Greek

Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions, and more specifically, the deciphering of ancient inscriptions. Several resources related to the study of ancient Greek epigraphy are available on the web and can be reached through this page. Choose the topic you would like to explore from the menu on the left above.

Several organizations have created websites providing information on their own epigraphical work or brief descriptions of work with inscriptions done by others. Some of these sites provide images of significant inscriptions.

• The American Society of Greek and Latin Epigraphy (ASGLE)
• British Epigraphy Society
• Center for Epigraphical and Palaeographical Studies (Ohio State University)
• Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents (Oxford University)
  • Search the CSAD site here.
• Packard Humanities Institute Greek Epigraphy Project (Searchable inscriptions!)
• Inscriptiones Graecae
• Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory
• Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum
• The U.S. Epigraphy Project (Greek and Latin Inscriptions in the USA)

The list below provides direct access to a number of image collections. These collections are developed and maintained by some of the organizations listed above. By placing their images on the internet they have made them available to a worldwide network of scholars interested in ancient Greek epigraphy. They deserve our sincerest gratitude.

• Aphrodisias in Late Antiquity
  This site presents the electronic second edition of Aphrodisias in Late Antiquity: The Late Roman and Byzantine Inscriptions, by Charlotte Roueché, King's College London, expanded and revised from the version published by the Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies in 1989. Several Greek inscriptions are included in this electronic edition.
  

• David Gill's Art and Archaeology of Attica Site
  David Gill's site provides photographic resources to explore some of the archaeological monuments of the city of Athens and the surrounding countryside of Attica. Several inscriptions are included among the photographs.
  

• J.M.R. Cormack Macedonian Collection (Squeezes)
  A large collection of inscriptions from Macedonia.
  

• Images from the squeeze collection of Ohio State University
  The Web site of the Center for Epigraphical and Paleographical Studies at Ohio State University contains a list of scanned images of dated Attic inscriptions. Each listing serves as a link to an image of the relevant squeeze and is accompanied by information listing publication(s) where a copy of the text can be found including the most recent publication from which a bibliography for the inscription can be obtained. Each image also serves as a link to a larger version of the same squeeze. A 2 cm scale has been scanned in with each squeeze (most are approximately twice actual size).
  

• Imaging Projects of the Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents
  The Centre is engaged in a long-term project to create a library of digitised images of Greek inscriptions. The first phase of the project is based on material in the Centre’s own squeeze collection.
  

• Images from the Cox Archive
  The Cox Archive is an archive of notebooks, photographs and squeezes from Sir Christopher Cox's two Phrygian expeditions in 1925 and 1926 that formed the basis for Barbara Levick's and Stephen Mitchell's publication of volumes IX and X of Monumenta Asia Minoris Antiqua in 1988 and 1993.
  

• Images of inscriptions at the US Epigraphy Project
  Images of several hundred inscriptions are now available, though the site is somewhat difficult to navigate.
  

• Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine Project
  The “Inscriptions of Israel/Palestine” project at Brown University seeks to collect and make accessible over the Web all of the previously published inscriptions (and their English translations) of Israel/Palestine from the Persian period through the Islamic conquest (ca. 500 BCE - 640 CE). There are about 15,000 of these inscriptions, written primarily in Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Latin.
  

• Mysteries at Eleusis: Images of Inscriptions
  This attractive site contains images of a good number of inscriptions. Unfortunately, if the pop-up blocker in your web browser is enabled, you will need to disable it to view those inscriptions.

While many books on epigraphy are available, the following three are current and influential and provide specific discussion of ancient Greek inscriptions. Any of them would make a good starting place for your study.

Bradley McLean, An Introduction to Greek Epigraphy of the Hellenistic and Roman Periods from Alexander the Great Down to the Reign of Constantine 323 B.C. - A.D. 337

John P. Bodel, Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History From Inscriptions (History of Linguistics), Routledge, 2001

A. Geoffrey Woodhead, The Study of Greek Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONES-L is a moderated scholarly discussion list devoted to the study of Classical Epigraphy. Its purpose is to provide a forum for all aspects of such study. While the primary focus of the list is the discussion of inscriptions from the Greek and Roman worlds, discussion of inscriptions from 'peripheral cultures' is also welcome.