Digital Epigraphy
Introduction:
Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions. The Greeks and Romans inscribed all manner of documentation on a variety of durable materials such as stone, bronze, lead, pottery, coins and other materials that survive the test of time well. Such inscriptions might include such things as laws, treaties between states, religious dedications, magical curses, or even personal messages. Included under the heading of ‘epigraphy’ for this module are ‘papyrology’, the study of ancient ‘papyrus’ documents, ancient graffiti, and ‘numismatics’ (the study of coins), although the primary focus will be on epigraphy proper, and on the application of digital tools for epigraphic inquiry in particular.
For historians who study the ancient Greco-Roman world, evidence from inscriptions constitutes one of the most important sources of new knowledge in the field. The discovery of heretofore unknown manuscripts of some ancient text is always rare, but archaeology brings new inscriptions to light on a fairly regular basis, and at times can dramatically change what we thought we knew about the ancient world. One of the great advantages of epigraphic evidence for the ancient historian is that it can provide contemporary evidence for a particular event in a way that, say, traditional historiographical texts, many of which were written centuries after the events they describe, simply cannot provide. To the extent that they provide a direct window into a specific event in a particular time and place, inscriptions are primary source evidence in the truest sense. Yet, as we are still dealing with written text when using epigraphic evidence, Classical scholars must still wrestle with many of the problems typical of literary scholarship in general.
Beyond the methodological and theoretical challenges that beset epigraphic research, Classical Studies students are often confronted by other, more basic difficulties when attempting to incorporate inscriptional evidence into their own research.
First, epigraphy, papyrology, and numismatics have developed into highly specialized fields, in their own right. Most Classical Studies students thus find themselves learning the requisite research skills informally as they read scholarly articles of an epigraphic character whilst pursuing their studies more generally. Many Classical Studies programs have formal courses in epigraphy and epigraphic analysis, even though it is the lifeblood of ancient history scholarship. Fortunately, some useful general guides in such specialized areas as epigraphy and numismatics have recently been published.[1] It is strongly recommended that students consult some of these works if they wish to develop a fuller picture of the working methods such specialists employ than the general overview that is provided in the lecture material for this module.
Aside from the specialized skillset required for the competent analysis of epigraphic evidence, access to corpora and to the physical inscriptions themselves remains a challenge for many Classical Studies students. Scholarly collections of inscriptions, coins, and papyri documents reside mainly in expensive reference volumes and students in smaller institutions with more modest library collections do not have easy access to such corpora. The digitization of epigraphic (and numismatic and papyrological) materials published on open access platforms has thus had a democratizing affect when it comes to scholarly access. Many new digital collections of epigraphic materials have appeared in recent years and these are searchable and often provide images of the actual inscribed materials.
While the appearance of a number of open access digital collections of epigraphic materials (see Supplementary Materials 5, 7, 9, and 11 below) has indeed afforded access to such primary source data denied to many Classical Studies students in the past, there are nonetheless several things of which students using these resources must be aware. First, at least a passing knowledge of epigraphy and its problems and limitations as evidence is indispensable. The lecture for Module 4 therefore addresses some basic considerations when conducting research using epigraphic materials. Second, students must realize that most open access epigraphic collections are incomplete and far from exhaustive, a problem that will hopefully be fully remedied one day soon. Finally, the digital collections themselves can sometimes prove intimidating for Classical Studies students not used to working with digital collections and machine learning tools. Some of the supplementary videos below will demonstrate how to use some of the open access collections of epigraphic material in order to conduct some basic epigraphic research.
Module 4 Lecture Here:
Module 4 Supplementary Materials:
Module 4 Supplementary Material 1: British School in Rome, Digital Epigraphy at the Crossroads of the Mediterranean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktlup2Boi4c
Module 4 Supplementary Material 2: Papyrology and Ancient History: A Changing Relationship – Prof R S Bagnall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH97FUCitAE
Module 4 Supplementary Material 3: List of Epigraphic Corpora with standard abbreviations: https://antiquite.ens.psl.eu/IMG/file/pdf_guide_epi/abreviations_guide.pdf
Module 4 Supplementary Material 4 Packard Humanities Institute Searchable Greek Inscriptions, Cornell University and Ohio State University (Video)
Module 4 Supplementary Material 5 Packard Humanities Institute Searchable Greek Inscriptions, Cornell University and Ohio State University (Website): PHI Greek Inscriptions (packhum.org)
Module 4 Supplementary Material 6 Epigraphik Datenbank, Clauss Slaby (Video)
Module 4 Supplementary Material 7 Epigraphik Datenbank, Clauss Slaby (Website): Epigraphische Datenbank Clauss – Slaby (manfredclauss.de)
Module 4 Supplementary Material 8 Epigraphic Database Heidelberg (Video)
Module 4 Supplementary Material 9 Epigraphic Database Heidelberg (Website): EDH: Home (uni-heidelberg.de)
Module 4 Supplementary Material 10 Europeana Eagle Project Inscriptions Search Engine (Video)
Module 4 Supplementary Material 11 Europeana Eagle Project Inscriptions Search Engine (Website): EAGLE Portal | (eagle-network.eu)
Key Terms:
Epigraphy, Papyrology, Paleography, Local Epigraphic Idiom, Ostraka, Squeeze, Tabella, Vellum, Palimpsest, Lacuna, Erasure, Fragment, Epigraphic Database Heidelberg, Epigraphik Datenbank, Europeana Eagle Project, Packard Humanities Institute, Graffiti, Epigraphic Material, Epigraphic Reconstruction, Findspot, Archaeological Context, Internal Evidence, Honorific Inscription, Epitaph, Votive Inscription.
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- J. Bodel (2001). Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History from Inscriptions. London; C. Howgego (1995). Ancient History from Coins. London; More generally see D.M. Schaps (2011). Handbook for Classical Research. London. Chs. 16-18. ↵