The value of these records as a source of in formation did not escape the ancient historians. Ilerodottis, Thucydides and Xenophon, as well as the orators, refer to them, but do not, :1•4 a rule, quote them directly, unless perhaps in citing the terms of treaties. But the systematic collection and use of inscriptions seems to begin at the end of the fourth century. The records of the public games and dramatic contests were utilized in compiling lists of victors, or in determining the chronology of plays. Attie inscriptions were col lected by Philochoros (uses 320-261), while Po lento of Ilion, at the beginning of the second century, diligently gathered dedieations, artists' signatures, and numerous other records from the Greek san•tuaries; his Nv(irk is partly preserved in the guide-book of Pausanias. The Greek An thology owes many of its poems to the collections of epigrams compiled from the monuments 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 century that the study of Greek epig raphy secured the attention of scholars, who naturally were at first attr (Med by the morealain dant Latin remains. C'yriacus of Ancona (q.v.) in his numerous travels in the Levant copied many inscriptions, hut his zeal frequently outran Iris knowledge, and, in many cases, it seems only too clear that his ancient documents owe their origin to the classical authors, rather than to the stones. It was not till 1603, however, that an attempt at a complete collection of inscriptions :Appeared in the Inseriptiones Antigua' Tot ius Orbi llomani of 1. Grute• (2(1 ed.. in 4 vols., 1707. by Gra.vins). In this and a number of similar followed, the inscriptions were grouped in classes, while the language and chro nology were wholly neglected in the arrangement. Naturally the Latin inscriptions were in a vast majority. During, the seventeenth and centuries the attention of epigraphists was given rather to the acquisition of new material from the gradually opening Levant, which was visited by schohi•s sent out by the French Aca&mic des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and the English Society of Dilettanti, as well as by numerous in dependent travelers, than to the compilation of complete collections. The vast increase in the material rendered such a collection a necessity, and in Is]5 the Berlin Academy intrusted the preparation of such a work to August Boeekh. After ten years of labor the first part of vol. i. of the Corpus lnseriptionum GraTarum appeared, and the complete volume, which eontained first the oldest inseriptions. important for their alpha bet, and then those of Attica. Megaris, Pelopon nesus, Ba otia, Phoeis. Locris. and Thessaly. in 182S. ii. did not appear till 1843, nor vol. iii. till 1853, while vol. iv.. though partly published in 1859. was not completed by the addition of the Indices till 1977. Though this work labors under \vim t 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 he entirely inadequate to a proper publication of the new inscriptions, In 1s71, therefore, the Berlin Academy entered upon the preparation of a new Corpus. which is still in course of mild ii.at ion. ( See Bibliography.) Along with this gigantic collection Of all the monument:. there has oil t Ile publication of many lesser collections, either inscriptions in a single museum. as the British Museuni, or from
single places. as Olympia and Pergamon. or note worthy for their age or dialect, while all the archaeological journals devote much space to the new material, which explorers, especially in Asia .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 t :reek, but possibly with h atilt] it les to some of the undeciphered syllaharies of Asia Minor, and of the use of Creek characters for inscriptions in non-Greek languages, such as Ly chin, Phrygian, ('arias, Pamphylian, and the unknown tongue represented by two inscriptions from Prirsos on Crete. Though the values of the letters is generally certain. the languages them selves are not yet read with any certainty.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. For a general introduction. the Bibliography. For a general introduction. the best is still the essay of Sir Charles T. Newton, "On Greek Inscriptions." in his Es.voy.s uu. .Irt and Arehwology (London. ISSO). llandlmok; for the student are: S. Iteinach. Trait(' d'Epig•aphie Greegue (Paris. 1885) ; Larfeld. in Handbuch der K lassischen A 1 tert u insirissenscha f vol. i. (2d ed., Munich, 1892) ; Roberts, in Intro duction to (;reek. Epigraphy, part i. The A••hair lnscript /OW? and the Greek A 11)11(11,0 (('andiri 1SS7) ; and the largo work of Larfeld, Handbuch der gricchisehen Epigraphik, of which has ap peared vol. ii., Die attisehen Insehriftcn (Leip zig. IS9S. 1902). For the history of the alphabet consult Kirchhoff, zu• Gesehi•hte des grierhisehen Alphabets Giite•:loh. 1887 I. In the new 'Berlin collection have appeared Cor pus Inseriptionum A tticarum (4 vols., 'Berlin, 1873-97), to which further supplements are in prepa ma t ion ; I nserip iones Crain ;.;icrka' rt Italia', etc. (Berlin, 1890) ; Corpus Inscriptionum Grwearum Grereity Scpt(ntrionalis, col,. I., ii. (Berlin, 1892-97) ; Inseriptioncs Orawr rum Maris .Egal, fast. i.•iii. (Perlin. 1895-09) ; I ',script ion es Grawr Pelopon rs 1902). Other important collections are: The An cient Greek Inscriptions in the British Museum, vols. i., iii., iv., 1 (oxford, 1874 et seq.): Olym pia, vol. v. Die Inschriftrn (Berlin, 1s90) ; Die Inschriftrn von Pergamon (2 cols., Berlin, 1890, 1s95). An important collection is contained in Le Ilas and Waddington, Voyage archcob,gique cn an're et en .1 sic Mincure pendant part ii. (3 vols., Paris, 1847-70. not yet complete). For the inscriptions in local dialects, see Collitz, Sammlung der gricolvisehen Dialcktinschrif ten ( 0;41 ingen. SS4-1901, still unfinished ) useful small collection is found in Cauer, Delertus Inseriptionum Onrcarum Propter Dialectum Memorabilium (2t1 ed., Leipzig, 1SS3). For the archaic alphabets, the standard collection is Itoehl, Inseriptiones Grawa• A nt iquissinur Prefer Attieas in Attica Ilepertas (Berlin, 1882). and a volume of facsimiles only, Imagines Inserip tionum. Gra•arum Antiquissimarum 1`241 ed., Ber lin, ]S94). For Greek legal inscriptions is im portant Dareste, llanssoullier, and Reinach, Re eueil dcs inscriptions juridiques grceques, i., (Paris, 1890-98). Useful collections for the student are: Hicks and Hill, Manual of Greek Historical Inscriptions (2d ed., Oxford, 19011; Rccueil d'inscriplions grecqucs (Paris, 1900) ; and, above all, Dittenbergcr, Syllogc In scription 11 (2d ed., 3 vols.. Leipzig, 1898-1901). The metrical inscriptions have been collected by Kaibel, Epigrammata Gra•ca cx Lapidibus Conlecta (Berlin, 1878) and (for the period before B.C. 250) by Hoffmann, Sylloge Epigrammatum Grcecorum, (Halle, 1893). A col lection of the Greek Christian inscriptions has been begun by the French Academy.