The first section of the database CLaSSES, devoted to epigraphic texts mainly from Rome and Central Italy, gathers more than 1200 inscriptions (click here for the complete list), dating between the 4th BC and 1st century AC.
The database, searchable through the Research page, provides both linguistic and extra-linguistic information concerning the texts (for the editions in use, cf. The Project).
All the forms, which do not adhere orthographically to the Classical norm, have been annotated systematically (the Classical norm is intended the literary language adopted in Rome between the end of the Republic and the first years of the Imperial Era). These forms divergent from the Classical norm – defined as ‘non-Classical’ – have been classified depending on the kind of variation phenomenon encountered, which may affect orthography (and presumably phonetic-phonological features), as well as morphology. In particular, the linguistic phenomena annotated involve vocalism, consonantism and morpho-phonology.
It is also possible to search the lemmas found in this section in other textual and lexical sources, thanks to the linking to LiLa – Knowledge Base of Interoperable Linguistic Resources for Latin, a collection of both lexical and textual resources for Latin (corpora, lexica, ontologies, dictionaries, thesauri) made interoperable following the principles of the Linked Data paradigm.
The extra-linguistic information available concerns the place of origin, date, and text type of each inscription. Concerning the traditional classification, it was possible to identify 5 different text types: tituli honorari (honorary inscriptions dedicated by public figures and monumental inscriptions), tituli sepulcrales (commemorative inscriptions and epitaphs), instrumenta domestica (inscriptions on everyday objects), tituli sacri publici (votive inscriptions dedicated by public figures) and tituli sacri privati (votive inscriptions dedicated by private customers).
For further details concerning the annotation criteria, consult the User Guide and Documentation.