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The perfect guide for anyone who wishes to understand the Latin inscriptions they discover on their travels, and gain a fresh insight into the lives of everyday Romans. Latin inscriptions can appear daunting - a jumble of letters without any structure or meaning. However, once their formulaic style is explained, most are easy to read. Requiring no prior knowledge of Latin, this book will teach readers how to decipher inscriptions and will demonstrate how even the smallest detail scan help us to reconstruct the daily life of ordinary Romans. Whilst surviving literature often relates only to the lives of those wealthy enough to afford books, inscriptions were texts intended to be seen and used by all. As a result, they shed light on the lives of those less visible in the archaeological record - the poor,women and slaves. Illustrated with the best examples of inscriptions from the British Museum's Roman collection, this book will explore what it meant to put up a public inscription and how they became standardised to ensure Romans from all over the Empire could read them