancient Rome and to scholars studying bilingualism in other times and places.