UC Berkeley

In this paper, I study the emergence and advancement of epigraphic studies in roughly the first forty years following the foundation of the modern Greek state. The main protagonists - most of whom remain unknown outside Greece - are introduced, and their epigraphic output in its multiple manifestations is examined: the recording and analysis of inscriptions, the publication of articles and monographs, and the creation and protection of epigraphic collections. My study is contextualized by examining contemporary issues of ethnic identity and state-institution formation, as well as questions of interface amongst the Greek intellectuals themselves on the one hand, and between them and their European counterparts on the other. Ultimately, however, an attempt is made to understand the form and content that early epigraphic studies acquired in the Greek-speaking world, and the extent to which Greek scholarship contributed to the emerging field of epigraphy as it materialized with the publication of the early epigraphic corpora.