"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."
How epigraphy informs archaeological research and reorients archaeologists' perspectives.
Introduction to Epigraphy: Overview of the study of inscriptions on different materials, including their history, typology, decipherment, and interpretation.
Epigraphic Techniques: Explanation of various techniques used in the recording, preservation, and analysis of inscriptions, such as photography, rubbing, casting, laser scanning, and 3D modelling.
Epigraphic Materials: Description of different materials used for inscriptions, such as stone, metal, pottery, clay, bone, wood, and papyrus, as well as their properties, durability, and preservation challenges.
Epigraphic Writing Systems: Exploration of the different writing systems used in epigraphy, including alphabets, syllabaries, logographies, hieroglyphic, and cuneiform, and the principles of their construction and usage.
Epigraphic Languages: Discussion of the various languages found in epigraphic sources, including ancient Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Aramaic, Egyptian, Akkadian, and Chinese, and their linguistic features and usage.
Epigraphic Contexts: Overview of the different archaeological contexts where inscriptions are found, such as tombs, temples, monuments, public buildings, streets, and portable objects, and the information they provide about social, cultural, and political history.
Epigraphic Analysis: Explanation of the steps involved in the analysis of epigraphic sources, including transcription, transliteration, translation, palaeography, philology, epigraphic formulae, and epigraphic corpora.
Epigraphic Themes: Introduction to the different themes and topics found in epigraphic sources, such as state ideology, religious beliefs, legal norms, personal names, titles, and epitaphs, and the insights they offer into ancient societies.
Epigraphic Databases: Overview of the different digital databases and resources available for studying epigraphy, including inscription databases, virtual museums, and online tools for visualisation and analysis.
Epigraphic Ethics: Discussion of the ethical and cultural issues involved in the study, preservation, and display of epigraphic sources, such as repatriation, privacy, and conservation, and the best practices for dealing with them.
Hieroglyphs: This is a type of Egyptian writing that uses pictures to represent words and ideas.
Ogham: This is an early medieval Irish alphabet that was carved into stones or wood.
Cuneiform: This is one of the earliest forms of writing that dates back to ancient Mesopotamia. It consists of wedge-shaped characters that were impressed onto clay tablets.
Runes: This is a type of Germanic writing system that was used in northern Europe from the 3rd century CE until the Middle Ages.
Greek Epigraphy: This is a type of writing system used by ancient Greeks to record important events, political decisions, and other information.
Latin Epigraphy: This is a type of writing system that was used by the ancient Romans to record public inscriptions, epitaphs, and other documents.
Brahmi: This is one of the earliest Indian writing systems that was used to write Sanskrit.
Mayan Hieroglyphs: This is a type of writing system used by the ancient Maya civilization of Central America.
Old Turkic: This is a type of writing system used by the ancient Turkic peoples of Central Asia.
Phoenician Alphabet: This is a type of writing system developed by the Phoenicians, which later became the basis for the Greek alphabet.
"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."