The
Greek-language inscriptions and
epigraphy
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
are a major source for understanding of the society, language and history of ancient Greece and other Greek-speaking or Greek-controlled areas. Greek inscriptions may occur on stone slabs, pottery
ostraca
An ostracon (Greek language, Greek: ''ostrakon'', plural ''ostraka'') is a piece of pottery, usually broken off from a vase or other earthenware vessel. In an archaeology, archaeological or epigraphy, epigraphical context, ''ostraca'' refer ...
, ornaments, and range from simple names to full texts.
Inscriptiones Graecae
The ''Inscriptiones Graecae'' (IG),
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
for ''Greek inscriptions'', project is an academic project originally begun by the
Prussian Academy of Science
The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (german: Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften) was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin ...
, and today continued by its successor organisation, the ''Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften''. Its aim is to collect and publish all known
ancient
Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...
inscriptions from the ancient world. As such it will eventually make all other previous collections redundant.
It is divided by regions.
I/II/III - Attica
IV - Aegina, Pityonesus, Cecryphalia, the Argolid
V - Laconia, Messenia and Arcadia
VII - Megarid, Oropus, and Boeotia
IX - Aetolia, Acarnania, West Locris and Thessaly
X - Epirus, Macedonia, Thrace, Scythia, Thessalonica, Lyncestis, Heraclea, Pelagonia, Derriopus and Lychnidus
XIV - Sicily-Italy
Other printed collections
Numerous other printed collections of Greek inscriptions exist.
[Bérard, F., D. Feissel, N. Laubry, P. Petitmengin, D. Rousset, and M. Sève. 2010. Guide de l’épigraphiste: Bibliographie choisie des épigraphies antiques et médiévales. 4th ed. Paris: Éditions Rue d’Ulm.] The following abbreviations are as listed in the preface ''Epigraphical Publications'' to the
Liddell-Scott-Jones lexicon:
* ''CGIH'' = Corpus der griechisch-christlichen Inschriften von Hellas: I. Die griechisch-christlichen Inschriften des Peloponnes, Nikos Athanasiou Bees, vol. i, Athens 1941.
* ''CID'' = Corpus des inscriptions de Delphes. I: Lois sacrées et règlements religieux, Georges Rougemont, Paris 1977; II: Les comptes du quatrième et du troisième siècle, J. Bousquet, D. Mulliez, Paris 1989.
* ''CIJud''. = Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaicarum, ed. Jean-Baptiste Frey: vol. i (Europe), Rome 1936 repr.
ew York 1975 vol. ii: Asie-Afrique, Rome 1952.
* ''CISem.'' = Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, E Renan et al., Paris 1881–1951.
* ''Inscr.Perg.'' = Die Inschriften von Pergamon (in ''Altertümer von Pergamon'' viii), ed.
Max Fränkel, Berlin 1890–1895; 8(3) = Altertümer von Pergamon viii (3). Die Inschriften des Asklepieions,
Christian Habicht (historian)
Christian Habicht (23 February 1926 – 6 August 2018) was a German historian of ancient Greece and an epigrapher in Ancient Greek.Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum
''Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum'' (''SEG'') (Latin for ''Greek Epigraphical Supplement'') is an annual survey (published by J. C. Gieben, Amsterdam, Netherlands until his death in 2006, now published by Brill) collecting the content of and stu ...
, Hondius, Netherlands
Online collections
Over the last 20 years, a growing number of online databases, catalogues and corpora of Greek inscriptions have been created. A selection is offered below:
Searchable Greek Inscriptionsof the
Packard Humanities Institute
The Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) is a non-profit foundation, established in 1987, and located in Los Altos, California, which funds projects in a wide range of conservation concerns in the fields of archaeology, music, film preservation, an ...
, including the complete ''
Inscriptiones Graecae
The ''Inscriptiones Graecae'' (IG), Latin for ''Greek inscriptions'', is an academic project originally begun by the Prussian Academy of Science, and today continued by its successor organisation, the . Its aim is to collect and publish all known ...
'' corpora
Inscriptiones Graecae homepage in German
Attic Inscriptions Online including English translations
including English translations
in English translation
I.Sicily inscriptions of Sicily
monuments from Phrygia and Lykaonia
IGCyr Inscriptions of Greek Cyrenaica
EAGLE a portal to the inscriptions of the Ancient World, part o
IDEASome other inscriptions are found incidentally in
*
TLG text materials are available online and in CD ROM format
*
Perseus project
The Perseus Project is a digital library project of Tufts University, which assembles digital collections of humanities resources. Version 4.0 is also known as the "Perseus Hopper", and it is hosted by the Department of Classical Studies. The proj ...
Duke Data Bank of Documentary Papyri
Digital resources
Alongside the development of online collections of Greek inscriptions, several projects have created online epigraphic tools for the study of inscriptions.
Epigraphy.info collaborative environment for digital epigraphy
Trismegistos portal of papyrological and epigraphical resources
LGPN the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names
*
EpiDoc
EpiDoc is an international community that produces guidelines and tools for encoding in TEI XML scholarly and educational editions of ancient documents, especially inscriptions and papyri.
The EpiDoc Guidelines were originally proposed as a rec ...
, XML text markup for ancient documents
Ubi Erat Lupa image database on ancient stone monuments
Europeana EAGLE Europeana network of Ancient Greek and Latin Epigraphy
3D digitization of inscriptions
Krateros digital repository for the collections of epigraphic squeezes
GIO translations of Ancient Greek inscriptions into Modern Greek
*
Pythia (machine learning) Pythia is an ancient text restoration model that recovers missing characters from a damaged text input using deep neural networks. It was created by Yannis Assael, Thea Sommerschield, and Jonathan Prag, researchers from Google DeepMind and the Un ...
, a deep learning model for the automatic restoration of Greek inscriptions
See also
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Epigraphy
Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...
& (Section:
Greek Inscriptions)
*
Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres
The Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres () is a French learned society devoted to history, founded in February 1663 as one of the five academies of the Institut de France. The academy's scope was the study of ancient inscriptions ( epig ...
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Leiden Conventions
*
*
Pythia (machine learning) Pythia is an ancient text restoration model that recovers missing characters from a damaged text input using deep neural networks. It was created by Yannis Assael, Thea Sommerschield, and Jonathan Prag, researchers from Google DeepMind and the Un ...
*
EpiDoc
EpiDoc is an international community that produces guidelines and tools for encoding in TEI XML scholarly and educational editions of ancient documents, especially inscriptions and papyri.
The EpiDoc Guidelines were originally proposed as a rec ...
References
Greek epigraphy
Archaeological corpora
Ancient Greek
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