Epigraphy
*Introduction
Therecanhavebeenfewmajorcivilisationsinwhichtheincisionofwords
onstoneormetalforpermanentdisplayorrecordhasplayednopartatall.
But if the making and displayof inscriptions is attested in manycultures,
itwassodistinctiveafeatureofGraeco-Romancivilisationthatitdeserves
consideration as a majorcultural phenomenon in its own right. As a con-
sequenceofthis,thesheervolumeof inscriptionsfromtheancientworld,
primarilybutnotonlyinGreekandLatin,givesepigraphyacentralimpor-
tanceinthestudyof itshistoryandculture,inawaywhichisnotcharac-
teristicofhistoricalapproachestomostotherperiodsorareas.Thus,itwas
toanepigrapheroftheclassicalworldthattheeditorsofapost-warFrench
encyclopaediaturnedwhentheywantedtoincludeasectiononepigraphy
asahistoricaldisciplineingeneral.^1
Thesheerprofusionofepigraphicevidence—fromtinygraffitionwalls
orfragmentsofpottery,tostampsonjars,tothesepulchralinscriptionsof
innumerableindividuals,tovastmonumentalinscriptionswhichmayrunto
several hundred lines—creates its own problems. It would be a Herculean
(andpointless)labourtoworkoutevenapproximatelyhowmanyGreekand
Latininscriptionshavenowbeenpublished;aguessofsomethingoverhalf
amillionmightnotbefarout.Thoughmanymajorprojectsforcorporaof
inscriptionshavebeenundertaken—thegreatclassicsbeingtheCorpus In-
scriptionum Latinarumand,toalesserextent,Inscriptiones Graecae—noneever
*FirstpublishedinM.Crawford,ed.,Sources for Ancient History(Cambridge,),–
.
. L. Robert, ‘‘Épigraphie,’’ inL’histoire et ses méthodes(Encyclopédie de la Pléiade, Paris,
), –; German translation by H. Engelmann,Die Epigraphik der klassischen Welt
(Bonn,),withaddednotesbyRobert.