page_title: Epigraphy
section_title: Signatures of artists
hierarchical_section_title: Epigraphy / Latin inscriptions / Political and social / Signatures of artists
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Roma Museo della civiltà romana: riproduzione della colonna rostrata di Caio Duilio Polski: Rekonstrukcja kolumny rostralnej Gajusza Duiliusza
context_page_description: Epigraphy, "inscription", is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the writing and the writers. Specifically excluded from epigraphy are the historical significance of an epigraph as a document and the artistic value of a literary composition.
  A person using the methods of epigraphy is called an epigrapher or epigraphist. For example, the Behistun inscription is an official document of the Achaemenid Empire engraved on native rock at a location in Iran. Epigraphists are responsible for reconstructing, translating, and dating the trilingual inscription and finding any relevant circumstances. It is the work of historians, however, to determine and interpret the events recorded by the inscription as document. Often, epigraphy and history are competences practised by the same person.
  An epigraph or epigram is any sort of text, from a single grapheme to a lengthy document. Epigraphy overlaps other competences such as numismatics or palaeography. When compared to books, most inscriptions are short.
context_section_description: When these are attached to statues, it is sometimes doubtful whether the name is that of the man who actually made the statue, or of the master whose work it reproduces. Thus there are two well-known copies of a statue of Hercules by Lysippus, of which one is said to be the work of Lysippus, and the other states that it was made by Glycon (see images). Another kind of artist's or artificer's signature that is commoner in Roman times is to be found in the signatures of potters upon lamps and various kinds of vessels; they are usually impressed on the mould and stand out in relief on the terracotta or other material. These are of interest as giving much information as to the commercial spread of various kinds of handicrafts, and also as to the conditions under which they were manufactured.
caption: Reproduction of the Columna Rostrata of Gaius Duilius (c. 260 BC) at the Museum of Roman Civilization.
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