Corpus of the Inscriptions of Central Boeotia – CIBEC
The inscriptions of Boiotia, speaking documents on ancient history.
Gather in a corpus all the ancient Greek inscriptions of Boiotia, an important region of central Greece.
Gather all the inscriptions of the region wasn't allways easy because of technical difficulties.
This project aimed at gathering in a single corpus the ancient Greek inscriptions from the region of Boiotia in central Greece. Boiotia is a strategic region that controls the communication between southern and northern Greece. It had important neighbors like Athens and played an important role in the political history of Greece because it formed the most ancient federation of cities of ancient Greece. Till now the inscriptions from that region were very difficult to track because for many years they were published in various periodicals and languages. Thanks to the new corpus of inscriptions from central Boiotia, the 1232 inscriptions of central Boiotia were for the first time published in a single volume. This new corpus permits to have in a single volume all the major sources on the history of this important region. The two teams gathered all the bibliography on the inscriptions of the region in a database. After having constituted this solid base, we have examined all the inscriptions found in this region in the archaeological Museum of Thebes and in other archaeological collection of the region. This was made possible thanks to the collaboration between the participants on the project and the Greek archaeological service. Because of the economic crisis in Greece the Greek archaeological service doesn’t have enough resources to guarantee good working conditions in its storerooms. So we were obliged to finance operations that normally would have been executed by the Archaeological Service. Notably we were obliged to move with the help of specialists heavy blocs inscribed with important texts in order to examine and photograph them. Our project had also a multidisciplinary approach and we tried to combine epigraphy and archaeology by excavating and studying the sanctuary of the Muses in the Valley of the Muses in central Boiotia.
During our work for the Corpus of Inscriptions of Central Boiotia we used the traditional methods of epigraphical work, the creation of a database with all the previous bibliography (praecorpus), the autopsy of the inscriptions in the storerooms of the museums of Central Greece, and their photographic documentation. This traditional approach was combined with the creation of an innovative online database that will be accessible on internet thanks to the Telota platform of the Berlin Academy.
The most important result of the new project will be the publication in the Inscriptiones Graecae series for the first time after more than a century of a volume with all the inscriptions of central Boiotia. This volume will be accompanied by an online presentation of the texts of the inscriptions thanks to the Telota electronic platform of the Berlin Academy. This online database will provide translations of inscriptions in modern language, mainly French and German. These translations will permit to a wider public to have access to difficult texts.
The CIBEC has covered an important part of the work on the corpus of the inscriptions of Boiotia. It will be important to continue with the other parts of the corpus. The corpus of many cities remains to be prepared and the work already accomplished is an excellent basis for the continuation of the work in other cities of the region. The CIBEC project could also be used as a base for the production of a new synthesis on the history of Boiotia and central Greece from the archaic period to late antiquity.
In the context of this project we didn’t only studied and reedited already known inscription but we also made known important new texts that change the history of the region and generally the history of central Greece during antiquity. We have most notably a decree of the city of Akraiphia that honors with equality the foreigners residing in the city that have participated in a war for the liberty of the city. This important new text provides important information about the integration of foreigners in Greek cities. In collaboration with G. Biard we have also studied the monumental statue base that bore the statues of the nine Muses. This base was found more than a century ago but was studied for the first time in all its aspect.
This project aims to prepare a new edition of the corpus of inscriptions from central Boeotia, comprising the cities of Thebes, Plataea, Thisbe, Coronea, Haliartos, Lebadeia, the and port towns of Anthedon, Siphai and Chorsiai. The old corpus edited by W. Dittenberger and published in 1892 in the series of Inscriptiones Graecae Berlin is now obsolete due to the large number of inscriptions discovered after this date as well as a wealth of more recent studies on the epigraphy and history of this region.
The number of Boeotian inscriptions has increased from nearly 4000 in Dittenberger’s corpus to around 10,000 today. It should be noted that the central region of Boeotia - and in particular the city of Thebes - is one of the most researched and epigraphically rich areas in Central Greece. This area also includes the three major federal sanctuaries of Boeotia, namely the sanctuary of Poseidon at Onchestos near Haliartos, and the Alalkomeneion and the Itonion of Coronea. Most of the inscriptions discovered after 1892 are published in various periodicals, often difficult to access and written in several languages. The epigraphic bibliography on central Boeotia is disparate, a fact that discourages the writing of synthetic works on various aspects of the history of this region.
The new edition will include the corpus of the great city of Thebes, as well as Plataea, Thisbe, Coronea, Haliartos, Lebadea and smaller cities such as Anthedon, Chorsiai and Siphai. The corpus of inscriptions from central Boeotia will include a systematic presentation of philological and epigraphic sources on the region, and will be accompanied by a database containing a catalogue of the inscriptions posted and updated online, allowing researchers working in the area access to modern tools for the study of this rich and varied epigraphic material. A corpus of this region containing numerous unpublished inscriptions will prove a major contribution to the history of Boeotia and in particular the history of the Boeotian confederacy from the archaic period until its dissolution in 171 BC.
This project will be under the auspices of two institutions that have long traditions in the study of epigraphy and especially that of central Greece and Boeotia : the Inscriptiones Graecae of the Berlin Academy, and the French School at Athens. The new edition of the corpus of Boeotia is a priority for Inscriptiones Graecae but until now it has not been part of their regular scientific program ; it will form a major addition to its activities in Central Greece.
The CIBEC consitutes a project of a large number of new editions in the epigraphic corpus of Greece and i particular central Greece, accompanied by new reflections on the use of electronic media for the preparation of the corpus.
Project coordination
Yannis Kalliontzis (Ecole française d'Athènes)
The author of this summary is the project coordinator, who is responsible for the content of this summary. The ANR declines any responsibility as for its contents.
Partner
IG-BBAW (Berlin) Inscriptiones Graecae, Berlin-Brandenburgische-Akademie der Wissenschaften
EFA Ecole française d'Athènes
Help of the ANR 205,988 euros
Beginning and duration of the scientific project:
September 2014
- 36 Months
