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Greek Inscriptions: insights
and resources in the
classroom and beyond
by Peter Liddel
P arts of this paper are based on a talk
delivered on the CA Teaching Board
INSET day for teachers of Ancient History
Among the pieces of primary
evidence that are crucial to the
interpretation of ancient Greek history,
of their official transactions on stone
tablets. In the middle and later fifth
century BC, they appear to have
A Level at the Leeds City Museum, November inscriptions – by which we refer to frequently written up on stone decisions
2015. examples of writing incised on stone or concerning the organisation of their
metal objects – loom large. According to empire; they also wrote up on stone
one recent estimate, there survive at least treaties and agreements with other states.
Introduction: the value of 200,000 inscriptions written in the Greek
language which date to the period 800
These stones tell us a great deal about the
Athenian treatment of their imperial
inscriptions BC – AD 600. From ancient Athens subjects in the fifth century BC. For
alone, there are around 20,000 in some instance, were it not for the record of
The learning of ancient history at every state of preservation. State decisions of inscriptions, we would know little about
level – school, FE and HE – offers its great relevance (treaties, regulations, the ways in which the Athenians behaved
students the opportunity of close honours) were written down on stone towards those allies who had revolted
engagement with ancient evidence first slabs of marble; they appeared also on a from their empire (see, for instance,
hand. We want our students to develop range of other metal and stone objects, LACTOR 1, 4th edition, 216A-B, 217,
the ability to approach texts and artefacts adorning buildings, dedications and 218, 21) nor would we have a detailed
with confidence, to place them in context, public and private monuments. view of their financial exploitation of
and to cultivate their own perspectives on Inscriptions stood in public places in these city-states (see, for instance,
ancient history through engaging with Greece: they were written down in LACTOR 1, 4th edition, nos. 136, 137B,
them. We need to teach them that this conspicuous locations, such as 138).
process – the antithesis (or even the sanctuaries and marketplaces (agorai). On an important level, inscriptions
antidote?) to the quick-fix of Wikipedia They are the most important form of offer us factual details about the ancient
or the Google search – is crucial to the documentary information surviving past. They give information about treaties
methodology of the historian and is at the from the ancient Greek world. As a form and cult practices; they preserve the
same time an exciting way of thinking of evidence, inscriptions are unique: they names of politicians who proposed
about the past. Close engagement with combine written words, inscribed in particular decrees and offer a view of the
inscriptions is a way of getting to the core antiquity for people to see, with physical means by which those decisions were
matters of ancient history. In this article I presence. In this way events, phenomena reached. They tell us about the style of
set out the insights and opportunities that and decisions were granted physical and commemoration of individuals (both
the study of inscriptions offers to those monumental commemoration. men and women; citizens and non-
getting familiar with Greek antiquity at citizens) and groups of citizens whose
the pre-university stage; I consider the names were written up on casualty lists. In
obstacles that teachers and students face this sense, then, they offer snapshot
when trying to access them and also the History and inscriptions perspectives on ancient history,
opportunities that modern publications preserving details that are skipped over
(digital and traditional) offer to At some point in the late sixth century, without comment by the literary sources.
overcoming them. the Athenians started to write down some Without the inscribed base of the
The Journal of Classics Teaching 18 (35) p.43-47 © The Classical Association 2017. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of
the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits
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co-ordinating a unified response to the
threat of the Persians in 480 BC, in fact it
appears to have been written up for
propagandistic reasons in the second half
of the fourth century BC – perhaps as
part of the effort among Greek states to
stir up resistance to the rise of
Macedonian power in the 340s BC.
Inscriptions, then, like any other text,
should always be considered in the light
of their context of production and
intended audience.
Greek Inscriptions in the
Specifications
Figure 1. | Phrasikleia Kore, exhibited at the Yet despite all this promise, when one
National Archaeological Museum of Athens. looks at the specified ancient sources for
the new Ancient History A Level (and
magnificent statue of Phrasikleia from AS Level) qualification (http://www.ocr.
sixth-century Attica (Fig. 1), we would org.uk/Images/313570-specification-
know considerably less about the accredited-A Level-ancient-history-h407.
commemoration of women who had died pdf) one finds only very few Greek
before marriage in archaic Attica. inscriptions: three of them are specified
While they tell us a great deal about as relevant to the period study Relations
daily life and its regulation, there is also a Figure 2. | The Serpent Column. between Greek states and between Greek and
very important sense in which non-Greek states, 492–404 BC: the
inscriptions were religious objects. The war effort are incised upon the coils. Thoudippos Decree (LACTOR 1.138),
Athenians of the classical period set up The inscription still exists, and is set up the Chalcis Decree (LACTOR 1.78), the
their public decisions upon stone slabs in at the ancient Hippodrome in Istanbul Serpent Column (Fig. 2); one is specified
sacred places, most frequently the (it was removed by Constantine I to for the depth study The Politics and Society
Acropolis: it seems very plausible that Constantinople in AD 324). The of Sparta, 478–404 BC (a Spartan epitaph
they were trying to make some kind of dedication of this column was an act of (IG 5.1.1124)). The specifications for The
religious connection with their decisions. piety by the Greek states to the god Politics and Culture of Athens, c.460–399
Of direct religious significance are the Apollo as a thank-offering in BC depth study specify no Greek
Athenian Tribute Lists. After moving the recognition of his intervention in the inscriptions: when we consider that
treasury of the Delian League to Athens Persian wars. But literary sources public writing and the epigraphic
in c. 454 BC, the Athenians started preserve a very rich account of the habit– as attested by inscriptions –
dedicating 1/60th of the imperial tribute history of the inscription, telling us that formed such a significant aspect of
to the treasury of the goddess Athena it supported a golden tripod, and was popular fifth-century culture across the
Polias. They wrote up the amounts appropriated by the Spartan regent Greek world, we realise that there is a
dedicated in this way by each contributing Pausanias with a boastful epigram deep gap in the specifications.
community. Accordingly, it is possible to (Thucydides 1.132). In this case, our The lack of Greek inscriptions from
work out from these lists precisely what understanding of an inscription is the specifications is disappointing even
the Athenians received in any year when enriched by the literary testimonia. when compared with the previous
the amount was written down and While inscriptions can be useful as specifications for A Level Ancient
survives.1 documents of ancient Greek life and History (which cited four inscriptions in
One of the most spectacular political transactions, we have to be aware the Delian League to Athenian Empire
inscriptions from fifth-century Greece is that they were objects liable to political module). It is disappointing also when
the Serpent Column, a bronze column, manipulation by the humans – or human compared to the specifications for Roman
moulded so as to represent intertwined groups – who created them. The subjects at Ancient History A Level,
snakes, offered by the Greeks to Apollo inscribed Decree of Themistocles (see C. where the specifications are inscription-
at Delphi as a thank-offering for their Fornara, From Archaic Times to the End of rich in the The Julio-Claudian emperors, 31
victories in the Persian Wars (see C. the Peloponnesian War, 2nd edition, 1983, BC– AD 68 period study and the Ruling
Fornara, From Archaic Times to the End of no. 55; also https://en.wikipedia.org/ Roman Britain, AD 43–128 depth study.2
the Peloponnesian War, 2nd edition, 1983, wiki/Decree_of_Themistocles) is an All this is in spite of the fact that Greek
no. 59; Fig. 2). The names of 31 Greek excellent example of such practice: while inscriptions are of clear relevance to the
communities which contributed to the it purports to refer to the Athenians subject criteria for Ancient History.
44
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his view that ancient history was a subject
How are inscriptions relevant to worthy of study primarily because it
the subject criteria for Ancient entailed reading extended passages of
Thucydides in the original Greek. In his
History? multi-volume History of Greece, George
Grote criticised the German historian
The DfE’s published subject content for August Boeckh’s use of inscriptions,
A and AS Level Ancient History (https:// making the same claims about the dangers
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/ of ‘conjecture’; as with Jowett, it seems to
system/uploads/attachment_data/ be the case that a preference for
file/497229/Ancient_History_AS_A_ Figure 3. | Squeeze (paper impression) of the Thucydides lay behind Grote’s aversion to
level_subject_content.pdf) sets out the Athenian decree on the priestess of Athena inscriptions. Furthermore, it is perhaps
Aims and Objectives of study. Among Nike. true to say that at some points in the
other requirements, they state that twentieth century, the study of Greek
specifications in this subject must inscriptions was dominated by arguments
‘understand the nature of historical Nike (ML 44 = OR 137; see Fig. 3), for
about letter-forms and problematic
evidence from the ancient world and its instance, constitutes the earliest piece of
restorations, and that the reputation to
scarcity to build an understanding of evidence for the appointment of a
which this gave rise has been rather
historical periods studied and the priestess ‘from all Athenians’ rather than
damaging to their reputation. But as we
methods used in the analysis and from a particular genos or family, and is
shall see, the study of epigraphy has
evaluation of evidence’. Moreover, suggestive of a democratising process in
moved on.
students are expected to ‘develop an Athenian religion over the course of the
Another answer may be to do with
awareness and understanding of relevant fifth-century BC; as Josine Blok suggests,
the nature of Greek history itself. In
historical debates and how these can be there may be a link to Perikles’ Citizenship
their long and elaborate historical
investigated’. In terms of Subject law of 451 BC. The trickle of new
accounts, the works of Herodotus and
Content, specifications ought to require discoveries (such as the discovery, in the
Thucydides transmit to the modern
the study of ‘relevant literary and material excavations relating to the construction
world continuous narratives that are in
sources from the ancient world, as of the Athenian Metro system in the
themselves challenging and engaging
appropriate, as evidence for the historical 1990s, of a new casualty list referring to
enough to fulfil key aspects of the
events studies’. In terms of Knowledge, Athenian interventions in mainland
subject criteria. Combined with Old
Understanding and Skills, students are Greece in the last quarter of the fifth
Comedy and biography of the Second
required to ‘understand the nature of century) and new interpretations of
Sophistic, they enable learners to get a
historical evidence from the ancient world long-known inscriptions (e.g. the dating
partial sense of Greek history and its
and the methods used by historians today of the treaty of the Athenians and the
debates without needing to think about
in analysis and evaluation’ and to use Segestans (ML 37) now firmly to the
inscriptions. Whereas the literary sources
‘relevant and appropriate literary and archonship of Antiphon in 418/17 BC)
emphasise the Big Men and their
material sources from the ancient world in mean that modern historians are
reputations in Greek history, inscriptions
order to support evidence-based constantly led to re-formulate their
bring out the long-term developments,
arguments about the key events studied, interpretations of key events.
and shine light on aspects of Athenian
including analysing the reliability and society in which the historians –
context of the evidence used’. preoccupied with politics and military
To point out that inscriptions are What is the problem? affairs – are less interested. But the fact
relevant to these subject criteria would be that inscriptions can tell us about
to labour the point unnecessarily: to read Why is it the case that Greek inscriptions identity, democracy, citizenship, the
inscriptions is an important part of are largely excluded from the history of gender, and social life should
understanding how ancient historians specifications, despite their clear relevance be a reason to study them.
reconstruct developments in historical to the subject criteria? One answer might Perhaps another deterrent is that the
periods, how they advance historical be that it is very hard to get students to study of inscriptions has the reputation
arguments and how they treat literary read them partly owing to their of being off-puttingly ‘hard’, of being
sources critically. One cannot, for reputation: this has its roots in a negative inaccessible to those without Greek, and
instance, understand the debates about tradition about them that has existed since challenging even to those with Greek;
the changing nature of Athenian at least the late nineteenth century. In his their often poor state of preservation
imperialism without awareness of the 1881 essay ‘On Inscriptions in the Age of means that their texts are often
inscribed decrees that have – after many Thucydides’, Benjamin Jowett complained fragmentary or heavily reliant on
years of debate – been dated to the period of the ‘evil tendency’ of inscriptions ‘to restorations. The ongoing translation by
after the death of Perikles. Fifth-century encourage the habit of conjecture, which scholars of inscriptions in source-books
inscriptions are vitally important to our has already been one of the great means, however, that inaccessibility is less
understanding of both Athenian culture corruptions of philology’; what lay of a problem; furthermore, in the past
and Athenian democracy: the decree of c. behind this perspective may not be quite decade or so, significant new digital
450 or 438 BC on the priestess of Athena so straightforward, and may be related to online, open-access, resources, have made
Greek
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to the Cambridge 45
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https://doi.org/10.1017/S205863101700006X
inscriptions accessible to a wider audience in Fornara’s From Archaic Times to the End means that even those without Greek can
than ever before. of the Peloponnesian War (2nd edition, be led to consider the implications of
1983). The LACTOR series is particularly precise Greek terms – such as philotimia –
strong when it comes to translated which are difficult to render into English.
Resources for studying Greek inscriptions, and in particular Osborne’s
LACTOR 1 (Athenian Empire, 4th edition,
A search facility offers the possibility to
search both transliterations, historical
inscriptions 2000) and LACTOR 5 (Athenian phenomena (e.g. ‘sacrifice’, ‘battle’,
Democracy, 2015). Melvin Cooley’s ‘democracy’), and names. Links to online
Epigraphers are consistently among the LACTOR 21 (forthcoming 2017) is the images of the inscriptions, that emphasise
first classical scholars to make their work first sourcebook dedicated to Sparta and the physical aspects of these documents,
accessible in an online, open-access form. will translate many Spartan inscriptions are gradually being introduced. Very soon
The Packard Humanities Institute into English for the first time. More it will be the case that all the major
epigraphical database, a comprehensive detailed for fifth-century Greek fifth- and fourth-century Athenian
source for Greek texts of epigraphical inscriptions is Meiggs and Lewis’ Greek inscriptions will be available, free of
publications, once accessible only to Historical Inscriptions (revised edition, charge, in English translation to all.
owners of the PHI CD, is now open 1988), which will soon be replaced by One does not need to know Greek to
access; one can browse the epigraphical Osborne and Rhodes’ Greek Historical understand and appreciate the physical
corpora and search for Greek terms Inscriptions 478-404 BC (forthcoming; the aspects of inscriptions. We have already
(http://epigraphy.packhum.org/). The fourth century equivalent, Greek Historical commented on the way in which the Attic
website of the Centre for the Study of Inscriptions 404-323 BC is already available Inscriptions Online project incorporates
Ancient Documents (http://www.csad. in hardback [2003] and paperback transliterations into its translations of
ox.ac.uk/) is an important hub and [2007]). inscriptions and may well lead learners to
starting-point for online epigraphical The resource, however, that is consider the potential that a knowledge
research (it contains an excellent database currently enabling the accessibility of of Greek – even a little – offers to those
of images of squeezes – paper inscriptions to all is Stephen Lambert’s interested in understanding the Greek
impressions – of inscriptions); it contains Attic Inscriptions Online (Fig. 4). This website world in detail. The study of inscriptions,
links to important resources such as provides, free of charge, translations of then, presupposes no prior knowledge of
Poinikastas (http://poinikastas.csad.ox. the inscriptions of the ancient city of Greek. But we should not rule out the
ac.uk/), a database containing resources Athens and its surrounding area, Attica. possibility of using inscriptions to assist
for the study of writing in the archaic Its translations, based on the most recent the learning of Greek. Images of the
period of Greek history. While the scholarly readings of the inscriptions, are Attic Stelai displaying the 1/60th of the
present author is constantly frustrated by accompanied by a useful set of tribute of the Athenian allies dedicated to
his students’ determination to use interpretative notes concerning historical Athena’s treasury are readily available
Wikipedia uncritically, he is happy to controversies and information on their online, and could be used to assist
acknowledge that Wikipedia contains a physical form and findspot. They are learning the Greek alphabet in its
number of very good pages on individual browseable by publication, and the fifth-century Attic form (as well as the
inscriptions, which should always be website makes available already a great intriguing Athenian use of alphabetic
treated carefully and analytically! proportion of the inscriptions of letters to signify numbers). But
When it comes to translations, there relevance to the classical period (including inscriptions could be used to introduce
is a very rich seam of epigraphical the Chalkis and Thoudippos decrees learners to the Greek language in a
material in published form. There is a which are on the syllabus). It is possible to historically-engaged way: some years ago
wide range of translated inscriptions for incorporate transliterations of key Greek Graham Shipley and Eva Parasinou put
the study of fifth-century Greek History words within the translations, which together an introductory Greek course –
entitled Hellenizein – which was based on
engagement with simple Greek
inscriptions; it was published in electronic
form by the Higher Education Academy
but is now available free of charge directly
from Graham Shipley at Leicester or from
the author of this article.
The Physicality of Inscriptions
As observed above, one does not need
Greek to appreciate the ‘physicality’ of
inscriptions. It is possible to appreciate
inscriptions by visiting them in museums:
Figure 4. | Attic Inscriptions Online homepage the British Museum, Fitzwilliam Museum
46
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subject to classroom andCore
the Cambridge beyond
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https://doi.org/10.1017/S205863101700006Xand Ashmolean Museum (and other nature of the online experience, through A. Missiou, Literacy and Democracy in Fifth-
collections too: for a work-in-progress list blogs and wikis – are being constantly Century Athens, 2011 – discussing the wider
see http://ukepigraphy.humanities. trained to digest gobbets of information implications of inscriptions for understanding
manchester.ac.uk/index.php/Greek_ and opinions; perhaps, in some sense, writing and literacy.
Inscriptions_in_the_UK) have large Greek inscriptions are attuned to this
collections of Greek (and Roman) modern way of receiving information:
inscriptions which can give viewers a many of them offer bite-size chunks of
sense of the physical manifestations of text which repay close scrutiny and careful Electronic Resources:
texts: what types of objects were they analysis. There can be few better ways of
written on? Were they legible? Why were training our students to think critically Attic Inscriptions Online: a fast-growing site
they written up on stone? about the texts that they encounter, their translating all inscriptions of ancient Attica:
And if you do not live close to a producers, and their audiences. atticinscriptions.com
collection of Greek inscriptions, villages
Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents:
and towns and cities across the UK are http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/
full of inscriptions: just as they were in Peter Liddel, Senior Lecturer in
the ancient Greek world they adorn Ancient History, University of Greek inscriptions: http://epigraphy.
buildings, in grave-monuments, on Manchester; Chair, Classical packhum.org/
statue-bases, and other war memorials. Association Teaching Board
The search facilities of the Imperial War peter.liddel@manchester.ac.uk Imperial War Museum: http://www.iwm.org.
Museum (http://www.iwm.org.uk/ uk/memorials/search
memorials/search) and the War
Poinikastas: http://poinikastas.csad.ox.ac.uk/
Memorials Online websites (https://
www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/) offer Abbreviations: LACTOR (London Association of Classical
an easy way to track down war Teachers: Original Records): http://www.
memorials – many of them bearing ML: Meiggs, R. and Lewis, D.M, Greek lactor.kcl.ac.uk/summ.htm
inscriptions – in any area of the UK. We Historical Inscriptions to the end of the Fifth Century
can encourage our students to think about BC (revised edition, 1988). UK Greek inscriptions: http://ukepigraphy.
what they say: when they were written up, humanities.manchester.ac.uk/index.php/
OR: Osborne, R.G. and Rhodes, P.J., Greek Greek_Inscriptions_in_the_UK
why, and for whom? And does anyone
Historical Inscriptions 478-404 BC (forthcoming).
read them or do passers-by think of them War Memorials Online: https://www.
as mute stones? warmemorialsonline.org.uk/
Further Reading: 1On the use of the Tribute Lists as historical
Conclusion B. F. Cook, Greek Inscriptions, 1987.
sources, and their physical form, see LACTOR
1, 4th edition, pages 86-97.
In contrast to the extensive literary sources C.W. Fornara, From Archaic Times to the End of 2And there are no inscriptions specified in the
for ancient Greek history, inscriptions the Peloponnesian War, 2nd edition, 1983. new specifications for A Level Classical
offer snapshots of state action, of Civilisation, in spite of their obvious relevance
community decisions, and daily life. We P. Easterling, Greek Scripts: an illustrated to the modules on Greek Religion, Athenian
live in a world where learners – by the introduction, 2001. Democracy, and Greek Art.
Greek
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