Welcome to Greek Inscriptions Online (GIO), a website which publishes translations of Ancient Greek inscriptions into Modern Greek.

For a Modern Greek version of the GIO home page, click here.

Background

Inscriptions on stone are the most important documentary source for the history of the Ancient Greek world. Dating from the 8th century BCE through to the end of antiquity, Greek epigraphic texts are available to scholars in Ancient Greek in Inscriptiones Graecae (IG) I (up to 403/2 BCE) and II (after 403/2 BCE), updated annually by the Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum (SEG) (access by subscription), and in the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI). However, hardly any of the inscriptions are available in Modern Greek translation, whether in print or online.

Contents and Use

The epigraphic material of GIO covers a chronological span from the Archaic Period to the Late Roman Times and comprises inscriptions of the whole Ancient Greek World organized by both geographical area and chronology, following the method of the corpus of the Inscriptiones Graecae.

GIO translations include, as a minimum, an indication of the text translated, the name of the translator and key references and metadata. Further information about the inscriptions, including historical notes, is also be added.

There is a number of routes to finding a translation. A source reference to one of the standard publications, such as IG, will get you directly to the translation. Browsing through a fuller selection of source references is also available, as well as browsing translations by present location of the inscription, by publication date on GIO, by monument type and inscription type and by date.

Translations are based on the most recent, authoritative original Greek text, the reference to which is given above the translation. Other key textual sources and collections commonly used as references are also listed.

IG references are listed first, in chronological order, then SEG references (which are normally used in preference to references to individual books or articles), then other references in chronological order and, in some cases, key historical bibliography is given.

The translations are arranged so that, as far as possible, clauses are allocated the same line numbers as their equivalents in the original Greek text.

Privacy Policy

To learn about our Privacy Policy, please click here.