Epigraphy facts for kids

Epigraphy is the study of writings, inscriptions (epigraphs) on things like rocks, clay, stone, paper, etc. It is used to study writing; often for learning about languages of the past.

Images for kids

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  The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum

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  Inscription on the pedestal of the statue of Michel Ney from Paris

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  Sanskrit incscribed on Brihadeshwara temple, Thanjavur, India.

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  Trilingual inscription of Xerxes I at Van Fortress in Turkey

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  Arabesque epigraphy with various Maghrebi Arabic scripts in the Myrtle Court of the Alhambra.

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  The high medieval Prüfening dedicatory inscription, composed in Latin and stamped in Roman square capitals

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  Ostrakon of Megacles, son of Hippocrates (inscription: ΜΕΓΑΚΛΕΣ ΗΙΠΠΟΚΡΑΤΟΣ), 487 BC. On display in the Ancient Agora Museum in Athens, housed in the Stoa of Attalus

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  An inscription using cipher runes, the Elder Futhark, and the Younger Futhark, on the 9th-century Rök runestone in Sweden

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  Ancient Greek boustrophedon inscription, Gortyn code, Crete, 5th century BC

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  Roman marble funeral stele with inscription: "CIL VI 23414: D(is) M(anibus) / M(arco) Ogulnio / Iusto filio / pientissimo / vix(it) ann(os) XV mens(es) II d(ies) XXII / M(arcus) Ogulnius / Iustus pater / et sibi fecit" – 1st century AD

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  Inscription on a Roman mosaic from excavations in the Appian Way, Rome. The Greek motto gnōthi sauton ("know thyself", nosce te ipsum) combines with the image to convey the famous warning: Respice post te; hominem te esse memento; memento mori (Look behind; remember that you are mortal; remember death)

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  Bust of Periander bearing the inscription "Periander, son of Cypselus, Corinthian". Marble, Roman copy after a Greek original by Kresilas, 4th century

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  The ancient bronze Serpent Column at the Hippodrome of Constantinople. The Obelisk of Theodosius is seen in the background.

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  Greek inscription at the south temple, Kom Aushim (Karanis), Faiyum, Egypt

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  Votive relief for the cure of a bad leg, inscription from the shrine of Asclepius at Milos, Ægean Sea.

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  Athenian text concerning the administration of temples in Salamis, dating from 363 BC

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  Basilica of Aquileia, 4th-century mosaic with Latin inscription: IANUARI DEDEI DONO P * DCCCLXX (Januarius paid for 870 square feet of mosaic)

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  Votive plaque for Victoria, set by Flavius Primus, curator of the Turma Maximini

See also

In Spanish: Epigrafía para niños