The last decade was marked by the publication of a series of epigraphic manuals and handbooks, in several languages (e.g. J.-M. Lassèrre, Manuel d’épigraphie romaine [2005]; J.A. Pintado [ed.], Fundamentos de Epigrafía Latina [2009]; A. Buonopane, Manuale di epigrafia latina [2009]; and A. Cooley, The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy [2012]). Aimed at a very different audience, The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy is a welcome addition to this scene. As the editors state in the preface, this book is not intended for epigraphers and students of epigraphy, but to students of the ‘Roman world in general’. Its main objective is to show ‘why inscriptions matter’ (p. ix), rather than how to read or edit them. As such, it is more concerned with inscriptions as a source of information than as a subject of enquiry. By referring to Roman epigraphy, the editors highlight the inconvenience of the traditional division between Greek and Latin inscriptions (although its usefulness is not completely rejected), especially in the context of the Roman empire. It is this concern with the potential use of inscriptions for the reconstruction of the history of Roman civilisation that makes this book distinctive; this is also, I would argue, one of the limitations of this work.

Following a preface, in which the editors present the aims and principles informing the organisation of the book, the volume is divided into three parts. Part 1 is dedicated to the study of inscriptions, covering five different topics: how epigraphists work (B. and E.); the importance of manuscripts (M. Buonocore); the issue of forgeries and fakes (S. Orlandi, M. Caldelli and G. Gregori); and the main epigraphic corpora in print (B.) and online (T. Elliott). The second part is a short (three chapters) but efficient discussion of the place and main characteristics of inscriptions in Roman culture. The reader is introduced to the different types of inscriptions available (F. Beltrán Lloris), the practical issues involved in commissioning and carving an inscription (E.) and the evolution of the Roman epigraphic habit (F. Beltrán Lloris).

Part 3 is the longest of the book, with 26 chapters exploring the value of inscriptions for the study of the Roman world, covering themes related to the empire's political, religious, socio-economic and cultural life. What we have here are extremely competent overviews of the type of information offered by inscriptions to historians dealing with the Roman empire, both in the capital and in the provinces. Traditional topics, like the imperial family and government, are considered, but less traditional subjects like family history, women, communications and local languages also deserve equal attention. These chapters differ from thematic sections in standard epigraphic handbooks in that, rather than focusing on a specific type of inscription (honorific or funerary, for example), they combine different types of texts and supports to illuminate historical questions. Most of the contributions in this section are concerned exclusively with the early empire, the heyday of the epigraphic habit, but one chapter is dedicated to the Republic and one covers Late Antiquity. The book closes with seven useful appendices listing epigraphic conventions, abbreviations, Roman names, kinship terms, voting tribes, numbers and digital resources.

Such a long and comprehensive book has naturally much to offer readers with various interests. I found Chapters 1, ‘The Epigrapher at Work’ (B. and E.), and 7, ‘Inscribing Roman Texts’ (E.), particularly interesting in their approach. The first builds on H.-G. Pflaum and E. Marec's work on the inscription of Suetonius unearthed in Hippo Regius (AE 1953, 73), from its discovery and identification until its publication. B. and E. go as far as presenting a putative entry for CIL VIII. Chapter 7 discusses the question of how a Roman (irrespective of his social condition) could commission an inscription, and how stonecutters would respond to her or (more frequently) his demands. E. thus provides a highly illustrative introduction to the practical issues involved in the production of inscriptions. Even chapters dealing with a more traditional subject, such as F. Hurlet's ‘The Roman Emperor and the Imperial Family’ (Chapter 10), are different from what readers find in traditional epigraphic manuals, discussing topics from imperial titulature and succession, as one might expect, to aspects of imperial ideology and virtues (pp. 194–6). The chapter on Late Antiquity (B. Salway) is particularly successful in analysing the main stylistic changes that marked the period as well as developments in the content of these texts.

There are a few editorial decisions that strike me as unusual: the last section of Part 3, dedicated to Roman cultural life, adopts an extremely restrictive definition of culture as literary culture. These are among the best chapters in the book, but a more inclusive approach to culture as understood by anthropologists (and most ancient historians nowadays) would have been profitable. It is refreshing to find a chapter dedicated to Christian epigraphy (by D. Mazzoleni, Chapter 21), as this is still seen as a specific area within epigraphic studies. However, treating it as a separate field from other religious inscriptions does not do justice to recent scholarly developments in this area, which tend not to isolate Christians from other worshippers.

Inscriptions are useful sources of information for historians, and this book is successful in showing that. They record important information about marriage, political institutions, religious cults and cultural practices, and much of it can usefully complement what we know from literary sources. But what is specific to inscriptions? Or, to put it in a different way, why did Romans commission these monuments? Does it matter that a particular piece of information was carved into a block of marble and displayed in the centre of a town? The chapters collected here rarely pay attention to the support and physical context in which these inscriptions are found, treating them instead as texts alone. Inscriptions are monuments, as many of the epigraphists contributing to this book have shown in the past, but this is not taken into account in the overviews presented here. It is curious that, in a book as richly illustrated as this, relatively little attention is paid to the visual aspects of inscriptions, such as their setting in sarcophagi or their use as statue dedications, for example. Recent scholarship has emphasised the importance of associating words and images, but this development is virtually ignored by this handbook. This is a missed opportunity for showing to students that inscriptions are useful as a source of information, but also that they are relevant in themselves, offering precious insights into Roman culture and social life.

Having said that, B. and E. are successful in assembling a wonderful and international team of collaborators, and students interested in the use of inscriptions for Roman history will certainly benefit from the wealth of information they will find here. The book is beautifully illustrated, and a few of the chapters are particularly successful in making references to illustrations in other chapters as a way of making an argument – for example about differences in letter styles (Chapters 7 and 11). The tables accompanying individual chapters will serve as a useful tool for lecturers on Roman history and epigraphy, and the appendices and index of sources will be particularly valuable in this sense. Although few students will ever read all the contributions presented in this handbook, those who delve into it are bound to discover a new and valuable type of source material to explore further.