Epigraphy divided,assuchworkhasbeensofar,byperiodsorthemes.^68 Hereatleast
therehasbeenabeginningofanalyticalhistoricalwriting.Butifweturn,
totakeonlythemostobviousexample,toEphesus,fromwheresomefive
thousandinscriptions,stretchingfromthesixthcentury..tothesixthcen-
tury..,havebeencollected,^69 theevidenceseemstocalloutforahistorical
studyembracingtopographyandurbandevelopment,architecture,institu-
tions,ceremonials,andcults.Itiscurious,however,thatthelateantiqueand
ByzantineperiodofAnatolianGreekcities(notablyEphesusitself)hasbeen
betterstudiedrecentlythantheclassicalperiod.^70
However,alltheseconsiderationspaleintoinsignificancebesidethefact
thatthereisnoseriousanalyticalstudyoftheoneplacewherealltheneces-
saryconditionsforafullyhistoricaluseofinscriptionsarefulfilled,namely
themostobviousofall,classicalAthens.HellenisticAthenswasthesubject
ofabeautifullybalanced,butnowantiquated,historybyW.S.Ferguson;^71
a new history, using the vast mass of new inscriptional material has now
beenpublishedbyChr.Habicht.^72 ButclassicalAthens,ofthefifthandfourth
centuries,morethananywhereelseintheancientworld,presentsaconcen-
trationofliterary,archaeological,andveryextensiveepigraphicalevidence
whichshouldallowafullyintegratedhistoricaltreatmentofasocietyand
itsevolutionthroughtime;andhere,aloneamongallancientcities,theevi-
denceofpublicinscriptionscanbesetagainstthebackgroundofadetailed
contemporaryanalysisoftheworkingoftheconstitution,theAristotelian
Athenaion Politeia.^73 As yet, to take onlya fewexamples of those aspects to
whichtheinscriptionsaremostrelevant,wehavedetailedstudiesofthetrea-
surers,^74 anexcellentaccountoftheworkingofthecouncil,^75 studiesofthe
. See, e.g., P. Roussel,Délos,colonie athénienne(Paris, ); or the important recent
workof Ph.Bruneau,Recherches sur les cultes de Délos à l’époque hellénistique et à l’époque im-
périale(Paris,).
. IntheseriesInschriften griechischer Städte KleinasiensandunderthetitleDie Inschriften
von EphesosIa(Bonn,);II(Bonn,);III–VI(Bonn,);VII,–(Bonn,).
. SeeC.Foss,Byzantine and Turkish Sardis(Cambridge,Mass.,);Ephesos after An-
tiquity: A Late Antique, Byzantine and Turkish City(Cambridge,Mass.,).
. W.S.Ferguson,Hellenistic Athens: An Historical Essay(London,).
. Chr.Habicht,Athen: Geschichte der Stadt in hellenistischen Zeit(Munich,),trans-
latedasAthens from Alexander to Antony(Cambridge,Mass.,).
. NotethemassiverecentcommentaryonthisworkbyP.J.Rhodes,A Commentary
on the Aristotelian Athenaion Politeia(Oxford,).
. W.S.Ferguson,The Treasurers of Athena(Cambridge,Mass.,).
. P.J.Rhodes,The Athenian Boule(Oxford,).Cf.B.D.MerrittandJ.S.Traill,The
Athenian AgoraXV:Inscriptions: The Athenian Councillors(Princeton,).