Greek Inscriptions

Extract

The inscriptions to which I have called attention in previous issues of this journal have all been ‘historical’ in the sense that they relate to men whose names are well known to us from the literary records of Greece and Rome. But it must constantly be borne in mind that, of the many services rendered by inscriptions to classical studies, not the least is that of illuminating certain obscure tracts of ancient life, on which the extant literature sheds little or no light, and of recalling to our minds some of its aspects which we are in danger of overlooking. For historical literature tends to concentrate our thought upon the city rather than upon the countryside, upon rulers and governments to the neglect of the common people, upon wars and abnormal occurrences to the exclusion of the everyday occupations and interests of the average citizen. And so no apology is, I hope, needed if, out of the mass of recent epigraphical discoveries, I select one which, at first sight, can claim but little importance, one which, found in an obscure sanctuary, records the concerns not of a people but of a parish, and affords a glimpse of a local temple, priest and festival, suggesting the opportunities of ambition and distinction open to men who, maybe, rarely attended the meetings of the Athenian ecclesia and played little or no part in the public life of the State.