Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/135

 GREEK.] INSCRIPTIONS 123 river up to the second cataract (0. I. G., 5126). Even if Psam- metichus II. is meant, the inscription dates between 594 and 589 B.C. Documents earlier than the Persian war are not very frequent ; but after that period the stream of Greek inscriptions goes on, gene rally increasing in volume, down to late Byzantine times, ifi- Greek inscriptions may most conveniently be classified under the n. following heads : (1) those which illustrate political history ; (2) those connected with religion ; (3) those of a private character, ical 1. Foremost among the inscriptions which illustrate Greek history ip- and politics are the decrees of senate and people (^rj&amp;lt;pi&amp;lt;rfj.aTa POVTJS, fKKii&amp;lt;rias, &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 public honours (crowns, statues, citizenship, and other privileges) to strangers who have done service to the particular city. But the importance of an honorary decree depends iipon 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 magis trates, the names of months, and other details. Droyseu in his Hollenismus (1877-78) has shown how the history of Alexander and his successors is illustrated by contemporary if Tj^iV/uara. And when the student of Athenian politics of the 5th and 4th centuries turns to the 2d volume of the 0. I. A., 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 Q. I. A., ii. pt. 1, 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 (v6fi.oi) occur with tolerable frequency. The following are examples : A citation of a law of Draco s from the TTp-aros &&V of Solon s laws (G. I. A., i. 61 ; cf. Hermes, ii. p. 27) ; a reassessment of the tribute payable by the Athenian allies in 425 B.C. (G. I. A., i. 37 ; Kb hler, Urkundcn und Untersuchungcn zur GeschicMc dcs Delisch-attischeii Bundes, 1870, p. 63) ; a law passed by the Ainphictyonic council at Delphi, 380 B.C. (Boeckh, C. I, G., 1688; C. I. A., ii. 545); law concerning Athenian weights and measures (Boeckh, Staatshaushaltung, vol. ii. p. 356; G. I. G., 123); the futile sumptuary law of Diocletian concerning the maximum prices for all articles sold throughout the empire (Waddington, Edit do, DiocUtien, 1864 ; Mommsen, G. I. Lot., vol. iii. pt. 2, 801 sq. ). Besides the inscribed treaties previously referred to, we may in stance the following : Between Athens and Chalcis in Eubcea, 445 B.C. (G. I. A., suppl. to vol. i., 27); between Athens and Ilhegium, 433 B.C. (G. I. A., i. 33, and suppl. ibid., p. 13) ; between Athens and Leontini, dated the same day as the preceding (G. I. A., suppl. to vol. i., 33) ; between Athens and Boeotia, 395 B. c. (C. I. A. , ii. 6) ; between Athens and Chalcis, 378 B.C. (ibid., p. 398) ; between Athens and Sparta, 271 B.C. (G. I. A., ii. No. 332); between Hcrmias of Atarneus and the Ionian Erythra, about 350 B.C. (Le Bas and Waddington, Voyage Arch., iii. 1536a) ; treaties in the local dialect between various cities of Crete, 3d century B.C. (G. I. G., 2554-6 ; Rangabe, Ant. HelUn., 2478 ; Hermes, iv. 266). Egger s Etudes historiques sur les traites publics chez les Grecs et chcz les Remains (Paris, 1866) embraces a good many of these documents. The international relation of Greek cities is further illustrated by awards of disputed lands, delivered bya third city called in (e/c:A?jTos TTOA.IS) to arbitrate between the contending states, e.g., Rhodian award as between Samos and Priene (G. I. G., 2905 ; Le Bas and Wadd., Voy. Arch., iii. No. 189 sq. ) ; Milesian between Messenians and Spartans, recently discovered at Olympia (Arch. Zeit., 1876, p. 128 ; see Tac., Ann. iv. 43) ; and many others. Akin to these are decrees in honour of judges called in from a neutral city (^VLK^V Si.K.affTi)piov)tQ try suits between citizens which were complicated by political partisanship (see G. I. G., No. 23496, and Boeckh s remarks). Letters from kings are frequent ; as from Lysimachus to the Samians(C f. /. G., 2254); from Antigonus I. directing the transfer of the population of Lebedus to Teos (Le Bas-Wadd., Voy. Arch., iii. No. 86). Letters from Roman emperors are commoner still ; such as G. I. G., 3175, 3176, 3178, 3834. 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. , vol. ii.) ; public accounts of Athenian expenditure (ibid. ) ; records of the Athenian navy in the 4th century, forming vol. iii. of the saine work. The management of public lands and mines is specially illustrated from inscriptions (ibid., 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). Inscriptions in honour of kings and emperors are very common. The Marmor Ancyranum has already been mentioned ; but an earlier example is the Monumcntum Adulitanum (from Abyssinia, G. I. G., 5127) reciting the achievements of Ptolemy Euergetes I. Offerings in temples (avaOri/j.aTa.) are often of great historical value, e.g., 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) ; and the bronze base of the golden tripod dedicated at Delphi after the- victory of Platen, and carried off to Constantinople by Constan tino (Dethier und Mordtmann, Epigraphik von Byzantion, 1874). 2. The religion of Greece in its external aspects is the subject of Keli- a great number of inscriptions. The following are a few specimens, gious (1) Institution of festivals, with, elaborate ritual directions see iuscrip- Sauppe, LieMysterieninschrift aus Andania, 1860, and the singular tions. document from the Ephesian theatre, in Wood s Ephcsus, appendix vi. 1 ; the following also relate to festivals C. I. G., 1845, 2360, 2715, 3059, 3599, 36416. (2) Laws defining the appointment, duties, or perquisites of the priesthood G. L G., 2656 ; Staatts- Jtaush.fii. p. 121 sq. (3) Curious calendar of sacrifices from Mycouus, Mi)va.iov, ii. p. 237. (4) Fragment of augury rules, Ephesus, 6th century B.C., C. I. G., 2953. (5) Leases of re/ueV?; and sacred lauds C. I. G., 103, 104, 2693tZ, 2694 ; Le Bas and Wadd., Voy. Arch., iii. No. 415, &c. (6) Imprecations written on lead, and placed in tombs or in temples Franz, El. Epigr. Gr., p. 168 ; Newton, Cnidus, Halicarnassus, and Branchidx, pi. 7, 13. (7) Oracles are referred to (7. /. G., ii. p. 1091 (Ross, Archdol. Aufs., p. 495) ; C. I. G., 2717. (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 Foucart, Sur I affranchisscmcnt dcs csclaves par forme de wntc, &c., Paris, 1857). This catalogue might be enlarged indefinitely. 3. There remain a large number of inscriptions of a more strictly Private private character. The famous Parian marble (G. I. G., 2374) falls inscrip- under this head ; it was a system of chronology drawn up, perhaps tions. by a schoolmaster, in the 3d 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 competi tors who record their successes (see G. I. G., passim). The dedica tions and honorary inscriptions relating to the Ephebi of later Athens (which occupy half of C. I. A., iii. pt. 1), dreary as they seem, have yet thrown a curious light upon the academic life of Roman Athens (see A. Dirmont, Essai sur I Ephebie Attique) ; and from these and similar late inscriptions the attempt has been made to construct Fasti of the later archons (Dumont, Essai sur la chronologic des Archontes Atheniens, 1870 ; 11. Neubauer, Commentationcs Epi- graphicae, 1869 ; Westermann in Pauly s Real-Encyclop&die, vol. i., new ed. , s.v. Archontes). The sepulchral monuments have been beautifully illustrated in Stackelberg s Graber dcr Hellencn (cf. Pervanoglu, Die Grabsteine d. alt. Griechcn, Leipsic, 1863). Some of the most interesting epitaphs in the C. I. G. are from Aphro- disias and Smyrna. Kumanudes s collection of Attic epitaphs has been mentioned above ; they yield a good deal of information about the Attic denies, and some of them are of high importance, e.g., the epitaph on the slain in the year 458 B.C. (G. I. G., 165), and on those who fell before Potidffia(C r. /. A., i. 442). Closely connected with sepulchral inscriptions is the famous &quot;Will of Epicteta&quot; (G. I. G., 2448). It was also customary at Athens for lands mort gaged to be indicated by boundary-stones inscribed with the names of mortgager and mortgagee, and the amount (Franz, El. Epigr. Gr., p. 168, 338) ; other tipoi are common enough. The names of sculptors inscribed on the bases of statues were col lected in 1871 by G. Hirschfeld (Tituli Statuariorum Sculptorum- que) ; but since then the number has been greatly increased by excavations at Olympia and elsewhere. In most cases the artists are unknown to fame. Among the exceptions are the names of Pythagoras of Rhcgimn, -whom we now know to have been a native of Samos (Arch. Zeit., 1878, p. 82), Polyclitus the younger (Arch. Zeit. , 1878, p. 12), and Pseonius of Mende, who sculptured the marble Nike at Olympia (Arch. Zeit., 1875, p. 178). The bearing of inscriptions upon the study of dialects is very Study of obvious. A handy collection has been made by Cauer (Delectus dialects. Inscr. Gr., Leipsic, 1877) of the principal inscriptions illustrating this subject ; and the dialect of the Athenian dramatists has been illustrated from inscriptions by Wecklein (Curie Epigr. ad Gram- maticam Grazcam et Poctas sccnicos pertinentcs, Leipsic, 1869). The date of inscriptions is determined partly by the internal evi- Date of dence of the subject, persons, and events treated of, and the charac- inscrip- ter of the dialect and language. But the most important evidence tions. is the form of the letters and style of execution. Much of this evi dence is of a kind difficult to appreciate from a mere description. Yet besides the fiovyrpofyrftv 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 arroix-nSuv, i.e., the letters are in line vertically as well as horizontally. From the archonship of Euclides (403 B.C. ) onwards, the Athenians adopted the fuller alphabet which had obtained in Ionia since the 6th century. Before 403 u. c. | and ty were expressed in Attic inscriptions by X2 and *2, while E did duty for 77, e, and sometimes e&amp;lt;, O for o, ou, and, H being used only for the aspirate.