Epigraphy

The Rosetta Stone at the British Museum

Coptic subscription of around the 3rd century AD.

Plomo de Ullastret (s IV a.C.)

The studious Helmer Gustavson, a member of the Swedish National Heritage Council, repinting the Rök Stone.

Epigraphy (from the Greek language επιγραφή: written on) is an autonomous science and at the same time auxiliary to History, whose main objective is the complete study of inscriptions, in its structure, support, matter, its form, its written content, but also the function that such evidence plays.

The purpose of Epigraphy covers not only the deciphering, reading and interpretation of the inscriptions, in order to obtain as much information as possible from them, but also the study of the materials and supports (stone, metal, wood, bone, ceramic, among others) on which it has been written, and how it has been written, as well as the purpose, the function for which such element was conceived and destined.

According to international conventions (especially for Unesco), the existence of personal epigraphy is the marker that indicates the passage of a culture from prehistoric to historical, especially when among its inscriptions there are annals and chronicles.

Epigraphy is directly related to sciences such as Ancient History, Archaeology, Philology and Paleography and, additionally, with others such as Numismatics, the History of Religions or Roman Law. Although it also studies the legends present on the coins, the specialized study of the inscriptions that appear on them is typical of numismatics.

History of epigraphy

The first written material that is documented with certainty is the cuneiform sign, within the Sumerian culture, around 3,800 BC. c.

Epigraphy is specialized according to its historical period and also according to the culture that produces it, although historically the most developed are cuneiform, Egyptian, Greek and Roman.

Types of registrations

It can be divided into different sections by virtue of the content or object of the inscriptions. There are seven main groups or types, based mainly on the systematization made for Roman epigraphy:

1. Religious registrationwhich are offered and dedicated to divinities or gods; when they are the result of some promise they are called vote.
2. Laws or legalcontaining laws, edicts, decrees or official epistles.
3. Public or monumental which are engraved in public and official buildings, for example buildings, triumphal arches, bridges, temples, etc., frequently expressing their authors or the reason and date of their construction.
4. Historical: They usually commemorate important facts, such as pimps.
5. Honourablededicated to honoring the memory of a distinguished character.
6. Funeral or TombsThey're epitaphs who remember death and point out someone's burial place.
7. Children, calls in general instrumenta domestica: on objects of common use, such as ceramic, glass, ivory, etc.; they can be mechanical or stamped (such as seals on amphoras or tableware) or spontaneous (printed, painted signs, etc.).

Materials used

Roman Epigraphy

From the volcanic tuff that was preferably used in the oldest inscriptions (until 121 BC) since limestone was used more for the inscriptions. When moving to the incision technique, a stronger and smoother support such as travertine and then Carrara marble became necessary.

The existence of tombstone and sculptor workshops in Rome, Pompeii and Ostia has been documented, since half-finished works have been found, ready to be “personalized” at the time of commission. The same is said for registrations prepared without data so that they were completed after the purchase.

Two jobs:

• The engraver, who with the axe or the chisel made the incision of the text.
• The quadratarius which was responsible for preparing the marks of the so-called epigraphic field: the margins and the space that the letters should be used or between lines.

The chiaroscuro effect typical of some old epigraphs is produced by the triangular tip of the chisel.

There are also indications of the coloration being introduced above all in those shallower incisions. Normally red but also gold or blue. However, its study is difficult because, due to the very nature of the pigment used, it has been lost. We have the testimony of this use even in time sources such as Pliny the Elder.

Epigraphy in Spain

Spain is a place especially rich in Celtiberian, Iberian, Greek, Roman, Visigothic and Arabic inscriptions. Outstanding in his study, during the 19th century, were Juan Catalina, Aureliano Fernández-Guerra, Fidel Fita, José Amador de los Ríos, Eduardo Saavedra and the great German compiler Emil Hübner, author of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (1869-1892), among other works. In the 20th century, among those already deceased, Manuel Gómez-Moreno, Antonio García y Bellido or Joaquín María de Navascués.

Notable Inscriptions

• Trecén Decree
• Festo Disco
• Ashoka Edicts
• Estela 1 de La Mojarra
• Behistun Registration
• Bitola Registration
• Registration of the Dipilon
• Registration Due
• Registration of Kedukan Bukit
• Registration of copper of Laguna
• Shugborough registration
• Libyan-punic Mausoleum of Dougga
• Rosetta Stone
• Res gestae Divi Augusti