Epigraphy at the British School

The BSA has significantly contributed to the study of Greek epigraphy over much of its history. Staff of the School involved in epigraphic research in Greece have included M. N. Tod, A. M. Woodward, and P. M. Fraser; while members whose research has been supported by the BSA include two of the greatest practitioners in the field, L. H. Jeffery, whose Local Scripts of Archaic Greece (Oxford 1961) remains the greatest single work on archaic Greek epigraphy, and D. M. Lewis, the editor of all pre-Euclidean Athenian inscriptions (IG I³). From Mycenaean Linear B tablets to late Roman inscriptions at the Sparta theatre, epigraphists at the BSA have helped to shape our knowledge of the history of Greece across several millennia.

M. N. Tod L. H. Jeffery

The School continues today to support independent scholars working on inscriptions, as well as larger group projects such as the re-edition of all post-Euclidean decrees, the volumes of Inscriptiones Graecae (IG II³) which immediately follow those of Lewis.

Teaching Epigraphy

The first BSA postgraduate training course in Greek epigraphy took place in 2009. Aimed at passing on to another generation the skills necessary to edit and interpret inscriptions, the course utilised the School’s own collection of stones as well as the superb facilities of the Epigraphic Museum in Athens.

Current Research

One project currently being undertaken by the Assistant Director, Robert Pitt, and Amelia Brown (Princeton), in collaboration with Prof. M. H. Crawford (UCL), is a new edition of all the Greek fragments of Diocletian’s Edict on Maximum Prices, together with an archaeological, architectural, and historical analysis of the stones, their contexts, and their significance for Greek cities under the Tetrarchy. The first conference associated with this project was held at the BSA in January 2009 to honour Joyce M. Reynolds on her 90th birthday.

Fragment of the Edict built into a church at Lebadeia Joyce Reynolds at the Meander River