Epigraphy (Greek, επιγραφή - "written upon") is the study of inscriptions engraved into stone or other permanent materials, or cast in metal, the science of classifying them as to cultural context and date, elucidating them and assessing what conclusions can be deduced from them. The study of ancient handwriting, usually in ink, is a separate field, Paleography. Inscriptions are words or letters written, engraved, painted, or otherwise traced on a surface and can appear in contexts both small and monumental. ... Penmanship is the art of writing clearly and quickly. ... Palaeography, literally old writing, (from the Greek words paleos = old and grapho = write) is the study of script. ...

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. Texts are usually inscribed in stone for public view (or the view of the god, as in the Persian Behistun inscription), and so they are essentially different from the written texts of each culture. Not all inscribed texts are public, however: in Minoan culture the deciphered texts of "Linear B" were revealed to be largely temple tallies of tribute for the gods. Infornal inscribed texts are "graffiti" in its original sense. The Behistun Inscription, carved into a cliffside, gives the same text in three languages, telling the story of King Darius conquests. ... The Minoans were an ancient pre-Hellenic civilization on what is now Crete (in the Mediterranean), during the Bronze Age, prior to classical Greek culture. ... Linear B script sample Linear B is the script that was used for writing Mycenaean, an early form of the Greek language. ... Graffiti on the banks of the Tiber river in Rome, Italy. ...

Often only the epigraphic texts have survived. A case in point is the Maya civilization of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, where the written codices were collected and burned in the 16th century; the bulk of remaining epigraphical documentation are the monumental glyphs. Specialist epigraphers have decoded Mayan inscriptions in the 20th century, among them J. Eric S. Thompson, Tatiana Proskouriakoff, Yuri Knorozov, Linda Schele, and David Stewart. The Maya are people of southern Mexico and northern Central America (Guatemala, Belize, western Honduras, and El Salvador) with some 3,000 years of history. ... The term Pre-Columbian is used to refer to the cultures of the New World in the era before significant European influence. ... Mesoamerica is the region extending from central Mexico south to the northwestern border of Costa Rica that gave rise to a group of stratified, culturally related agrarian civilizations spanning an approximately 3,000-year period before the African discovery of the New World by Columbus. ... A codex (Latin for book; plural codices) is a handwritten book from late Antiquity or the Early Middle Ages. ... These are the astrological glyphs as most commonly used in Western Astrology A glyph is a carved figure or character, incised or in relief; a carved pictograph; hence, a pictograph representing a form originally adopted for sculpture, whether carved or painted. ... John Eric Sidney Thompson (31 December 1898 - 9 September 1975) was an English archeologist and epigrapher, perhaps the most eminent student of pre-Columbian Maya civilization of the mid 20th century. ... Linda Schele (1942 - 18 April 1998 was a noted expert in the field of Maya epigraphy and iconography. ... David Stewart (Maryland), U.S.(Maryland) politician David John Stewart, British politician David Stewart (Mayanist), scholar of the Maya civilization See also: Dave Stewart This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Epigraphy is a primary tool of archaeology when dealing with literate cultures. The US Library of Congress classifies epigraphy as one of the "Auxiliary Sciences of History". Importance and applicability Archaeology is the study of human nature and attempts to illuminate the question of what it means to be human. ... Class C: Auxiliary Sciences of History is a classification used by the Library of Congress classification system. ...

The science of epigraphy has been developing steadily since the 16th century. Principles of epigraphy vary culture by culture and the infant science in European hands concentrated on Latin inscriptions at first. Individual contributions have been made by epigraphers such as Georg Fabricius (1516 - 1571); August Wilhelm Zumpt (1815-1877); Theodor Mommsen (1817 - 1903); Emil Hübner (1834 - 1901); Franz Cumont (1868 - 1947). Georg Fabricius (1516- Meissen July 17, 1571), Protestant German poet, historian and archaeologist, was born at Chemnitz in upper Saxony on April 23 1516, and educated at Leipzig. ... August Wilhelm Zumpt (1815-1877) was a classical scholar, known chiefly in connection with Latin epigraphy. ... Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (30 November 1817 - 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar and historian, generally regarded as the greatest classicist of the 19th century. ... Franz-Valery-Marie Cumont (Aalst, Belgium, January 3, 1868 - Brussels, August 25, 1947) was a Belgian archaeologist and historian, a philologist and student of epigraphy, who brought these often isolated specialties to bear on the syncretic mystery religions of Late Antiquity, notably Mithraism. ...

The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, begun by Mommsen and other scholars, has been published in Berlin since 1863, with wartime interruptions. It is the largest and most extensive collection of Latin inscriptions. New fascicles are still produced as the recovery of inscriptions continues. The Corpus is arranged geographically: all inscriptions from Rome are contained in volume 6. This volume has the greatest number of inscriptions; volume 6, part 8, fascicle 3 was just recently published (2000). Specialists depend on such on-going series of volumes in which newly-discovered inscriptions are published, often in Latin, not unlike the biologists' Zoological Record the raw material of history. Other such series include (all the other standard series need listing). The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. ...

Greek epigraphy has unfolded in the hands of a different team, with different corpora. There are two. The first is Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum of which four volumes came out, again at Berlin, 1825-1877. This marked a first attempt at a comprehensive publication of Greek inscriptions copied from all over the Greek-speaking world. Only advanced students still consult it, for better editions of the texts have superceeded it. The second, modern corpus is Inscriptiones Graecae arranged geographically under categories: decrees, catalogues, honorary titles, funeral inscriptions, various., all presented in Latin, to preserve the international neutrality of the field of classics. Classics, particularly within the Western University tradition, when used as a singular noun, means the study of the language, literature, history, art, and other aspects of Greek and Roman culture during the time frame known as classical antiquity. ...

Epigraphy also helps identify a forgery, as in the James Ossuary or the Kensington Runestone. Forgery is the process of making or adapting objects or documents (see false document), with the intention to deceive. ... The James Ossuary is a sepulchral urn for containing bones, which was found in Israel in 2002 and was claimed to have been the ossuary of James, the brother of Jesus. ... The Kensington runestone is a roughly rectangular slab of greywacke covered in runes on its face and side. ...

Since epigraphy is a science of the particular, references to epigraphic evidence appear in most Wikipedia entries discussing aspects of Ancient history. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

See also

• Writing systems, a general review and survey

Other studies of the writing of texts include: A writing system, also called a script, is used to visually record a language with symbols. ...

• Palaeography, the study of handwriting, often a basis for dating a document or even an inscription, (further links available in Palaeography article);
• Papyrology, the study of manuscripts written on papyrus;
• Numismatics, the study of coins;
• Graffiti, informal scratched texts, more individual than official;
• Orthography, the set the rules and structure of a writing system;
• Typography, selection and arrangement of type;

this list needs extending, with each category briefly summarized Palæography (British) or paleography (American) (from the Greek palaios, old and graphein, to write) is the study of ancient and medieval manuscripts, indpendent of the language (Koine Greek, Classical Latin, Medieval Latin, Old English, etc. ... Penmanship is the art of writing clearly and quickly. ... Papyrology is the study of ancient literature as preserved in manuscripts written on papyrus, the most common form of paper in the Egyptian, Greek and Roman worlds. ... A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus, written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Graffiti on the banks of the Tiber river in Rome, Italy. ... The orthography of a language is the set of rules of how to write correctly in the writing system of a language. ... Typographic work Typography (from the Greek words typos = form and grapho = write) is the art and technique of selecting and arranging type styles, point sizes, line lengths, line leading, character spacing, and word spacing for typeset applications. ... In typography, a typeface consists of a co-ordinated set of character designs. ...

External links

• Onno van Nijf, "Introduction to Greek and Latin epigraphy: an absolute beginners' guide"
• Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents, Oxford University