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perspectives

No 6 (2025): Epigraphists at work

Quelques réflexions sur la recherche d’un langage commun en épigraphie numérique

Submitted
May 31, 2025
Published
May 31, 2025

Abstract

Do we speak the same language within the same discipline? Whether the inscription is Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Gallic, medieval or modern, can it be described using a similar method and identical vocabulary by specialists in epigraphy? This article highlights an important step in this reflection carried out by a digital epigraphy group during a week of work at the French School of Athens: the creation of a thesaurus offering a common vocabulary for different epigraphic traditions. It reviews the choice of essential elements for describing an inscription (writing, text, language, material, medium, manufacture), their hierarchy, the comparison of different practices, and the questioning of inherited terms. The challenge is to use digital technology to conceive of a ‘general’ epigraphy that transcends the barriers erected by each historical period.