Epigraphic Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean in Antiquity

Krzysztof Nawotka

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780367535407
• eBook ISBN: 9781000164862
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

This book investigates the epigraphic habit of the Eastern Mediterranean in antiquity, from the inception of alphabetic writing to the seventh c. CE, aiming to identify whether there was one universal epigraphic culture in this area or a number of discrete epigraphic cultures.

Chapters examine epigraphic culture(s) through quantitative analysis of 32, 062 inscriptions sampled from ten areas in the Eastern Mediterranean, from the Black Sea coast to Greece, western to central Asia Minor, Phoenicia to Egypt. They show that the shapes of the epigraphic curves are due to different factors occurring in different geographical areas and in various epochs, including the pre-Greek epigraphic habit, the moment of urbanization and Hellenization, and the organized Roman presence. Two epigraphic maxima are identified in the Eastern Mediterranean: in the third c. BCE and in the second c. CE. This book differs from previous studies of ancient epigraphic culture by taking into account all categories of inscriptions, not just epitaphs, and in investigating a much broader area over the broadly defined classical antiquity.

This volume is a valuable resource for anyone working on ancient epigraphy, history or the cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean.

1 The epigraphic curve in Boiotia

Łukasz Szeląg

Material and methodology

Sources

The fundamental problem regarding Boiotian inscriptions is finding and identifying them. Unfortunately, there is no modern epigraphic corpus for all of Boiotia.¹ There are two modern corpora: Les Inscriptions des Thespies by P. Roesch, G. Argoud, G. Vottéro and A. Schachter (2nd edition, 2009), and Hoi epigraphes tou Oropou by V. Petrakos (1997).² There is also the seventh volume of W. Dittenberger’s Inscriptiones Graecae (1891), which covers the whole region.³ Dittenberger’s volume contains 4,269 texts; however many of these texts either do not originate from Boiotia (coming from Megaris and other parts of Central Greece) or are listed as graffiti. The majority of texts are undated. Other sources used for collecting material include the following journals: Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Bulletin épigraphique, L’Année épigraphique and Teiresias Epigraphica. Additionally, G. Vottéro’s catalogue of dialectal inscriptions⁴; various prosopographic works⁵; and the PHI,⁶ EDH⁷ and EDCS⁸ databases were consulted for collecting inscriptions and their dates. Several hundred texts inscribed on ceramics have been excluded from the study; the reason for their exclusion can be found in the “Introduction” to this volume.

Number and dates of texts

Unfortunately, only the minority of Boiotian documents are dated in terms of absolute chronology (mostly public documents, such as decrees, tituli honorarii, lists of names and a few dedications). Most texts are dated using palaeographic criteria. In general, those dates proposed by the editors of the various publications – the corpora, SEG and LGPN – as well as those proposed by G. Vottéro have been used.⁹ If there are differences regarding a specific date, the latest proposal (generally Vottéro’s for dialectal and the SEG or LGPN for the rest) is accepted. Generally, Vottéro’s dating is more exact; therefore a great number of dialectal texts, including epitaphs, are precisely dated, sometimes to within a quarter-century. Contrary to this, many non-dialectal texts, especially post-second c. BCE examples, are described as “Roman”, “Imperial”, “Byzantine” or “Christian”. For manumissions I have accepted the dates proposed by C. Grenet.¹⁰ In total, 6,167 texts were studied: 5,280 are dated to a century (Table 1.1) and 2,785 are dated to a quarter-century (Table 1.2), 887 inscriptions cannot be classified (even to a century), 280 are classified as “Imperial” or “Roman” and 20 are described as “Christian” or “Byzantine”.¹¹

Table 1.1 Number of inscriptions from Boiotia datable by century

	All inscriptions	Decrees	Tituli honorarii	Lists of names	Epitaphs	Other
Boiotia	5,280	515	291	335	3,211	928
Thespiai	1,189	47	113	108	722	199
Tanagra	1,119	33	11	11	1,051	13
Oropos	710	285	56	17	190	162
Thebes	596	10	38	21	431	96

Table 1.2 Number of inscriptions from Boiotia datable by quarter-century

	All inscriptions	Decrees	Tituli honorarii	Lists of names	Epitaphs	Other
Boiotia	2,785	420	186	228	1,445	506
Thespiai	477	36	69	56	222	94
Tanagra	675	33	6	6	620	10
Oropos	365	222	36	16	11	80
Thebes	283	10	24	12	181	56

Selected cities

In addition to the graphs representing the whole of Boiotia, graphs representing the cities of Thespiai, Tanagra, Thebes and Oropos are included. Documents from these poleis are numerous – Thespiai provide 1,189 texts, Tanagra 1119 and Oropos 710, whilst 596 examples originate from Thebes. The curves from Thebes and Tanagra are not particularly revealing as the majority of inscriptions are epitaphs. The shape of the curve for Thebes would be very different if inscriptions on ceramics were included – the majority of Theban inscriptions are dedications made on vases and kantharoi, mainly found in sanctuaries in Kabeireion and Herakleion. The peak of their frequency was in the fifth c. BCE.

Beyond the high number of texts, these poleis were chosen due to the role they played in Boiotian history. Thebes was the largest city in the Archaic and Classical periods, and dominated the region for over 200 years. Thespiai and Tanagra were important settlements from the Archaic period onwards, especially during Hellenistic and Roman times – both also had “free city” status and were described by Strabo as the only real cities in Boiotia during his time.¹² Oropos is a different case entirely. First, it was not a “pure” Boiotian settlement but a colony settled by Ionians from Eretria. Second, during certain periods this polis was not formally a part of Boiotia but was independent or under Athenian control.¹³ Notwithstanding this detail, Oropos has been included as part of Boiotia. This area was very important for the Boiotian League – mainly due to the sanctuary of Amphiaraos, where the koinon erected many federal decrees. Oropos was also part of the Boiotian koinon during the time when epigraphic activity in both the city and the region was greatest. This city is also important due to its non-Boiotian origin. As we can see from the graphs, despite fact that the Oropians did not use the Boiotian dialect and were not part of the Boiotian ethnos initially, the epigraphic curve for the city is similar to that of the rest of Boiotia.¹⁴ The composition of the Oropian epigraphic material is also interesting. More decrees were found in Oropos than in the rest of Boiotia, and they provide over half of the datable documents from this polis (most decrees were inscribed when Oropos was part of Boiotia, not at the time of Athenian domination).

Categories of inscriptions

The extra category adopted for this case study, in addition to decrees, tituli honorarii, epitaphs and ‘other’, is ‘lists of names’. Included in this category are m...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of maps
• List of graphs
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: epigraphic habit, epigraphic culture, epigraphic curve: statement of the problem
• 1 The epigraphic curve in Boiotia
• 2 The epigraphic curve at Delphi
• 3 Epigraphic culture in Olympia
• 4 The epigraphic curve in the Black Sea region: a case study from North-West Pontus
• 5 The epigraphic curve in the Northern Black Sea region: a case study from Chersonesos and the Bosporan Kingdom
• 6 Epigraphic curves in Western Asia Minor: the case studies of Miletos, Ephesos and Pergamon
• 7 The epigraphic curve in Phrygia and its borderlands
• 8 The epigraphic curve in the Levant: the case study of Phoenicia
• 9 The epigraphic curve in Egypt: the case study of Alexandria
• 10 The epigraphic curve in the Fayum Oasis
• Conclusions: one or many epigraphic cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean
• Index locorum
• Index