Inscription II 697 in the CIL: in the wall of a building inCáceres, Spain.
TheCorpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) is a comprehensive collection of ancientLatininscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the survivingepigraphy ofclassical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw light on all aspects of Roman life and history. TheCorpus continues to be updated in new editions and supplements.
CIL also refers to the organization within theBerlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities responsible for collecting data on and publishing the Latin inscriptions. It was founded in 1853 byTheodor Mommsen and is the first and major organization aiming at a comprehensive survey.
TheCIL collects all Latin inscriptions from the whole territory of theRoman Empire, ordering them geographically and systematically. The earlier volumes collected and published authoritative versions of all inscriptions known at the time—most of these had been previously published in a wide range of publications. The descriptions include images of the original inscription if available, drawings showing the letters in their original size and position, and an interpretation reconstructing abbreviations and missing words, along with discussion of issues and problems. The language of theCIL is Latin.
In 1847 a committee was created inBerlin to publish an organized collection of Latin inscriptions, which had previously been described piecemeal by hundreds of scholars over the preceding centuries. The leading figure of this committee wasTheodor Mommsen (who wrote several of the volumes coveringItaly).[1] Much of the work involved personal inspections of sites and monuments in an attempt to replicate the original as much as possible. In those cases where a previously cited inscription could no longer be found, the authors tried to get an accurate reading by comparing the versions of the published inscription in the works of previous authors who had seen the original. The first volume appeared in 1863.
TheCIL presently consists of 17 volumes in about 70 parts, recording approximately 180,000 inscriptions. Thirteen supplementary volumes have plates and special indices.[1] The first volume, in two sections, covered the oldest inscriptions, to the end of theRoman Republic; volumes II to XIV are divided geographically, according to the regions where the inscriptions were found. The other volumes cover other topics. Volume XVII, for instance, is entirely devoted tomilestones. A volume XVIII is planned, which will contain theCarmina Latina Epigraphica (Latin verse inscriptions). A two-volume "Index of Numbers", correlating inscription numbers with volume numbers, was published in 2003.[2]
CIL XV 8017–8622. Signacula aenea Corporis inscriptionum Latinarum voluminis XV partis II fasciculo II destinata (1975)
Die griechischen Personennamen in Rom. Ein Namenbuch. Bd. I–III (1982)
Quibus locis inveniantur additamenta titulorum voluminis VI Corporis inscriptionum Latinarum. Seorsum expressum ex CIL VI 7, 7 (1986)
Inscriptionum lapidariarum Latinarum provinciae Norici usque ad annum MCMLXXXIV repertarum Indices (ILLPRON Indices), Fasc. 1 (1986), Fasc. 2 (1987), Fasc. 3 (1987)
AuctariumSeries Nova:
Vol. 1:Index Numerorum. Ein Findbuch zum Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Bd. I–II (2003)
Vol. 2:Die griechischen Personennamen in Rom. Ein Namenbuch. Bd. I–III. H. Solin. 2., völlig neu bearb. Aufl (2003)
Vol. 3:Chapeau, Herr Dessau! Zum 150. Geburtstag des Berliner Althistorikers und Epigraphikers. Beiträge eines Kolloquiums und wissenschaftliche Korrespondenz des Jubilars (2009)
Vol. 4:Öffentlichkeit – Monument – Text. XIV Congressus Internationalis Epigraphiae Graecae et Latinae. 27.–31. Augusti MMXII. Akten (2014)
Vol. 5:Praeneste tra archeologia ed epigrafia (2021)
Vol. 6:Heinrich Dressels Edition der Amphoren-Aufschriften aus Rom in CIL XV. Wie Wissen entsteht: von der Gelatine ins Buch (2022)
Vol. 7:Carmina Latina Epigraphica – Developments, Dynamics, Preferences (2023)
