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The Epigraphic Habit

The dated, located Latin record across space and time · 拉丁铭文之时空分布

Loading the geotemporal record…

The habit in three views · 三种视图

One view at a time — the curve (the finding), then where & when, then the record in space. 每次一视图。

Dated Latin inscriptions binned by 25 years (date = midpoint of not_before/not_after). The curve is the “epigraphic habit” (MacMullen 1982): a steep Augustan rise, a high-Empire peak, the mid-3rd-century collapse, and a late-antique Christian recovery.

The 24 most-attested provinces × 50-year periods. Cell intensity = count of dated inscriptions; the column of peak density walks rightward as the habit spreads from Italy to the provinces.

A 1,800-point sample of located + dated inscriptions, coloured by period — the Mediterranean and Rhine/Danube frontiers emerge from the density alone. Hover a point for its EDCS record.