Ancient documents were most commonly written on papyrus, parchment, ostraca (broken pieces of pottery), or tablets, or inscribed on stone. The field of epigraphy (inscriptions) covers documents written on stone and other hard surfaces. The field called papyrology is not covered in this Library Guide.

Inscriptions are edited and published in scholarly, annotated editions, which are usually copiously indexed. As an aid to research in epigraphy and in order to have access to primary texts from the ancient world, the BYU Library collects these editions.

The bibliography of these editions has been systematized in ♦ Guide de l'Épigraphiste: bibliographie choisie des épigraphies antiques et médiévales, ed, François Bérard and others (4th edition, Paris 2010). The Publications tab in this Guide follows for the most part the organization of Guide de l'Épigraphiste, and the Guide number is recorded at the end of each entry.

In order to find these editions in the BYU Library, click on the dropdown arrow on the Publications tab and choose the appropriate submenu containing the Checklist symbol for the edition.

Individual titles can also be searched in the BYU Library catalog.

If the BYU Library does not own a needed publication, please use our Interlibrary Loan service and we will borrow a copy for you from another library.