The epigraphic database Clauss Slaby (EDCS) was founded and developed 40 years ago by Manfred Clauss and Wolfgang Slaby at the University of Eichstätt. Today, it is the largest and most important digital tool for epigraphic research worldwide, providing rapid digital access to more than 900,000 records, including more than 550,000 Latin and Greek inscriptions. This also includes information on the find sites and provinces, the publications, and photos of inscriptions and monuments. This platform, which is used to search for and find inscriptions, words, word fragments, formulaic phrases, expression variants and linguistic phenomena in inscriptions, has been counting over 10,000 users a day for several years now.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the database, epigraphers around the world were invited to share their new findings in this celebratory volume. The collection of essays by around 40 leading researchers covers epigraphic legacies from all major regions of the former Roman Empire, presenting new inscriptions, new readings or revisions of known texts, or new interpretations of controversial texts.