View source for Introduction

<includeonly>= Introduction =</includeonly>
A rich production of epigraphic poetry written in Greek flourished in the territories of the Greco-Roman world during the Imperial age (late 1st century BC-3rd century AD). A ''corpus'' of about two thousand Greek metrical inscriptions exhibits significant diversity in the geographical, socio-historical, archaeological contexts, and the literary aspects. Indeed, a wide range of poetic forms is written and enjoyed by authors, clients, and recipients from various socio-cultural backgrounds.

There is currently no repository that allows for easy collection of data on the inscriptions from the corpus. The inscriptions are indeed scattered across various editions, which are often incomplete due to the discovery of new inscriptions following publication.
The aim of the database is to gather the Greek metrical inscriptions from the Imperial Age into a single collection, providing the following data: the geographic provenance, the edition(s), the dating, the type of inscription (/literary genre), the clients and recipients, the author (when known), the type of meter, the length of the text, the objects on which the inscription is written (with references to the images), the layout (in relation to the metrical structure), external links to the other epigraphy related websites.
The database will enable the collection of the entire corpus of the Greek metrical inscriptions from the Imperial age. It will be possible to expand the corpus at any time, whether new inscriptions are discovered or new editions of already known inscriptions are published.
By including external links, a network of digital resources will be created. In this way, it will be easier to have access to the production of Greek epigraphic poetry from the Imperial age, in its various literary forms, and diverse geographical, archaeological, and socio-historical contexts.

The project has been initiated by [[User:Pietro_Ortimini|Pietro Ortimini]] ([https://www.unipi.it/ University of Pisa]) and currently revolves around the data he has collected within the scope of his doctoral thesis on the literary forms and metrics of the Greek metrical inscriptions from the Imperial Age (late first century BC-third century AD).
As a future perspective, it would be desirable to expand the database to include the Greek metrical inscriptions from the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaic%20Greece Archaic] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical%20Greece Classical] Period, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_period Hellenistic Period] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_antiquity Late Antiquity]. <br>
'''Persistent identifier of the database''': https://arpi.unipi.it/handle/11568/1232688 <br>
The database is still '''a work in progress'''; any feedback is welcome.

== The ''corpus'': an overview ==

{| class="wikitable"
! Geographic provenance !! Inscriptions  <ref> The inscriptions are divided into two groups, A and B, based on greater or lesser certainty in dating to the Imperial period (see 3. Dating). </ref> !! Main  ''corpora'', editions, image repositories <ref> Abbreviations according to [[Item:Q108|''SEG'']] </ref>
|-
| [[Item:Q47|Anatolian Peninsula]] || '''A''' = 686 <br /> '''B''' = 404 <br /> tot.: 1090 || [[Item:Q23|''Steinepigramme'']] I, II, III/13-16, IV/17-19, [https://greek-metrical-inscriptions.wikibase.cloud/entity/Q384 Staab, ''Gebrochener Glanz''], [https://greek-metrical-inscriptions.wikibase.cloud/entity/Q385 Merisio 2024], [[Item:Q386|''I.Cilicie'']], ''IGSK'', ''MAMA'', ''TAM/ETAM'', [https://greek-metrical-inscriptions.wikibase.cloud/entity/Q387 Pfuhl/Möbius, ''Ostgr. Grabreliefs''], ''I.Milet'', [[Item:Q383|''I.Pergamon'']], [[Item:Q388|''I.Pergamon Asklepieion'']], [https://greek-metrical-inscriptions.wikibase.cloud/entity/Q389 ''Studia Pontica'' III], ''I.Sardis'', ''Milet'' VI.1-3, [https://greek-metrical-inscriptions.wikibase.cloud/entity/Q396 Robert, ''Carie''], Bean/Mitford, ''Rough Cilicia'', Dömer 1941, ''I.British Mus.'', Marek/Adak 2016, Marek 2003, Ramsay, ''Phrygia'', ''I.North Galatia'', Stauber 2022
|-
| Near East (Armenia, Mesopotamia, Media, Syria, Iudaea, Arabia, Cyprus) || '''A''' = 69 <br /> '''B''' = 45 <br /> tot.: 114 || [[Item:Q23|''Steinepigramme'']] III/12, IV/20-22, ''IGLS'', ''CIIP''
|- 
| [[Item:Q43|Egypt]] || '''A''' = 135 <br /> '''B''' = 24 <br /> tot.: 159 || [[Item:Q33|''I. Egypte métriques'']], [[Item:Q30|''I.Philae'']], [[Item:Q390|''I.Colosse Memnon'']]
|-
| North Africa (Cyrenaica, Creta, Africa Proconsularis, Muretania) || '''A''' = 47 <br /> '''B''' = 8 <br /> tot.: 55 ||  [[Item:Q20|GVCyr2]], ''I.Cret.'', ''IRT''
|-
| Southeastern Europe (Greece, Aegean Islands, Ionian Islands, Macedonia, Epirus, Thracia) || '''A''' = 264 <br /> '''B''' = 228 <br /> tot.: 492 || [[Item:Q77|''IG'']] II,2, II/III<sup>2</sup>, II/III<sup>3</sup>, III, IV, IV2,1, V,1, V,2, VII, IX,1, IX,12, IX,2, X,2,1, X,2,2 XI,2,1, XI,2,2, XI,4, XII,1-9, XII Suppl., ''I.Beroia'', ''IGBulg'', ''Corinth'' VIII, ''I.Eleusis'', ''I.Thespies'', ''I.Vallée Enipeus'', ''I.Ano Maked.'', ''I.Thrake Aeg.'', ''I.Perinthos'', ''IGSK'' 58, ''I.Ano Maked.'', ''I.Thrake Aeg.'', ''I.Perinthos'', ''I.Rhénée''
|-
| ''Italia'' (''Regiones'' I-XI), ''Roma'', ''Sicilia'', ''Sardinia'', ''Corsica'' || '''A''' = 85 <br /> '''B''' = 167 <br /> tot.: 252 || [[Item:Q66|''IG'' XIV]], ''IGUR'', ''I.Aquileia'', ''IG Locri'', ''I.Messina'', ''IG Napoli'', ''IG Porto'', ''IG Puglia'', ''IG Ravenna'', ''IGLMPalermo'', ''IG Reggio Calabria'', ''IG Velia'', [[Item:Q83|''I.Mus. Catania'']]
|-
| Western Europe (''Hispania'', ''Britannia'', ''Gallia'', [[Item:Q46|''Germania'']], ''Raetia'', ''Noricum'') || '''A''' = 15 <br /> '''B''' = 5 <br /> tot.: 20 || ''IG'' XIV, [[Item:Q393|''IG'' France]], LatinNow, RIB
|- 
| Eastern Europe (''Pannonia'', ''Dalmatia'', ''Dacia'', ''Moesia'', Cimmerian Bosporus) || '''A''' = 15 <br /> '''B''' = 33 <br /> tot.: 48 || [[Item:Q9|''IGBulg'']], ''I.Histria'', ''IG Dacia'', ''I.Chr. România'', ''I.Mésie Sup.'', ''IG Pannonia³'',  Telamon   
|-
| '''Non-geographic ''corpora''''' || || Cougny 1890; [https://greek-metrical-inscriptions.wikibase.cloud/entity/Q391 Kaibel, ''Epigrammata'']; [[Item:Q110|Peek, ''GVI'']], Hunter 2022, ''AE'', ''BE'', [[Item:Q108|''SEG'']], ''CIL'', The Squeeze Collection - CSAD, E-stampages, Venice Squeeze Project, Ubi Erat Lupa,  Last Statues of Antiquity (LSA)
|}

== References ==
<references />