Ancient Athenian inscriptions in public and private UK collections

Peter Liddel introduces us to a rich source of historical information and encourages us to make some purposeful visits to museums.

From the seventeenth to the mid nineteenth century, travellers from the UK explored the Mediterranean lands of ancient civilisations in search of trophies that demonstrated the achievements of the classical world. Highly prized among these antiquities were sculptures, architectural elements and slabs of marble bearing inscriptions written in Latin, Greek and other languages. This article introduces the ancient Athenian habit of writing up inscriptions on stone and an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-sponsored project to publish ancient Athenian inscriptions in UK Collections, with discussion of new discoveries; re-interpretation of well-known inscriptions; and some of the routes by which these inscriptions came to the UK...