THE STUDY OF INSCRIPTIONS Inscriptions were studied and quoted by authors in ancient times, by orators and by historians—notably by Thucydides and Polybius—as records of political, economic and social interest; they also contributed to the history of art, and Polemon had the nick-name of stelokopas given him for his studies of such docu ments. His work is now lost. Some of the great scholars of the Renaissance were interested both in Greek and Roman inscrip tions. But the gigantic task of collecting together all known Greek inscriptions was first attempted by A. Boeckh, in the Corpus In scriptionum Graecarum (4 vols., 18 2 5-4o) . This has been super seded by Inscriptiones Graecae (Berlin) in 14 volumes and many parts, arranged geographically. This great work is still in progress. Inscriptions prior to 403 B.C. are collected in Roehl, Inscriptiones Graecae Antiquissimae. Convenient selections are W. Dittenber ger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum (4 vols. 3rd ed., 1924), and Orientis Graeca Inscriptiones selectae (2 vols. 1904-05) ; Michel, Recueil d'Inscriptions Grecques goo) ; Hicks and Hill, Greek Historical Inscriptions (end ed. 1901) ; Inscriptiones Grae cae ad Res Romanas pertinentes (Paris, Academie; 4 vols. 1891 I 92 7) ; Sammlung der Griechischen Dialekt-Inschri f ten (Gottin gen, 1884) ; Dureste and others, Recueil des Inscriptions Juri diques Grecques (1891) ; Kaibel, Epigrammata Graeca et Lapi dibus Collecta (1878).
For formal introduction to the study, S. Reinach, Traite d'Epigraphie Grecque (1885; the introductory chapters trans lated from C. T. Newton, Essays in Art and Archaeology, 188o) ; E. S. Roberts, Introduction to Greek Epigraphy (vol. 1, 1887, vol. 2, with E. A. Gardner, The Inscriptions of Attica, 1905) ; W. Larfeld, Griechische Epigraphie (1892); Handbuch der Griechischen Epigraphie (1898) ; O. Kern, Inscriptiones Graecae (1913, photographic facsimiles) .
In addition there are many publications of the inscriptions of special sites or localities, notably those from great excava tions like those of Olympia and Delphi, or in museums, such as the British Museum Inscriptions.
For Latin inscriptions, the chief publication is the Corpus In scriptionum Latinarum (Berlin—in progress) ; the volumes are arranged geographically; supplements are issued as Ephemeris Epigraphica. Convenient selections are those of Wilmanns, Ex empla Inscriptionum Latinarum (1872), and of Dessau, In scriptiones Latinae (3 vols. 1892-1916). An introduction to the study is R. Cagnat, Cours d'Epigraphie Latine (189o), having useful tables of initials, abbreviations and formulae. (E. GR.)