Epigraphic Evidence is an accessible guide to the responsible use of Greek and Latin inscriptions as sources for ancient history. It introduces the types of historical information supplied by inscriptional texts and the methods with which they can be used. It outlines the limitations as well as the advantages of the different types of evidence covered. Epigraphic Evidence includes a general introduction, a guide to the arrangement of the standard corpora inscriptions and individual chapters on local languages and native cultures, epitaphs and the ancient economy amongst others.

Series Information:
Approaching the Ancient World

Highways, Byways, and Road Systems in the Pre-Modern World reveals the significance and interconnectedness of early civilizations pathways. This international collection of readings providing a description and comparative analysis of several sophisticated systems of transport and communication across pre-modern cultures. * Offers a comparative analysis of several sophisticated systems of overland transport and communication networks across pre-modern cultures * Addresses the burgeoning interest in connectivity and globalization in ancient history, archaeology, anthropology, and recent work in network analysis * Explores the societal, cultural, and religious implications of various transportation networks around the globe * Includes contributions from an international team of scholars with expertise on pre-modern India, China, Japan, the Americas, North Africa, Europe, and the Near East * Structured to encourage comparative thinking across case studies

A common belief is that systems of writing are committed to transparency and precise records of sound. The target is the language behind such marks. Readers, not viewers, matter most, and the most effective graphs largely record sound, not meaning. But what if embellishments mattered deeply - if hidden writing, slow to produce, slow to read, played as enduring a role as more accessible graphs? What if meaningful marks did service alongside records of spoken language? This book, a compilation of essays by global authorities on these subjects, zeroes in on hidden writing and alternative systems of graphic notation. Essays by leading scholars explore forms of writing that, by their formal intricacy, deflect attention from language. The volume also examines graphs that target meaning directly, without passing through the filter of words and the medium of sound. The many examples here testify to human ingenuity and future possibilities for exploring enriched graphic communication.