On the one hand, one can say that without inscriptions, we would know nothing about the more than eighty matres and matronae (e. g. Eck 2004: 495) and the ritual of the Arvales (Scheid 1998b). On the other hand, one can point to the few aspects of ancient cults of which we are informed by means of inscriptions: they provide us with a large number of names, certain indications where these gods were venerated and by whom. But if we take a closer look even these facts reveal their problems. We often do not know whether a Roman name was simply given to an originally indigenous god. It is almost every time open to doubt how typical these persons were who venerated the gods in question. Even if we know thousands of persons who dedicated altars, we know that they were a small minority of an elevated social status in comparison not only with the whole population of the Roman empire, but also with the adherents of a certain god. The fact that the inscriptions normally tell us nothing about rituals and myths is even more problematic.
But before discussing the advantages and problems of inscriptions as sources for religions in the Roman empire, a few preliminary remarks are necessary. Discussion about the importance of inscriptions for religion and cults in the Roman empire requires that all inscriptions referring to religion and cults during the late republican and imperial periods have to be taken into consideration, not only those referring to cults which originated in Rome. In the Roman empire of imperial times - the period from which most of our inscriptions date - there were numerous contacts between the cults on the local level, on the regional level, and of empire-wide importance, resulting in numerous processes of exchange of various degrees. We have to deal not only with Latin but also with Greek inscriptions (other languages were seldom used for inscriptions referring to religion and cults until the late empire - the case of Egypt is a special one). Accordingly, we have to discuss not only the gods of the Greek and Roman pantheons, but also the Near Eastern ones and the huge mass of regional and local ones. If we define our subject in such a way (cf. Cancik and Rupke 1997, 2003) there are almost no comparable introductions. Certainly, all introductions to Greek or Latin epigraphy normally have a chapter about “dedicatory inscriptions” (e. g. Guarducci 1967-77: II 121ff., III Iff.; Schmidt 2004: 44ff.). But they take a linguistic phenomenon and not the historical reality as the starting point for their remarks. Only recently some very short attempts in a new direction have been made (Rives 2001: 126ff.; cf. Corbier 1998: 97ff.; see also Rupke 2005a: 1501-16). Given this traditional proceeding, it goes without saying that a different approach in this field cannot pretend to give a complete and exhaustive overview for the time being.
Secondly, we have to deal with various kinds of epigraphical evidence. On the one hand, some inscriptions preserved texts which originally were written on other materials, as for example on wooden tablets (Eck 1998), papyrus, or parchment. These texts - as for example sacred laws (ILS 4906-16), the commentarii of the fratres Arvales, the decisions of Roman priests (ILS 4175, 8380) or of authorities concerning religious matters (Haensch 2006), municipal decrees referring to religious matters (ILS 112, 154), calendars, ritual texts (ILS 112, 4907), inventories (ILS 4423, 4921), lists of participants in a cult - were originally not conceived as inscriptions. Therefore, the texts are often long and of a more literary nature than the great majority of inscriptions.
The most important group of those inscriptions were the so-called dedications, that is, the tens of thousands of inscriptions on dedicated monumental objects such as temples, altars, statues, vases, etc., or referring to these things. The first examples date as far back as early republican times (see for example ILS 2988 = CIL 12.1439; cf. pp. 840, 987 and AE 1979, 136 = CIL 12.2832a with Beard et al. 1998: 17f. and now Hartmann 2005: 138ff., 200f., 213, 260f.). In ancient times, there were probably even more graffiti and other painted inscriptions of a religious nature (see for example Pliny, Epist. 8.8.7; Beard et al. 1998: 316ff.; Geraci 1971; Scheid 2005b: 219), which got lost without doubt more easily than the monumental stone inscriptions. The same is true for inscriptions on wood (Scheid 2005b) and on metal objects, which were often melted down (e. g. CIL 12.383 = ILS 6132 from Firmum Picenum; RIB 218 from Britain; ILS 1010 from Germania Superior; CIL 5.6881 from the St. Bernhard). The number of tomb inscriptions is even higher than that of the dedications. We find reflections of religious convictions in their texts, but in a very indirect way only, and often of such a kind that we cannot decide if we are confronted only with a formula or with the result of a conscious conviction.
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