The volume by George Cupcea is without doubt a significant contribution to the knowledge of Roman Dacia from an epigraphic perspective. It is not an isolated work, but rather a piece within a well-established trend: that of regional or thematic epigraphic collections, conceived not only as tools of consultation for specialists but also as true monographic studies capable of shedding light on the political, military, and religious life of the imperial provinces. In this specific case, Apulum—today’s Alba Iulia in Transylvania—represents a privileged location, not only because it was the seat of legio XIII Gemina, but also because it was a crossroads of military presence, imperial power, and urban dynamics that made it a center of prime importance throughout the Danubian area. Moreover, as emphasized from the outset, we are given the all-too-rare opportunity to evaluate inscriptions in their original archaeological context.
The genesis of the volume, as recounted by the author himself in the preface, is not without autobiographical elements that help explain the depth of the work. Cupcea first encountered the epigraphic material from Apulum during excavation and survey campaigns around 2015, and he was able to rely on the support of local scholars and institutions, such as the Alba Iulia Museum, which granted him access to documentation. Later, a stay in Vienna at the Institut für Alte Geschichte und Altertumskunde, Papyrologie und Epigraphik, funded by an Ernst Mach fellowship, made possible the elaboration of the editorial project, with the support of Fritz Mitthof and other scholars at the University. This background explains why the volume is not merely a technical catalogue, but a long-considered work, the fruit of years of engagement with the material and of methodological reflection.
The volume is clearly structured. After the preface and an introduction devoted to the historical and topographical framework—with sections on the creation of the province of Dacia, the history of Apulum, and the most recent excavation campaigns—the core of the book follows the publication of inscriptions from the context of the legionary fortress. These are organized by sector and function: inscriptions from the area of the principia, the administrative and religious heart of the castrum; those pertaining to the basilica and the aedes; inscriptions located near temples and armamentaria; texts recovered from other parts of the camp, such as troop quarters, gates, or prisons. The volume closes with an epilogue broadening the perspective to the “epigraphic culture” of the site and its evolution in the Severan age, followed by a rich apparatus of illustrations, plates, indices, and bibliography.
It is clear from the very design that the author does not intend to limit himself to a traditional epigraphic corpus: his goal is to provide an epigraphic-archaeological monograph, in which each document is read not only as a text, but as an object with a history and findspot, taking advantage of the extraordinary circumstances in which many of the inscriptions were recovered.
One of the greatest strengths of the volume is precisely this insistence on the relationship between epigraphy and archaeology. Cupcea stresses that many of the inscriptions he studies come from excavations conducted under controlled and documented conditions—something rare in provincial epigraphy, which often must make do with decontextualized finds, reused in medieval churches or collected in modern times without secure provenance. At Apulum, by contrast, the most recent discoveries—especially those of 2010–2011 in the area of the principia—yielded in situ inscriptions, allowing a better understanding of the monuments’ original function. This aspect confers on the corpus a kind of “archaeological gravitas” that greatly enhances its interpretive value.
The chapter devoted to the principia is perhaps the richest and most fascinating. Here were located the administrative and religious spaces of the castrum, and here are concentrated many dedications to divinities and to the imperial family. Particularly noteworthy are the inscriptions dedicated to Serapis, connected to an internal sanctuary within the principia and datable to the age of Caracalla. The presence of Isiac cults inside a legionary fortress in Dacia confirms the army’s role as a privileged channel for the diffusion of eastern religions along the Danubian limes.
Alongside these stand dedications to members of the imperial family, such as collective statues of the Severans or honorary bases for Julia Domna. These monuments testify to the intertwining of dynastic cult and military life: soldiers did not venerate the emperor as a god in the strict sense, but honored him as supreme commander, in a context blending political devotion with religious ritual.
The army of Apulum emerges as a strongly devout community, where religiosity took multiple forms. In the aedes, as in other parts of the camp, altars were dedicated to Mars, Silvanus, Nemesis, to the Genius centuriae near the armamentaria, and to the genius armamentarii. Some inscriptions are especially interesting because they document cults internal to military collegia, such as those of the equites legionis or the custodes armorum. In other cases, formulas appear celebrating the health and safety of the emperor, mingling religious faith with political loyalty.
What emerges is a stratified pantheon: alongside the official divinities of the Roman state, local and eastern cults coexisted in a syncretism reflecting the cosmopolitan nature of the Danubian army. The variety of gods invoked and the frequency of dedications demonstrate how integral religion was to military daily life.
A section of particular interest concerns the area near the aedes, the sancta sanctorum of the principia, where the legionary eagle and standards were kept. Cupcea reminds us that this space had a sacred value comparable to the Capitolium in civic contexts, and was the place where the annual oath of the soldiers was sworn. The inscriptions found in this sector include dedications to Mars, as well as a list of centurions. Here, more than elsewhere, the intertwining of religion, military discipline, and imperial ideology is evident.
In the epilogue, the author reflects on the overall meaning of the inscriptions for the culture of the time. He highlights, for example, the gradual replacement of local limestone with marble in the Severan period—a change that was not only aesthetic but also symbolic and thus profoundly political, indicating a will to monumentalize and to lend greater solemnity to messages. The growing use of precious materials probably also reflects the role of Apulum as a provincial capital.
The “epigraphic culture” of Apulum thus appears as a dynamic phenomenon, in which dedications were not merely acts of piety or remembrance, but instruments of social self-representation, vehicles of political propaganda, and tangible signs of collective identity.
In the conclusion of the volume, the peculiar character of the epigraphic dossier from Apulum is effectively emphasized: here, the concentration of documents makes it possible to observe representational dynamics otherwise hard to grasp. The distribution of monuments between the courtyard and the surrounding rooms was far from random: imperial statues almost exclusively occupied the central open space, while divinities were placed in side rooms or near the aedes. This arrangement materialized a symbolic hierarchy placing the emperor and his family at the center, without excluding strongly connected cults such as that of Serapis under Caracalla. The “marble revolution” of the Severan age, accompanying the monumentalization of the entire complex, fits coherently into the broader process of urban and institutional transformation that saw the promotion of the canabae to the municipium Septimium Apulense. In this context, statuary and honorary dedications assumed the value of a collective declaration of loyalty, in which the individual voice was almost entirely absorbed into that of the legion and its community.
The volume impresses with its editorial precision and the richness of its documentation. Each inscription is presented with philological rigor, without arbitrary reconstructions, yet with an eye to its historical significance. The photographic apparatus is generally good. From an interpretive standpoint, the author favors caution, avoiding bold conjectures. This prudence enhances the reliability of the corpus.
In short, Latin Inscriptions from the Legionary Fortress of Apulum marks a fundamental step in the study of Roman Dacia. It is not only a repertory of texts, but a book that restores voice and body to an ancient military community, showing how, through stone and inscription, relations of power, forms of religiosity, and collective identities were constructed. Apulum emerges as a microcosm of the Empire: a place where soldiers from diverse regions coexisted, worshipped gods of different traditions, and at the same time celebrated the greatness of the emperor and his family.
One of the major merits of the volume lies in its balance between philological rigor, historical sensitivity, and archaeological attention. For these reasons, it will not only serve as a tool for epigraphists, but as a point of reference for anyone interested in military history, Roman religion, and the processes of Romanization in the frontier provinces.