My chosen inscription was from Aquitania, or modern day France. The ancient find spot resides in Limonum Pictonum, but today the area is known as Poitiers, Mus. Sainte-Croix. The date is from 403-404 AC, and the letters state “DM ET M LIC SENODONNAE LIC PATERNVS MO SIBI ET SVIS VIVM PARVIT.” This translates to “To the Divine Spirits (of the dead) and to the memory of Licinia Senodonna; Licinius Paternus prepared this monument for himself and his family while still living.” The document is a burial acknowledgement for a family tomb, likely for a prominent family.

Mapping surviving inscriptions like this one demonstrate how the epigraphic habit was effectively used in ancient society. This inscription specifically indicates the need to monumentalize one’s own life through epigraphy. Some inscriprictions indclude religious memorabilia, a specific monument, or ownership, but all indicate the importance of written language to the evolution of history. For Roman society, the epigraphic habit exists as a means to assert ownership by marking a particular space as theirs. The choice indicate ownership asserts one’s presence within the Roman state, especially in prominent proviences like Acquitania. The epigraphic habit, in this sense, is a means to make one’s life memorialized within stone.

In terms of Ramsay McMullen’s work, the epigraphic habit exists based off of how we percieve an audience to be viewing the work that we create. Digital tools like high resolution imaging and digital mapping are important to interpreting how we view the rise and fall of this audience. Traditional historians relied on the physical mapping, which was often fragmented and inconclusive. For example, if imaging indicated cheaper materials, or smaller writing to be used later within the empire’s progression, it indicates a change within the intended audience of the epigraphy. Digital tools allow us to demonstrate the progression of the epigraphic habit in a more precise nature. As an empire loses its stability, it shifts to a less permanent means of expression.