In order to engage with the study of epigraphy, this collection is divided into two parts, Athens and Athens from the outside. The contributors maintain the importance of epigraphy, arguing that, in some cases, inscriptions are the only tools we have to recover the local history of places that stand outside the main focus of ancient literary sources, which are often frustratingly Athenocentric. Ideally, the historian uses both inscriptions and literary sources to make plausible inferences and thereby weave together the disconnected threads of the past into a connected and persuasive narrative. Epigraphy and the Greek Historian is a comprehensive examination of epigraphy and a timely resource for students and scholars involved in the study of ancient history.
Craig Cooper is a professor in the Department of Classics and associate dean of Arts at the University of Winnipeg.