Epigraphic Habit and History of the Eastern Mediterranean

Abstract

This paper investigates the epigraphic habit in the Eastern Mediterranean from the inception of alphabetic writing into the seventh c. CE. It considers all categories of inscriptions, not just epitaphs, as in most earlier studies. It examines the epigraphic habit through quantitative analysis of 32,157 inscriptions sampled from ten areas in the Eastern Mediterranean from the Black Sea coast to central Greece, western and central Asia Minor, Phoenicia, and Egypt. The shapes of the epigraphic curves are due to different factors, including the pre-Greek epigraphic habit, Hellenisation, the Roman presence, wars, and Christianity. Two epigraphic maxima are identified in the Eastern Mediterranean: in the third c. BCE and in the second c. CE.