El nacimiento del hábito epigráfico en los confines noroccidentales de la Hispania Citerior

In the northwest lands of Hispania Citerior, the largest province of the Roman Empire, the birth of the epigraphic habit was very late and there is no evidence of inscriptions before the time of Augustus. These inscriptions were engraved mainly in granite, with a scarce presence of marble, and in the all conventus Lucensis, most of the epigraphs were written on votive altars dedicated to local divinities. Many of these altars are dated from the 1st and 2nd centuries, but some may even be dated to the 3rd century. In these inscriptions there are also mentions of principes gentium, various references to the castellum (castro) as the usual form of settlement, allusions to the ethnic identity of the deceased in some funerary texts, etc. We must highlight the evidence of the ancient Lusitanian language that can be identified in some ancient epigraphs.