Boiotian Inscriptions in Epichoric Script

Abstract

This chapter provides a critical presentation of the most important Boeotian inscriptions in epichoric script published since the revision of Local Scripts in 1990. It allows us to follow the development of Boeotian epigraphy from the Archaic period well into the early fourth century BC. Several new inscriptions supplement information derived from the literary sources; one in particular spectacularly vindicates the good faith of Herodotus. Archaeologically, such texts have allowed the identification of major ancient sites. Epigraphically, they display a remarkable uniformity that allows us to talk of a Boeotian koine. Historically, they challenge established ideas of limited literacy. Recent finds also unequivocally demonstrate that the Boeotian script was still being used well into the fourth century and approximately down to the period of the so-called Theban hegemony. An appendix provides the editio princeps of a funerary epigram inscribed in epichoric script.