Epigraphical Museum

The Epigraphical Museum (Greek: Επιγραφικό Μουσείο) in Athens, Greece, is the largest museum of its kind in the world devoted exclusively to ancient inscriptions. Founded in 1885, it houses a collection of 14,078 inscriptions, predominantly in Greek, spanning from early historical times to the Late Roman period, with the majority originating from Greece. The museum occupies the south wing of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens and operates under the Directorate of Greek Antiquities of the Ministry of Culture. Its holdings are of paramount importance for the study of Greek language, history, and institutions, serving both public visitors and specialist researchers.

The museum was established in 1885 in the building it still occupies today, the south wing of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. Its first core collection was assembled by Kyriakos Pittakis, who gathered Athenian inscriptions; these were subsequently augmented by holdings from the Archaeological Society of Athens and finds from excavations on the Acropolis. Throughout the twentieth century, the collections expanded through archaeological excavations across Attica and all of Greece, continuing until the 1960s when lack of space halted the transfer of new stones. Thereafter, acquisitions were limited to private donations and new fragments of texts already in the collection, particularly inscriptions from the Athenian Agora. In the 1950s, new spaces were added by the architect Pátroklos Karantinós, giving the museum its present form. A renovation in the 1990s introduced new museography, and further expansion was planned. The first inventory of the collections was compiled at the end of the nineteenth century by Vasileios Leonardos, who arranged the inscriptions by subject under the influence of the contemporary publication of Inscriptiones Graecae, the major corpus of Greek epigraphy. This system was later maintained after the Second World War by Markellos Mitsos and Constantina Delmouzou. As of 2009, the museum was directed by Maria Lagogianni.

The collection comprises inscriptions covering the full chronological span of antiquity from the protohistoric period to late antiquity, with the chronological range extending from the eighth century B.C. to the early Christian period, with some later exceptions. Approximately 98 percent of the inscriptions are carved on marble or stone generally; the remainder include amphora seals and inscribed tiles. While the vast majority are in Greek, the collection also contains roughly forty inscriptions in Latin or Hebrew, consisting of funerary inscriptions from Mistra dating to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The geographic focus is primarily Attica and the broader Greek world. The museum's functions encompass conservation, exhibition, and research on Greek inscriptions, as well as the production of electronic editions, photographic documentation, and educational programs. A complete photographic archive of the collection is currently being prepared for future visitors.

The most significant inscriptions, distinguished by their aesthetic or historical interest, are displayed in the lobby and Room 2, including votive statue bases primarily from the Acropolis and a ballot box from Salamis dating to the fourth to third centuries B.C. Room 1 contains Athenian decrees, treaties, and financial accounts, notably including a list of tribute from the First Delian League (fifth century B.C.), accounts for the construction of Phidias's chryselephantine statue of Athena, and lists of offerings to Athena on the Acropolis. Rooms 9-10 present a representative selection across the major categories of inscriptions: laws, sacred laws, decrees, offerings, commemorative, funerary, and choral inscriptions, as well as letters. Highlights here include the votive altar to Apollo Pythius dedicated by Pisistratus the Younger (son of Hipparchus) cited by Thucydides; a decree concerning the first Athenian cleruchy on Salamis (510-500 B.C.); the sacred law relating to the Acropolis and the Hekatompedon (485-484 B.C.); the Themistocles decree regarding the evacuation of Athens during the Persian Wars; a late fifth-century B.C. copy of Draco's law on homicide; a stele detailing the construction of the arsenal by Euthydomos and Philon at Piraeus; and a letter from Marcus Aurelius to the Athenians. Room 11 is devoted exclusively to Athenian inscriptions, featuring the oldest inscription found on the Acropolis and the earliest Athenian inscriptions written right-to-left or in boustrophedon. This room also displays lists of soldiers killed in battle, funerary stelae, and archaic statue bases from the Acropolis bearing sculptors' names. The internal and external courtyards exhibit funerary stelae of various forms, including lekythoi and columns.

The museum is situated within the south wing of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens complex. Its physical layout encompasses an internal and external courtyard (atrium), a lobby, eleven rooms, a large hypostyle Pi-shaped corridor, a gallery, offices, a laboratory for the conservation of inscribed stone monuments, and lavatories. The architectural configuration was substantially shaped by the 1950s additions designed by Pátroklos Karantinós, and the 1990s renovation introduced updated museography. Access for the general public is restricted to the two courtyards, the lobby, and four of the eleven rooms; the remaining spaces are reserved for researchers.

The Epigraphical Museum is located in Athens and operates under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Only the courtyards, lobby, and four rooms are open to the public, while the remainder of the facility is reserved for researchers. The museum maintains an active program of assembling a full photographic archive of its collection intended for future public access. Its present role combines public exhibition with specialized research functions, serving both general visitors and the international community of epigraphists, historians, and archaeologists who require direct access to the inscribed stones.