Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/740

* INSCRIPTIONS. 654 INSCRIPTIONS. of the recipient, wlio in this way showed his ap- preciation of the honor conferred. The value of these records as a source of in- formation did not escape the ancient historians. Herodotus, Thueydides and Xcnoplion, as well as the orators, refer to them, but do not, as a rule, quote them directly, unless perhaps in citing the terms of treaties. But the systematic collection and use of inscriptions .seems to bcf;in at the end of the fourth century. The records of the public jiames and dramatic contests were utilized in compiling lists of victors, or in determining the clironology of plaj's. Attic inscriptions were col- lected by Philochoros (n.c. 320-2t>I), while Po- lemo of Ilion, at the bcpinninfr of the .second century, diligently gathered dedications, artists' signatures, and numerous other records from the Greek sanctuaries; his work is partly preserved in the guide-book of Pausanias. The Greek An- thologj' owes many of its poems to the collection.s of epigrams compiled from the moiuiments by earlier scholars. During the Middle Ages interest in Greek, and still more in Greek inscriptions, was almost unknown, and it was not till the fifteenth centviry that the study of Greek epig- rapliy secured the attention of scholars, who naturally were at first attr.<ctcd by the moreabun- dant I.ntin remains. Cyriacus of Ancona (q.v.) in his numerous travels in the l^evant copied many inscriptions. Imt his zeal frequently outran his knowledge, and, in many eases, it seems only too clear that his anciiMit vius). In this and a number of similar v.orks which followed, the inscriptions were grouped in classes, while the language and chro- nol<)g- were wliolly neglected in the arrangement. Naturally the Latin inscriptions were in a vast majority. Lhiring the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the attention of epigraphists was given rather to the acqiiisition of new material from the gradually opening Levant, which was visited by scholars sent out by the French Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and the Engli.sh Society of Dilettanti, as well as by numerous in- dependent travelers, than to the compilation of er.inplete collections. The vast increase in the material rendered such a collection a necessity, and in 1815 the Berlin Academy intrusted the preparation of such a work to August Bocckh. After ten years of labor the first part of vol. i. of the Corpus fvncHplioHum Grwcarum appeared. and the complete volume, winch contained first the oldest inscriptions, important for their alpha- bet, and then those of Attica. Megaris. Pelopon- nesus. Bopotia, Phocis, Locris. and Thessaly, in 1828. Vol. ii. did not apjiear till 1843, nor vol. iii. till 1833. while vol. iv.. though partly published in 1859. was not completed by the addition of the Indirrs till 1877. Though this work labors imder wliat would now be considered serious defects, it laid the foundation, which alone made possible the development of the severely critical methods of modern epigraphists. Even before the appearance of the second volume, the increase in the material resulting from the independence of Greece and the .active exploration of Hellenic lands showed that new collections ■would be needed, and before the completion of the work it was obvious that the projected supple- ment would Ik? entirely inadequate to a projjcr ]>ublication of the new inscriptions. In 1871, therefore, the Berlin .cadcmy entered upon the preparation of a new Corpus, which is still in course of publication. (.See Ilibliograplii/.) .Vlong with this gigantic collection of all the monuments, there has gone on the publication of many lesser collections, either inscriptions in a single museum, as the British Museum, or from single i)laces. as Olympia and IVrgamon. or note- worthy for their age or dialect, while all the arclueological journals devote much space to the new material, which explorers, esp<'cially in .sia Minor, or excavators are continually bringing to light. In conclusion, brief mention should be made of the Greek inscriptions of Cyprus, which are written in part in a peculiar syllabic alphabet, wholly unlike the Greek, l)ut possibly with allinitics to some of the undeciphcrcd syllabaries of Asia Minor, and of the us(> of Gre<"k characters for inscriptions in non-Greek languages, such as Ly- cian, Phrygian, Carian, Pamphylian, and the unknown tongue represented by two inscriptions from Pnrsos on Crete. Though the values of the letters is generally certain, the languages them- .selvcs arc not yet read with any certainty. BiDLioiiR.M'iiY. For a general introdiiction, the best is still the essay of Sir Charles T. Xewton, '"On Greek Inscriptions." in liis Kssaiis on Art and Arclurnlofiy (London, 1880). Handbooks for the student are: S. Keinach. Truiti- d'Epiipaphie (Irccijuc (Paris. 1885) ; Larfeld. in Milller's Ilandbiich dtr Klassischrn Allcrtumxirissensrhiifl, vol. i. (2d cd.. Munich, 1802) ; Roberts. .In Intro- duction to Greek Epifirnphii, part i. The Arrhnic Inscriptions and the (Ireck Alphabet (Cambridge, 1887) ; and the large work of Larfeld. Iliindbueh der griccliiselien Epigrnphik, of which has ap- peared vol. ii.. Die attisehen Inschriflcn (I^-ip- zig. 1898. 1902). For the history of the alphabet consult KirchhofT. >^tudicn ::ur fleschichtc drs tiriechischen Alph<ibets (4th ed., GUtersloh. 1887). In the new Berlin collection have appeared Cor- pus Inscriptioiium Athenrum (4 vols., Berlin, 1873-97), to which further supplements are in preparation: fnscripliones (Irtvcfv f<ieilifv ct Italiw, etc, (Berlin, 1800) ; Corpus Insn-iptionum Gra'carum Grireia' Srptenlrionnlis, vols, i., ii. (Berlin, 1892-97); In.icripliones Grwerr Insula- rum Maris .Ega^i, fasc. i.iii. (Berlin, 1895-99) ; Jnscripliones Grcrew I'eloponncsi, i. (Berlin, 1902). Other important collections are: The An- cient Greek Inscriptions in the British Museum, vols, i., iii., iv., 1 (Oxford. 1874 et seq.) : OUim- pia, vol. V. Die Inschriftcn (Berlin, 1890) ; Die Insehriftcn ron Perijnmon (2 vols., Berlin, 1890, 1S95). An important collection is containeil in Le Bas and Waddington, Voyaijc areheolmjiiiuc en Grdee et en Asie Mineure pendant IS'iS-.'i'i. part ii. (3 vols., Paris, 1847-70, not yet complete). For the inscriptions in local dialects, see Collitz, Samnilung der gricoMschen Dialcktinschriflen (Gottingen, 1884-1901, still unfinished). A useful small collection is found in Cauer. Deleetui Inscriplionum Grcecnrum Propter Dinleetum Memorabilium (2d ed., Leipzig. 1883). For the archaic alph.ibets, the standard collection is Roehl, Inscripiiones Grwe(C Antir/uissimw Prerter Atticas in Attica Rcpertas (Berlin, 1882). and a volume of facsimiles only. Imagines Inserip- tionum Grwcarum Antiquissimnrum (2d cd., Ber- lin, 1894). For Greek legal inscriptions is im-