History & Society
epigraphy
historiography
Babylonian clay tablet giving detailed description of the total solar eclipse of April 15, 136
epigraphy, the study of written matter recorded on hard or durable material. The term is derived from the Classical Greek epigraphein (“to write upon, incise”) and epigraphē (“inscription”). Because such media were exclusive or predominant in many of the earliest human civilizations, epigraphy is a prime tool in recovering much of the firsthand record of antiquity. It is thus an essential adjunct of the study of ancient peoples; it secures and delivers the primary data on which historical and philological disciplines alike depend for their understanding of the recorded past. In a narrower sense, epigraphy is the study of such ...(100 of 12223 words)