Etymologically the term inscription ([Greek: epigraphe]) would include
much more than is commonly meant by it. It would include words engraved
on rings, or stamped on coins,[28] vases, lamps, wine-jar handles,[29]
&c. But Boeckh was clearly right in excluding this _varia supellex_ from
his _Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum_, or only admitting it by way of
appendix. Giving the term inscription a somewhat narrower sense, we
still include within it a vast store of documents of the greatest value
to the student of Greek civilization. It happens, moreover, that Greek
inscriptions yield the historian a richer harvest than those of Rome.
Partly from fashion, but partly from the greater abundance of the
material, the Romans engraved their public documents (treaties, laws,
&c.) to a large extent on bronze. These bronze tablets, chiefly set up
in the Capitol, were melted in the various conflagrations, or were
carried off to feed the mint of the conqueror. In Greece, on the
contrary, the mountains everywhere afforded an inexhaustible supply of
marble, and made it the natural material for inscriptions. Some Greek
inscribed tablets of bronze have come down to us,[30] and many more must
have perished in the sack of cities and burning of temples. A number of
inscriptions on small thin plates of lead, rolled up, have survived;
these are chiefly imprecations on enemies[31] or questions asked of
oracles.[32] An early inscription recently discovered (1905) at Ephesus
is on a plate of silver. But as a rule the material employed was marble.
These marble monuments are often found _in situ_; and, though more often
they were used up as convenient stones for building purposes, yet they
have thus survived in a more or less perfect condition.[33]
Inscriptions were usually set up in temples, theatres, at the side of
streets and roads, in [Greek: temene] or temple-precincts, and near
public buildings generally. At Delphi and Olympia were immense numbers
of inscriptions--not only those engraved upon the gifts of victorious
kings and cities, but also many of a more public character. At Delphi
were inscribed the decrees of the Amphictyonic assembly, at Olympia
international documents concerning the Peloponnesian cities; the
Parthenon and Acropolis were crowded with treaties, laws and decrees
concerning the Athenian confederation; the Heraeum at Samos, the
Artemisium at Ephesus, and indeed every important sanctuary, abounded
with inscriptions. It is a common thing for decrees ([Greek:
psephismata]) to contain a clause specifying where they are to be set
up, and what department of the state is to defray the cost of inscribing
and erecting them. Sometimes duplicates are ordered to be set up in
various places; and, in cases of treaties, arbitrations and other
international documents, copies were always set up by each city
concerned. Accordingly documents like the _Marmor Ancyranum_ and the
_Edict of Diocletian_ have been restored by a comparison of the various
fragments of copies set up in diverse quarters of the empire.
Greek inscribed marbles varied considerably in their external
appearance. The usual form was the [Greek: stele], the normal type of
which was a plain slab, from 3 to 4 or even 5 ft. high,[34] 3 or 4 in.
thick, tapering slightly upwards from about 2 ft. wide at bottom to
about 18 in. at the top, where it was either left plain or often had a
slight moulding, or still more commonly was adorned with a more or less
elaborate pediment; the slab was otherwise usually plain. Another form
was the [Greek: bomos] or altar, sometimes square, oftener circular, and
varying widely in size. Tombstones were either [Greek: stelai] (often
enriched beneath the pediment with simple groups in relief,
commemorative of the deceased), or [Greek: kiones], pillars, of
different size and design, or sarcophagi plain and ornamental. To these
must be added statue-bases of every kind, often inscribed, not only with
the names and honours of individuals, but also with decrees and other
documents. All these forms were intended to stand by themselves in the
open air. But it was also common to inscribe state documents upon the
surface of the walls of a temple, or other public building. Thus the
antae and external face of the walls of the pronaos of the temple of
Athena Polias at Priene were covered with copies of the awards made
concerning the lands disputed between Samos and Priene (see _Gk. Inscr.
in Brit. Mus._ iii. S 1); similarly the walls of the Artemisium at
Ephesus contained a number of decrees (_ibid._ iii. S 2), and the
_proscenium_ of the Odeum was lined with crustae, or "marble-veneering,"
under 1 in. thick, inscribed with copies of letters from Hadrian,
Antoninus and other emperors to the Ephesian people (_ibid._ p. 151).
The workmanship and appearance of inscriptions varied considerably
according to the period of artistic development. The letters incised
with the chisel upon the wall or the [Greek: stele] were painted in with
red or blue pigment, which is often traceable upon newly unearthed
inscriptions. When Thucydides, in quoting the epigram of Peisistratus
the younger (vi. 54), says "it may still be read [Greek: amydrois
grammasi]," he must refer to the fading of the colour; for the
inscription was brought to light in 1877 with the letters as fresh as
when they were first chiselled (see Kumanudes in [Greek: Athenaion], vi.
149; _I.G._ suppl. to vol. i. p. 41). The Greeks found no inconvenience,
as we should, in the bulkiness of inscriptions as a means of keeping
public records. On the contrary they made every temple a muniment room;
and while the innumerable [Greek: stelai], _Hermae_, bases and altars
served to adorn the city, it must also have encouraged and educated the
sense of patriotism for the citizen to move continually among the
records of the past. The history of a Greek city was literally written
upon her stones.
The primary value of an inscription lay in its documentary evidence (so
Euripides, _Suppl._ 1202, fol.). In this way they are continually cited
and put in evidence by the orators (e.g. see Demosth. _Fals. Leg._ 428;
Aeschin. _In Ctes._ S 75). But the Greek historians also were not slow
to recognize their importance. Herodotus often cites them (iv. 88, 90,
91, v. 58 sq., vii. 228); and in his account of the victory of Plataea
he had his eye upon the tripod-inscription (ix. 81; cf. Thuc. i. 132).
Thucydides's use of inscriptions is illustrated by v. 18 fol., 23, 47,
77, vi. 54, 59. Polybius used them still more. In later Greece, when
men's thoughts were thrown back upon the past, regular collections of
inscriptions began to be made by such writers as Philochorus (300 B.C.),
Polemon (2nd century B.C., called [Greek: stelokopas] for his devotion
to inscriptions), Aristodemus, Craterus of Macedon, and many others.
At the revival of learning, the study of inscriptions revived with the
renewed interest in Greek literature. Cyriac of Ancona, early in the
15th century, copied a vast number of inscriptions during his travels in
Greece and Asia Minor; his MS. collections were deposited in the
Barberini library at Rome, and have been used by other scholars. (See
_Bull. Corr. Hellen._ i.; Larfeld in Muller's _Handbuch_ 1.^2, p. 368
f.; Ziebarth, "de ant. Inscript. Syllogis" in _Ephem. Epigr._ ix.).
Succeeding generations of travellers and scholars continued to collect
and edit, and Englishmen in both capacities did much for this study.
Thus early in the 19th century the store of known Greek inscriptions
had so far accumulated that the time had come for a comprehensive
survey of the whole subject. And it was the work of one great scholar,
Augustus Boeckh, to raise Greek epigraphy into a science. At the
request of the Academy of Berlin he undertook to arrange and edit all
the known inscriptions in one systematic work, and vol. i. of the
_Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum_ was published in 1828, vol. ii. in
1833. He lived to see the work completed, although other scholars were
called in to help him to execute his great design; vol. iii., by
Franz, appeared in 1853; vol. iv., by Kirchhoff, in 1856.[35] The work
is a masterpiece of lucid arrangement and profound learning, of
untiring industry and brilliant generalization. Out of the publication
of the _Corpus_ there grew up a new school of students, who devoted
themselves to discovering and editing new texts, and working up
epigraphical results into monographs upon the many-sided history of
Greece. In the _Corpus_ Boeckh had settled for ever the methods of
Greek epigraphy; and in his _Staatshaushaltung der Athener_ (3rd ed.
of vols. i. ii. by Frankel, 1886; well known to English readers from
Sir G. C. Lewis's translation, _The Public Economy of Athens_, 2nd
ed., 1842) he had given a palmary specimen of the application of
epigraphy to historical studies. At the same time Franz drew up a
valuable introduction to the study of inscriptions in his _Elementa
Epigraphices Graecae_ (1840).
Meanwhile the liberation of Greece and increasing facilities for
visiting the Levant combined to encourage the growth of the subject,
which has been advanced by the labours of many scholars, and chiefly
Ludwig Ross, Leake, Pittakys, Rangabe, Le Bas and later by Meier,
Sauppe, Kirchhoff, Kumanudes, Waddington, Kohler, Dittenberger,
Homolle, Haussoullier, Wilhelm and others. Together with the
development of this school of writers, there has gone on a systematic
exploration of some of the most famous sites of antiquity, with the
result of exhuming vast numbers of inscriptions. To mention only some
of the most important: Cyrene, Rhodes, Cos, Cnidus, Halicarnassus,
Miletus, Priene, Ephesus, Magnesia on the Maeander, Pergamum, Delos,
Thera, Athens, Eleusis, Epidaurus, Olympia, Delphi, Dodona, Sparta,
have been explored or excavated by the Austrians, English, French,
Germans and Greeks. German, French, British, Austrian and American
institutes have been established at Athens, to a great extent engaged
in the study of inscriptions. From every part of the Greek world
copies of inscriptions are brought home by the students of these
institutes and by other travellers. And still the work proceeds at a
rapid rate. For indeed the yield of inscriptions is practically
inexhaustible: each island, every city, was a separate centre of
corporate life, and it is significant to note that in the island of
Calymnos alone C. T. Newton collected over one hundred inscriptions,
many of them of considerable interest.
The result of this has been that Boeckh's great work, though it never
can be superseded, yet has ceased to be what its name implies. The
four volumes of the _C.I.G._ contain about 10,000 inscriptions. But
the number of Greek inscriptions now known is probably more than three
or four times as great. Many of these are only to be found published
in the scattered literature of dissertations, or in Greek, German and
other periodicals. But several comprehensive collections have been
attempted, among which (omitting those dealing with more limited
districts of the Greek world) the following may be named:--Rangabe,
_Antiquites helleniques_ (2 vols., 1842-1855); Le Bas-Waddington,
_Voyage archeologique, inscriptions_ (3 vols., 1847-1876, incomplete);
Newton, Hicks and Hirschfeld, _Greek Inscriptions in the British
Museum_ (parts i.-iv.); and above all the _Inscriptiones Graecae_, a
Corpus undertaken by the Berlin Academy (absorbing the _Corpus Inscr.
Attic._ and other similar collections). Of this work six complete
volumes and parts of others have appeared (by 1906) representing
Attica, Argolis, Megaris, Boeotia, Phocis, Locris, Aetolia, Acarnania,
Ionian Islands, Aegean Islands (exc. Delos), Sicily, Italy and western
Europe; they are edited by Kirchhoff, Kohler, Dittenberger, Frankel,
Hiller von Gaertringen, Kaibel and others. Of a similar Austrian
publication dealing with Asia Minor (_Tituli Asiae Minoris_) only the
first part (Lycian Inscriptions) has appeared. Of general selections
of inscriptions on a smaller scale it is necessary to mention:
Dittenberger, _Sylloge Inscriptionum Graec._ (2nd ed., 1898-1901, 3
vols.); the same, _Orientis Graeci Inscr. Selectae_ (2 vols.,
1903-1905); Hicks, _Greek Historical Inscriptions_ (1st ed., 1882; 2nd
ed., 1901); Michel, _Recueil d'inscriptions grecques_ (1900); Roberts
and Gardner, _Introd. to Gk. Epigraphy_ (2 vols., 1887-1905); Rohl,
_Inscr. gr. antiquissimae_ (1882), and _Imagines Inscriptionum_ (2nd
ed., 1898).
Oldest Greek inscriptions.
The oldest extant Greek inscriptions appear to date from the middle of
the 7th century B.C. During the excavations at Olympia a number of
fragments of very ancient inscriptions were found (see _Olympia,
Textband_ v.); and other very early inscriptions from various places, as
Thera and Crete, have been published (see Rohl, _op. cit._). But what is
wanted is a sufficient number of very early inscriptions of fixed date.
One such exists upon the leg of a colossal Egyptian statue at Abu-Simbel
on the upper Nile, where certain Greek mercenaries in the service of
King Psammetichus recorded their names, as having explored the river up
to the second cataract (_C.I.G._ 5126; Rohl, 482; Hicks^2, 3). Even if
Psammetichus II. is meant, the inscription dates between 594 and 589
B.C. Another, but later, instance is to be found in the fragmentary
inscriptions on the columns dedicated by Croesus in the Ephesian temple
(c. 550 B.C.; _Gk. Inscr. in the Brit. Mus._ 518). Documents earlier
than the Persian War are not very frequent; but after that period the
stream of Greek inscriptions goes on, generally increasing in volume,
down to late Byzantine times.
Greek inscriptions may most conveniently be classified under the
following heads: (1) those which illustrate political history; (2) those
connected with religion; (3) those of a private character.
Political inscriptions.
1. Foremost among the inscriptions which illustrate Greek history and
politics are the _decrees_ of senate and people ([Greek: psephismata
boules, ekklesias], &c.) upon every subject which could concern the
interests of the state. These abound from every part of Greece. It is
true that a large number of them are honorary, i.e. merely decrees
granting to strangers, who have done service to the particular city,
public honours (crowns, statues, citizenship and other privileges).
One of these privileges was the _proxenia_, an honour, which entailed
on the recipient the burthen of protecting the citizens of the state
which granted it when they came to his city. But the importance of an
honorary decree depends upon the individual and the services to which
it refers. And even the mere headings and datings of the decrees from
various states afford curious and valuable information upon the names
and titles of the local magistrates, the names of months and other
details. On the formulae, see Swoboda, _Die gr. Volksbeschlusse_
(1890). Droysen in his _Hellenismus_ (1877-1878) has shown how the
history of Alexander and his successors is illustrated by contemporary
[Greek: psephimata]. And when the student of Athenian politics of the
5th and 4th centuries turns to the 1st and 2nd volumes of the _I.G._,
he may wonder at the abundance of material before him; it is like
turning over the minutes of the Athenian parliament. One example out
of many must suffice--No. 17 in _I.G._ ii. pt. 1 (Hicks^2, 101) is the
famous decree of the archonship of Nausinicus (378 B.C.) concerning
the reconstruction of the Athenian confederacy. The terms of admission
to the league occupy the face of the marble; at the bottom and on the
left edge are inscribed the names of states which had already joined.
Inscribed _laws_ ([Greek: nomoi]) occur with tolerable frequency. The
following are examples:--A citation of a law of Draco's from the
[Greek: protos axon] of Solon's laws (_I.G._ i. 61; cf. Dittenberger,
_Syll._^2 52); the Civil Codes of Gortyna (5th century, Dareste, &c.,
_Inscr. jurid. gr._ i. 352 ff.); a reassessment of the tribute payable
by the Athenian allies in 425 B.C. (_I.G._ i. 37; Kohler _Urkunden und
Untersuchungen zur Geschichte des delisch-attischen Bundes_, 1870, p.
63; Hicks^2, 64); a law passed by the Amphictyonic council at Delphi,
380 B.C. (Boeckh, _C.I.G._ 1688; _I.G._ ii. 545); law concerning
Athenian weights and measures (Boeckh, _Staatshaushaltung_^3, ii. 318;
_I.G._ ii. 476); the futile sumptuary law of Diocletian concerning the
maximum prices for all articles sold throughout the empire
(Mommsen-Blumner, _Der Maximaltarif des Diocletian_, 1893). For a
collection of such legal documents, see Dareste, Haussoullier and
Reinach, _Recueil des inscr. juridiques gr._ (1891-1898).
Besides the inscribed _treaties_ previously referred to, we may
instance the following: Between Athens and Chalcis in Euboea, 446 B.c.
(_I.G._ suppl. to vol. i. 27A); between Athens and Rhegium, 433 B.C.
(Hicks^2, 51); between Athens and Leontini, dated the same day as the
preceding (_ibid._ 52); between Athens and Boeotia, 395 B.C. (_ibid._
84); between Athens and Chalcis, 377 B.C. (_ibid._ 102); between
Athens and Sparta, 271 B.C. (_I.G._ ii. No. 332); between Hermias of
Atarneus and the Ionian Erythrae, about 350 B.C. (Hicks^2 138);
treaties in the local dialect between the Eleans and the Heraeans, 6th
century (_Olympia Inschr._ 9), and between various cities of Crete,
3rd century B.C. (_C.I.G._ 2554-2556; _Griech. Dial. Inschr._
5039-5041, 5075). Egger's _Etudes historiques sur les traites publics
chez les Grecs et chez les Romains_ (Paris, 1866) embraces a good many
of these documents; see also R. von Scala, _Die Staatsvertrage des
Altertums_, pt. i. (1898).
The international relation of Greek cities is further illustrated by
_awards_ of disputed lands, delivered by a third city called in
([Greek: ekkletos polis]) to arbitrate between the contending states,
e.g. Rhodian award as between Samos and Priene (_Gk. Inscr. in Brit.
Mus._ 405; Dittenberger, _Syll._^2 315); Milesian between Messanians
and Spartans, discovered at Olympia (_ibid._ 314; see Tac. _Ann._ iv.
43); and many others. Akin to these are decrees in honour of judges
called in from a neutral city to try suits between citizens which were
complicated by political partisanship (see _C.I.G._ No. 2349B, with
Boeckh's remarks; _I.G._ xii. 722). On the general subject, E. Sonne,
_De arbitris extends_ (1888).
_Letters_ from kings are frequent; as from Darius I. to the satrap
Gadates, with reference to the shrine of Apollo at Magnesia (Hicks^2,
20); from Alexander the Great to the Chians (_ibid._ 158); from
Lysimachus to the Samians (_C.I.G._ 2254; Hicks^1, 152); from
Antigonus I. directing the transfer of the population of Lebedus to
Teos (Dittenberger, _Syll._^2 177); from the same to the Scepsians
(Dittenberger, _Or. Gr. Inscr. Sel._ 5), Letters from Roman emperors
are commoner still; such as Dittenberger, _Syll._^2 350, 356, 373,
384-388, 404.
The internal administration of Greek towns is illustrated by the
minute and complete lists of the treasures in the Parthenon of the
time of the Peloponnesian War (Boeckh, _Staatshaush_.^3 vol. ii.);
public accounts of Athenian expenditure (_ibid._); records of the
Athenian navy in the 4th century, forming vol. iii. of the 1840 ed. of
the same work. To the same category belong the so-called Athenian
tribute-lists, which are really lists of the quota (of the tribute
paid by the Athenian allies) which was due to the treasury of Athena
([Greek: aparchai te theo mua apo talantou]). Being arranged according
to the tributary cities, they throw much light on the constitution of
the Athenian empire at the time (_I.G._ i. 226-272 and suppl. p. 71
f.; Kohler, _Urkunden und Untersuchungen zur Gesch. des
attisch-delischen Seebundes_ 1870; Boeckh, _Staatshaush_.^3 ii.
332-498). The management of public lands and mines is specially
illustrated from inscriptions (Boeckh, _op. cit._ vol. i. passim); and
the political constitution of different cities often receives light
from inscriptions which cannot be gained elsewhere (e.g. see the
document from Cyzicus, _C.I.G._ 3665, and Boeckh's note, or that from
Mytilene, Dittenberger, _Or. Gr. Inscr._ 2, and the inscriptions from
Ephesus, Gk. _Inscr. in Brit. Mus._ pt. iii. S 2).
Inscriptions in honour of kings and emperors are very common. The
_Marmor Ancyranum_ (ed. Mommsen,^2 1883) has already been mentioned;
but an earlier example is the _Monumentum Adulitanum_ (from Abyssinia,
_C.I.G._ 5127A); Dittenberger, (_Inscr. or. Gr._ 54) reciting the
achievements of Ptolemy III. Euergetes I.
Offerings in temples ([Greek: anathemata]) are often of great
historical value, e.g. the dedications on the columns of Croesus at
Ephesus mentioned above; Gelo's dedication at Delphi, 479 B.C.
(Hicks^2 16); the helmet of Hiero, now in the British Museum,
dedicated at Olympia after his victory over the Etruscans, 474 B.C.
(_C.I.G._ 16; Hicks^2 22); and the bronze base of the golden tripod
dedicated at Delphi after the victory of Plataea, and carried off to
Constantinople by Constantine (Dethier and Mordtmann, _Epigraphik von
Byzantion_, 1874; Hicks^2 19).
Religious Inscriptions.
2. The religion of Greece in its external aspects is the subject of a
great number of inscriptions (good selections in Dittenberger,
_Syll._^2 550-816, and Michel 669-1330). The following are a few
specimens. (1) Institution of festivals, with elaborate ritual
directions: see Sauppe, _Die Mysterieninschrift aus Andania_ (1860);
Dittenberger, _Syll._^2 653, and the singular document from the
Ephesian theatre in _Gk. Inscr. in Brit. Mus._ 481; the following also
relate to festivals--_C.I.G._ 1845, 2360, 2715, 3059, 3599, 3641b;
Dittenberger, _Syll._^2 634 (the lesser Panathenaea) and _Or. Gr.
Inscr._ 383 (law of Antiochus I. of Commagene). (2) Laws defining the
appointment, duties or perquisites of the priesthood: Dittenberger,
_Syll._^2 601; Boeckh, _Staatshaush_. ii. 109 seq. (3) Curious
calendar of sacrifices from Myconus: Dittenberger, _Syll._^2 615. (4)
Fragment of augury rules, Ephesus, 6th century B.C.: _ibid._ 801. (5)
Leases of [Greek: temene] and sacred lands (see Dareste, &c., _Inscr.
jur. Gr._ ii. S 19 and commentary). (6) Imprecations written on lead,
and placed in tombs or in temples: Wunsch, _I.G._ iii. App.;
Audollent, _Defixionum tabellae_ (1904). (7) Oracles are referred to
_I.G._ xii. 248; Michel 840-856. (8) Among the inscriptions from
Delphi few are more curious than those relating to the enfranchisement
of slaves under the form of sale to a god (see _Gr. dial. Inschr._
nos. 1684-2342); for enfranchisement-inscriptions of various kinds,
Dareste, &c., _Inscr. jur. Gr._ S xxx. (9) Cures effected in the
Asclepieum at Epidaurus (Dittenberger, _Syll._^2 802-805). (10)
Inventories, &c., of treasures in temples: Michel 811-828, 832, 833,
&c. (11) Inscriptions relating to dramatic representations at public
festivals: A. Wilhelm, _Urkunden dramatischer Auffuhrungen in Athen_
(Vienna, 1906). This catalogue might be enlarged indefinitely.
Private Inscriptions.
3. There remain a large number of inscriptions of a more strictly
private character. The famous Parian marble (_I.G._ xii. 444) falls
under this head; it was a system of chronology drawn up, perhaps by a
schoolmaster, in the 3rd century B.C. The excessive devotion of the
later Greeks to athletic and other competitions at festivals is
revealed by the numerous dedications made by victorious competitors
who record their successes (see Michel 915-960; Dittenberger,
_Syll._^2 683 f.). The dedications and honorary inscriptions relating
to the Ephebi of later Athens (which occupy half of _I.G._ iii. pt.
1), dreary as they seem, have yet thrown a curious light upon the
academic life of Roman Athens (see A. Dumont, _Essai sur l'ephebie
attique_; Reinach, _Traite_, pp. 408-418; Roberts and Gardner ii.
145); and from these and similar late inscriptions the attempt has
been made to construct _Fasti_ of the later archons (von Schoffer in
Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyklopadie, s.v._ "Archontes"; W. S. Ferguson in
_Cornell Studies_, x. The sepulchral monuments have been beautifully
illustrated in Stackelberg's _Graber der Hellenen_; for the Attic
stelae see Conze, _Die attischen Grabreliefs_ (1893 ff.). Some of the
most interesting epitaphs in the _C.I.G._ are from Aphrodisias and
Smyrna. Kumanudes's collection of Attic epitaphs has been mentioned
above; see also Gutscher, _Die attischen Grabschr._ (1889); they yield
a good deal of information about the Attic demes, and some of them are
of high importance, e.g. the epitaph on the slain in the year 458 B.C.
(Dittenberger, _Syll._^2 9), and on those who fell in the Hellespont,
c. 440 B.C. (Hicks^2 46). For the metrical inscriptions see Kaibel,
_Epigrammata Graeca_ (1878). Closely connected with sepulchral
inscriptions is the famous "Will of Epicteta" (_I.G._ xii. 330). It
was also customary at Athens for lands mortgaged to be indicated by
boundary-stones inscribed with the names of mortgagor and mortgagee,
and the amount (_I.G._ ii. 1103-1153; Dareste, &c., _Inscr. jur._ i.
pp. 107-142); other [Greek: oroi] are common enough.
The names of sculptors inscribed on the bases of statues have been
collected by E. Lowy (_Inschriften gr. Bildhauer_, 1885). In most
cases the artists are unknown to fame. Among the exceptions are the
names of Pythagoras of Rhegium, whom we now know to have been a native
of Samos (Lowy 23, 24); Pyrrhus, who made the statue of Athena Hygieia
dedicated by Pericles (Plut. _Per._ 13; Lowy 53); Polyclitus the
younger (Lowy 90 f.), Paeonius of Mende, who sculptured the marble
Nike at Olympia (Lowy 49); Praxiteles (Lowy 76), &c.
Study of Dialects.
The bearing of inscriptions upon the study of dialects is very
obvious. A handy selection has been made by Cauer (_Delectus inscr._
Gr. 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1883) of the principal inscriptions illustrating
this subject, and a complete collection is in course of publication
(Collitz and others, _Sammlung der griechischen Dialekt-Inschriften_,
Gottingen, 1884 ff.). See also R. Meister, _Die griech. Dialekte_
(1882-1889), and O. Hoffman, _Die griech. Dialekte_ (1891-1898). The
grammar of Attic inscriptions is treated by Meisterhans, _Grammatik
der att. Inschr._ (3rd ed. by Schwyzer, 1900).
Date of Inscriptions.
The date of inscriptions is determined partly by the internal evidence
of the subject, persons, and events treated of, and the character of
the dialect and language. But the most important evidence is the form
of the letters and style of execution. For the Attic inscriptions the
development from the earliest times to about A.D. 500 is elaborately
treated by Larfeld, _Handbuch der att. Inschr._ (1902). bk. ii. Much
of the evidence is of a kind difficult to appreciate from a mere
description. Yet--besides the [Greek: boustrophedon] writing of many
early documents--we may mention the contrast between the stiff,
angular characters which prevailed before 500 or 450 B.C. and the
graceful yet simple forms of the Periclean age. This development was
part of the general movement of the time. Inscriptions of this period
are usually written [Greek: stotchedon], i.e. the letters are in line
vertically as well as horizontally. From the archonship of Eucleides
(403 B.C.) onwards the Athenians officially adopted the fuller
alphabet which had obtained in Ionia since the 6th century. Before 403
B.C. [zeta] and [psi] were expressed in Attic inscriptions by
[Chi][Sigma] and [phi][Sigma], while [EPSILON] did duty for [eta],
[epsilon], and sometimes [epsilon][iota], [Omicron] for [omicron],
[omicron][upsilon], and [omega]--[Eta] being used only for the
aspirate. There is, however, occasional use of the Ionic alphabet in
Attica, even in official inscriptions, as early as the middle of the
5th century. The Macedonian period betrays a falling off in neatness
and firmness of execution--the letters being usually small and
scratchy, excepting in inscriptions relating to great personages, when
the characters are often very large and handsome. In the 2nd century
came in the regular use of _apices_ as an ornament of letters. These
tendencies increased during the period of Roman dominion in Greece,
and gradually, especially in Asia Minor, the _iota adscriptum_ was
dropped. The Greek characters of the Augustan age indicate a period of
restoration; they are uniformly clear, handsome, and adorned with
_apices_. The lunate epsilon and sigma ([epsilon], C) establish
themselves in this period; so does the square form [square C], and the
cursive [omega] is also occasionally found. The inscriptions of
Hadrian's time show a tendency to eclectic imitation of the classical
lettering. But from the period of the Antonines (when we find a good
many pretty inscriptions) the writing grows more coarse and clumsy
until Byzantine times, when the forms appear barbarous indeed beside
an inscription of the Augustan or even Antonine age.
Collections of Marbles.
The finest collections of inscribed Greek marbles are of course at
Athens. There are also good collections, public and private, at Smyrna
and Constantinople. The British Museum contains the best collection
out of Athens (see the publication mentioned above); the Louvre
contains a good many (edited by Frohner, _Les Inscriptions grecques du
musee du Louvre_, 1865); the Oxford collection is very valuable, and
fairly large; and there are some valuable inscriptions also at
Cambridge.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The following essays give good outlines of the whole
subject:--Boeckh, _C.I.G._, preface to vol i.; C. T. Newton, _Essays
on Art and Archaeology_ (1880), pp. 95, 209; S. Reinach, _Traite
d'epigraphie grecque_ (Paris, 1885). Besides the works already quoted
the following should be mentioned:--Boeckh's _Kleine Schriften_;
Michaelis, _Der Parthenon_; Waddington, _Fastes des provinces
asiatiques_, part i. (1872), and _Memoire sur la chronologie de la vie
du rheteur Aristide_; Kirchhoff, _Studien zur Geschichte des
griechischen Alphabets_ (4th ed., 1887); Schubert, _De proxenia_
(Leipzig, 1881); Monceaux, _Les Proxenies gr._ (Paris, 1886);
Latyshev, _Inscr. ant. orae septentr. Ponti Euxini Gr. et Lat._ (2
vols., St Petersburg, 1885-1890); Bechtel, _Inschriften des ionischen
Dialekts_ (Gottingen, 1887); Paton and Hicks, _Inscriptions of Cos_
(Oxford, 1891); Frankel and others, _Inschriften von Pergamon_ (2
vols., Berlin 1890-1895); Comparetti, _Le Leggi di Gortyna_, &c.
(_Monum. antichi_, iii., 1893); E. Hoffmann, _Sylloge epigrammatum
Graec._ (Halle a. S., 1893); O. Kern, _Inschriften von Magnesia am
Maeander_ (Berlin, 1900); S. Chabert, _Histoire sommaire des etudes
d'epigraphie grecque_ (Paris, 1906); Hackl, _Merkantile Inschr. auf
attischen Vasen (Munch, arch Stud._, 1909); Wilhelm, _Beitrage zur
griech. Inschriftenkunde_ (Vienna, 1909). (E. L. H.; G. F. H.*)