epigraphy: Quick Facts

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The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos

Neo-Assyrian clay tablet from the 7th century BC inscribed with dense cuneiform writing, known as the Flood Tablet from the Epic of Gilgamesh, displayed in the British Museum.

Stone tablet with rows of Hieroglyphic Luwian script carved in relief, showing intricate symbols and characters, from Turkey.

Sumerian cuneiform tablet

The Code of Hammurabi diorite stela, with carved figures at the top showing Hammurabi seated with cuneiform inscriptions below.

The first side of the Palermo Stone, a dark, irregularly shaped stone slab inscribed with rows of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Taking prisoners

Persian cuneiform

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Topics

inscription coin collecting Historiography Semiotics chronology diplomatics paleography sigillography Genealogy Pragmatics Intellectual history Annalist papyrology

Key People

F.W. Ritschl, engraving

F.W. Ritschl

German scholar

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Yury Valentinovich Knorozov

Russian linguist

Theodor Mommsen.

Theodor Mommsen

German historian, philologist, and legal scholar

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Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff

German scholar