LAPIDARY INSCRIPTIONS, a title derived from the Latin it/pis, a stone, and applied to monumental inscriptions, epitaphs, etc. These include records of public and private occurrences, of laws, decrees, etc., and are engraved or chiseled in stone or metal. Among the ancients the custom of resorting to this method for the preservation of records was very common, and the Persians, Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans left in numerable instances of this class of memorial. Inscribed tablets of stone or metal took the place of printing, under the ancient system, since upon these being set up in the market, or other public place, every citizen could read them, or procure them to be read to him; and. if he desired, could copy them for his private perusal and study. Com monly these inscriptions, of whatever character, were engraved on metal plates; or more usually on soft clay, which was afterwards baked in an oven or kiln; or again, on marble cot in slabs, while not infrequently they were carved on the flat surface of unliewn rock. Of the metals used, brass and bronze were the most common, though lead, tin, and gold were sometimes employed. Among the very earliest inscriptions were the cuneiform or arrow-headed of the Assyrians, or Babylonians, and the later Persians. These date as far back as 20 centuries before the Christian era, and the investigations of Layard among the ruins of Nineveh, and those of Botta and Rawlinson in deciphering, first brought of their existence and nature to the modern world. Burnouf and Lassen followed, with a more perfect rendering; but Rawlinson's translation of all then existing Persian inscriptions, published by the royal Asiatic society iu 1846, afforded all that has been learned concerning them It is sufficient to say with regard to the character of the later Persian inscriptions, that they recorded facts of the reigns of Darius, Xerxes, and Hystaspes, Cyrus, and Artaxerxes; including genealogies, the names of the Persian satrapies, historical events—assassination, insurrec tion, accessions to the throne, etc. These inscriptions were not only delineated on
monuments, solid rocks, and the walls of the cities; but even books were found. hieing dried slabs of clay, and barrel-shaped masses of terra-cotta, which were closely inscribed. The first notices of the cuneiform inscriptions were brought to Europe in the 16th c. by Pietro tine Valle; a century later, Kmmpfcr and Tavernier published imperfect speci mens, and these were followed by the publication of Chardin a few years later. The language is said to belong to the Turanian division, and the cuneiform system is believed to have been invented by a Scythian nation. The Assyrian inscriptions appear to have been framed in a method which can hardly be termed alphabetical; but though extremely enigmatical ou this account,- they have nevertheless been translated by Raw linson, Fox Talbot, and others, with considerable success. The Coypus Inscriptionum of Rawlinson, issued at the expense of the British government, is chiefly historical, and extends from a period 20 centuries before the Christian era, to that of the immediate successors of Nebuchadnezzar, including the reigns of the ancient Turanian monarchs. See CUNEIFORM, ante. Inscriptions were a customary mode of record among the ancient Greeks and Romans; covering a period, among the latter, extending from 145 itc. to the extinction of the Latin language. The people of Etruria also employed inscriptions liberally, but the language which they used has not been deciphered. Inscriptions in India reach back as far as 400 n.c., and those of the Chinese are believed to antedate all others except the Egyptian. The age is unknown of the Aztec and Palenque inscrip tions on the western coast of America, and of those found in the Mississippi valley. The use of abbreviations in inscriptions renders it exceedingly difficult to decipher them, and an art has grown up in that direction, as to which many published works exist. See HIEROGLYPHICS; HUNE$, ante; 110SETTA STONE.