Falsifications épigraphiques et collections épigraphiques : le “cycle de vie” des inscriptions

This article explores new methodological approaches to the study of two specific categories of inscribed monuments: epigraphic forgeries and displaced inscriptions. In the course of the 19th century, scholars decided to merge these two groups of materials, which, in principle, do not share any major feature. Segments of the main epigraphic corpora were labelled as falsae vel alienae, and thus included the editions of forged texts, as well as references to inscriptions, which are (or were) kept in locations different from their place of initial installation. Both falsae and alienae are marked by asterisks, which often ingenerate confusion among the non-specialists, who do not fully understand the rationale of their publication. Yet, it is clear why the founders of epigraphy as a scientific discipline decided to combine such heterogeneous data. In their view, all of these inscriptions were not be used as historical sources and did not provide information for reconstructing the history of specific places in the classical period.