DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5009#0372
346 HANDBOOK OF ARGEMOLOGY.
care and finish. The Egyptian edifices were also covered with
religious"or historical tableaux, sculptured and painted on all the
walls; it has been estimated that in one single temple there existed
not less than 30,000 square feet of sculpture, and at the sides of
these tableaux were innumerable inscriptions, equally composed of
ingeniously grouped figurative signs, in explanation of the subjects,
and combining with them far more happily than if they had been
the finest alphabetical characters in the world.
Their study would require more than a lifetime, and we have only
spjace to give a few general hints.
Greek.
We have a much more accurate knowledge of Greek inscriptions
than we have of Egyptian palaeography. The Greek alphabet, and
all its variations, as well as the language, customs, and history of
that illustrious people, are better known to us. Greek inscriptions
lead us back to those glorious periods of the Greek people when
their heroes and writers made themselves immortal by their illus-
trious deeds and writings. \\ hat emotions must arise in the breast
of the archaeologist who finds in a marble worn by time the fune-
real monument placed by Athens, twenty-three centuries ago, over
the grave of its warriors who died before rotidasa.
" Their souls high heaven received ; their bodies gained,
In Potidffia's plains, this hallowed tomb.
Their foes unnumbered fell: a few remained
Saved by their ramparts from the general doom.
The victor city mourns her heroes slain,
Foremost in light, they for her glory died.
"i'is yours, ye sons of Athens, to sustain,
15y martial deeds like theirs, your country's pride."
Our chief and principal aim in the examination of a Greek in-
scription ought to be the discovery of its period. The subject, if it
belongs to history, indicates in the first place that period, within
certain limits ; but it is more accurately recognised, 1, in the chro-
nological signs, if it has any; 2, in their absence, in the forms of the
letters belonging to a certain period, in the arrangement of the lines
of the inscription ; lastly, in certain grammatical forms peculiar to
the more ancient Greek inscriptions. The dialect which is employed
is also an indication, at least topographical, with regard to the
country in which the inscription was engraved.
The usual chronological signs are—-1. The names of the magis-
trates by whose authority the monument was executed, or who were
care and finish. The Egyptian edifices were also covered with
religious"or historical tableaux, sculptured and painted on all the
walls; it has been estimated that in one single temple there existed
not less than 30,000 square feet of sculpture, and at the sides of
these tableaux were innumerable inscriptions, equally composed of
ingeniously grouped figurative signs, in explanation of the subjects,
and combining with them far more happily than if they had been
the finest alphabetical characters in the world.
Their study would require more than a lifetime, and we have only
spjace to give a few general hints.
Greek.
We have a much more accurate knowledge of Greek inscriptions
than we have of Egyptian palaeography. The Greek alphabet, and
all its variations, as well as the language, customs, and history of
that illustrious people, are better known to us. Greek inscriptions
lead us back to those glorious periods of the Greek people when
their heroes and writers made themselves immortal by their illus-
trious deeds and writings. \\ hat emotions must arise in the breast
of the archaeologist who finds in a marble worn by time the fune-
real monument placed by Athens, twenty-three centuries ago, over
the grave of its warriors who died before rotidasa.
" Their souls high heaven received ; their bodies gained,
In Potidffia's plains, this hallowed tomb.
Their foes unnumbered fell: a few remained
Saved by their ramparts from the general doom.
The victor city mourns her heroes slain,
Foremost in light, they for her glory died.
"i'is yours, ye sons of Athens, to sustain,
15y martial deeds like theirs, your country's pride."
Our chief and principal aim in the examination of a Greek in-
scription ought to be the discovery of its period. The subject, if it
belongs to history, indicates in the first place that period, within
certain limits ; but it is more accurately recognised, 1, in the chro-
nological signs, if it has any; 2, in their absence, in the forms of the
letters belonging to a certain period, in the arrangement of the lines
of the inscription ; lastly, in certain grammatical forms peculiar to
the more ancient Greek inscriptions. The dialect which is employed
is also an indication, at least topographical, with regard to the
country in which the inscription was engraved.
The usual chronological signs are—-1. The names of the magis-
trates by whose authority the monument was executed, or who were