The Roman presbyters and la bella scrittura Filocaliana

Scholars have repeatedly taken note of Herodotus' use of epigraphic material in his work, although whether the historian was the άρχηγέτης of epigraphy as a discipline or not, remains unclear. Only a handful of inscriptions cited by Herodotus survived to this day, while scholarly research has focused on specific references to inscribed documents as they relate to his method. This chapter discusses evidence of Herodotus' complex and sophisticated use of temple inventories in Delphi and on Delos. None of these presumably inscribed early temple inventories has survived to date, but it is likely that some had been made available in some form. Indeed, both Herodotus and his audience appear to have been familiar with this type of documents that were published in inscribed form at least as early as the fifth century bc. It is also argued that Herodotus had access to temple inventories which were preserved in the Delphic sanctuary archives, while he saw and studied several of the dedications he mentions in detail, often juxtaposing the epigraphic evidence to his contemporary oral tradition. Attention is drawn to the wording of the historian's account of Croesus' Delphic dedications; the Delphic and Delian inventory practices; and the existence of dedications that Herodotus associates with the Delian Artemision in the Hellenistic inventories of that temple.