Herodotus holds an honoured place among the pioneers of Greek epigraphy. We seek in vain for earlier signs of any appreciation of the historical value of inscriptions, and though we may conjecture that the antiquarian interests of some of his contemporaries or near-contemporaries might well have led them in this direction, our view of the beginnings of Greek epigraphical study must be based on Herodotus, whether or not he truly deserves to be regarded as its ρχηγέτηϲ. Apart from its significance (...) in the history of scholarship Herodotus' use of inscriptions may be expected to throw some light on his methods and on his conception of his task. He cites epigraphic evidence throughout his work and in relation to a wide range of topics; if his use of this material suggests any general conclusions, we do not need to allow for the bias of a single source or the effect of peculiar local conditions, as we must when we consider his accounts of individual episodes or areas. We are relatively well placed to assess his procedure. We have a reasonably clear idea of the general appearance of the various scripts concerned , and in this respect enjoy a considerable advantage over the majority of Herodotus' original audience. Three of the inscriptions which he cites have been wholly or partly preserved, and thus provide a simple gauge of his accuracy in reporting such evidence. (shrink)

In memory of Jean-Louis Ferarry The 30th issue of the EBGR was written under difficult circumstances. Because of new heavy administrative duties and the obligation to publish a large group of inscriptions from Aphrodisias I could not dedicate to the EBGR the time that this task usually requires; the lockdown of academic institutions and their libraries has also presented a challenge. Therefore, this issue presents only a portion of the epigraphic corpora, new epigraphic finds published in 201...

For Nicole Belayche, χαριστήριον καὶ φιλίας χάριν This issue of the EBGR presents epigraphic corpora and new epigraphic finds published in 2020 as well as additions to earlier issues. As in previous years, Asia Minor has the lion’s share on new inscriptions pertaining to cults and religious mentality, but there are also some very important texts from ‘old’ Greece, e.g. a stele from Epidauros (58) that records the punishment of fraudulent and incompetent architects and a metrical text from Lar...

The 24th issue of the Epigraphic Bulletin for Greek Religion presents epigraphic publications of 2011 and additions to earlier issues (publications of 2006–2010). Publications that could not be considered here, for reasons of space, will be presented in EBGR 2012. They include two of the most important books of 2011: N. Papazarkadas’ Sacred and Public Land in Ancient Athens, Oxford 2011 and H.S. Versnel’s Coping with the Gods: Wayward Readings in Greek Theology, Leiden 2011. A series of new i...

In memory of Hasan Malay This issue of the Epigraphic Bulletin for Greek Religion presents a significant portion of new epigraphic finds published in 2019 as well as several corpora and other epigraphic collections of that year. For reasons of space, I have limited myself to new finds and very few discussions of already published inscriptions. I have also made some additions to earlier issues of the EBGR (esp. 2016–2018), planning to cover the most significant gaps in the future. In (...) this issu... (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to highlight several features of the concept of impiety and of its use in inscriptions. Two main types of epigraphic texts mention impiety: 1. preventive laws, where formulations such as ἀσεβὴς ἔστω, ἀσεβείτω and ἔνοχος ἔστω ἀσεβείᾳ have a double effect inasmuch as they categorize an offence as an impiety and, in addition, they give a culprit the status of impious and 2. reports of trials or of past wrongs. Being regarded as impious entails (...) other consequences on the relationship between the culprit and gods but also between the culprit and the human community – the main issue being that these consequences are seldom explicitly mentioned. Moreover, instead of a single law or text defining impiety or proceedings to take place in case of impiety, there is an array of texts in which impiety appears, the sum of which forms what a community would legally recognize as an impiety.Cet article vise à mettre en exergue différentes particularités du concept d’impiété et de son utilisation dans les inscriptions. Deux types principaux de textes épigraphiques mentionnent l’impiété : 1. des lois préventives, dans lesquelles des formulations telles que ἀσεβὴς ἔστω, ἀσεβείτω et ἔνοχος ἔστω ἀσεβείᾳ ont un double effet dans la mesure où elles définissent une infraction comme étant une impiété et, de surcroît, elles confèrent au coupable le statut d’impie et 2. des rapports de procès ou de torts commis par le passé. Être considéré impie entraîne d’autres conséquences, dans la relation du coupable avec les dieux mais également avec la communauté humaine – le problème étant principalement que ces conséquences sont rarement explicitement mentionnées. De plus, au lieu d’une loi unique définissant l’impiété ou envisageant les procédures à mettre en place en cas d’impiété, il y a un ensemble de textes dans lesquels apparaît l’impiété, dont la somme forme ce qu’une commu­nauté reconnaîtrait légalement comme impiété. (shrink)

In memory of Alexandru Avram In a recent article, Robert Parker (“Greek Religion 1828–2017: the Contribution of Epigraphy”, Chiron 48 [2018], p. 1–15) has summarized the contribution of inscription to the study of Greek religion in the last two hundred years. With the help of the Bulletin Épigraphique, the reborn Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, the revived Inscriptiones Graecae, online resources such as the Collection of Greek Ritual Norms, the systematic publication of local corpora, and...