"Epigraphy (from Ancient Greek ἐπιγραφή (epigraphḗ) 'inscription') is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the writing and the writers."
An introduction to the techniques and tools used to create inscriptions, such as chisels, styluses, and brushes.
Introduction to Epigraphy: This topic introduces the basics of Epigraphy, including its history, importance, and applications.
Epigraphic Languages: This topic focuses on the classification and analysis of languages used in Epigraphy, including Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit.
Inscriptions: This topic focuses on the study of inscriptions, including their types, format, and content analysis.
Epigraphic Resources: This topic focuses on the various resources available for the study of Epigraphy, such as museum collections, archives, and digital databases.
Epigraphic Fieldwork: This topic focuses on the methods and techniques employed during Epigraphic fieldwork, including site survey, monument identification, and photography.
Epigraphic Conservation: This topic focuses on the conservation and preservation of epigraphic monuments, including cleaning, restoration, and reconstruction.
Decipherment: This topic focuses on the techniques used to decipher inscriptions in unknown or dead languages, including the use of bilingual inscriptions and linguistic analysis.
Epigraphic Analysis: This topic focuses on the methods used to analyze inscriptions, including interpretation of texts, identification of scripts, and paleographic analysis.
Epigraphic Chronology: This topic focuses on the dating of epigraphic monuments, including the use of stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating, and stylistic analysis.
Publication and Dissemination: This topic focuses on the publication and dissemination of epigraphic research, including print and digital media, conferences, and exhibitions.
Engraving: This is a technique where inscriptions or carving are made on a hard surface, such as stone or metal, using a sharp tool or instrument.
Relief sculpture: This technique involved creating inscriptions or designs on a flat surface, which are then made to stand out by carving the surrounding surface away.
Incising: This technique involves the cutting of inscriptions or designs directly into the surface of the material being used.
Etching: This technique involves using a chemical reaction to create inscriptions or designs on a surface. This technique is commonly used in printing.
Stamping: This technique involves creating designs or inscriptions by pressing a stamp or die into a surface.
Chiseling: This is a technique where inscriptions or designs are created by cutting the material away using a chisel.
Painting: This technique involves hand-painting designs or inscriptions onto a surface using pigments or dyes.
Embossing: This technique involves raising designs or inscriptions on a surface, creating a three-dimensional effect.
Inscribing using rotary tools: This is a technique where inscriptions or designs are created using a rotary tool or engraver.
Laser Engraving: This technique involves using a laser to engrave inscriptions or designs onto a surface.
Sandblasting: This technique involves using high-pressure sand or other abrasive material to carve designs or inscriptions into a surface.
Digital Imaging: This technique involves the use of computer software and hardware to create designs or inscriptions, which can then be printed, engraved or etched onto a surface.
Photogravure: This technique involves using a photographic transfer process to create designs or inscriptions on a surface.
Thermography: This technique involves the use of heat and pressure to create raised designs or inscriptions on a surface.
Calligraphy: This is a form of writing where the design or inscription is created by hand, using flowing, decorative lettering.
"Specifically excluded from epigraphy are the historical significance of an epigraph as a document and the artistic value of a literary composition."
"A person using the methods of epigraphy is called an epigrapher or epigraphist."
"For example, the Behistun inscription is an official document of the Achaemenid Empire engraved on native rock at a location in Iran. Epigraphists are responsible for reconstructing, translating, and dating the trilingual inscription and finding any relevant circumstances."
"Epigraphy is a primary tool of archaeology when dealing with literate cultures."
"Epigraphy also helps identify a forgery: epigraphic evidence formed part of the discussion concerning the James Ossuary."
"Epigraphy overlaps other competences such as numismatics or palaeography."
"The media and the forms of the graphemes are diverse: engravings in stone or metal, scratches on rock, impressions in wax, embossing on cast metal, cameo or intaglio on precious stones, painting on ceramic or in fresco."
"Not all inscribed texts are public, however: in Mycenaean Greece, the deciphered texts of 'Linear B' were revealed to be largely used for economic and administrative record keeping."
"The study of ideographic inscriptions may also be called ideography."
"The German equivalent Sinnbildforschung was a scientific discipline in the Third Reich, but was later dismissed as being highly ideological."
"Epigraphic research overlaps with the study of petroglyphs, which deals with specimens of pictographic, ideographic, and logographic writing."
"The study of ancient handwriting, usually in ink, is a separate field, palaeography."
"Epigraphy also differs from iconography as it confines itself to meaningful symbols containing messages, rather than dealing with images."
"...classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts..."
"...and drawing conclusions about the writing and the writers."
"The US Library of Congress classifies epigraphy as one of the auxiliary sciences of history."
"Informal inscribed texts are 'graffiti' in its original sense."
"The character of the writing, the subject of epigraphy, is a matter quite separate from the nature of the text, which is studied in itself."
"When compared to books, most inscriptions are short."