Date: Thursday 5th March 2026. 16:00-17:30 GMT.

Convenors: Gabriel Bodard, Anna Clara Maniero Azzolini (University of London), Polina Yordanova (University of Helsinki)

Youtube link: https://youtu.be/FGZqljvsoow

Slides: Combined slides (PDF)

This session introduces the EpiDoc guidelines for encoding editions of inscriptions, papyri and other ancient text-bearing objects in XML. We discuss the markup of the transcribed text, the history and description of the object and associated metadata, and the use of standards, vocabularies and linked open data for recording key information about the inscribed object and edition, including Wikidata. Participants will have the opportunity to practice encoding editions of one or more objects and their associated text in EpiDoc XML using the Visual Studio Code XML editor.

• Francesco Bianchini. 2023. "Looking beyond the text: Opportunities and challenges in the digitisation of Sanskrit inscriptions." In Palladino C. & Bodard G (eds.), Can’t Touch This. London: Ubiquity Press. Pp. 77–93. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/bcv.e
• Martina Filosa, Usama Gad & Gabriel Bodard. 2023. "Description, translation and process: Making the implicit explicit in digital editions of ancient text-bearing objects." In: Palladino, C. and Bodard, G. (Eds.), Can’t Touch This: Digital Approaches to Materiality in Cultural Heritage. Pp. 51–75. London: Ubiquity Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/bcv.d.

• Lisa Anderson & Heidi Wendt. 2014. "Ancient Relationships, Modern Intellectual Horizons: The practical challenges and possibilities of encoding Greek and Latin inscriptions." In ed. M.T. Rutz & M.M. Kersel, Archaeologies of Text: Archaeology, Technology, and Ethics. Oxbow Books (Joukowsky Institute Publication 6). Pp. 164–175.
• G. Bodard & P. Yordanova. 2020. “Publication, Testing and Visualization with EFES: A tool for all stages of the EpiDoc editing process.” Studia Digitalia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai 65.1 (2020), pp. 17–35. Available: https://doi.org/10.24193/subbdigitalia.2020.1.02
• Fantoli, M., Boano, V.I., de Graaf, E. and Pellizzari di San Girolamo, C.C. 2026. ‘Wikidata as a Knowledge Base for People of the Greco-Roman World.’ Journal of Open Humanities Data, 12(1), p. 21. Available: https://doi.org/10.5334/johd.457
• Antonio E. Felle & Norbert Zimmermann. 2014. “Epigraphy, Art History, Archaelogy: A Case of Interaction between Research Projects: The Epigraphic Database Bari (UniBa, Italy) and the Domitilla Projekt (ÖAW, Austria).” In Orlandi, Santucci et al. (edd.) Information Technologies for Epigraphy and Cultural Heritage Proceedings of the First EAGLE International Conference. Pp. 95–116. Available: http://www.eagle-network.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Paris-Conference-Proceedings.pdf
• M. Filosa, A. Sopracasa, S. Stoyanova. 2020. “The Digital Enhancement of a Discipline: Byzantine Sigillography and Digital Humanities.” magazén: International Journal for Digital and Public Humanities 1-1, 101–128. Available: http://doi.org/10.30687/mag//2020/01/006.
• Heřmánková, Petra, Vojtěch Kaše, and Adéla Sobotková. 2021. "Inscriptions as Data: Digital Epigraphy in Macro-Historical Perspective." Journal of Digital History no. jdh001 (October). Available: https://journalofdigitalhistory.org/en/article/WBqfZzfi7nHK
• Kalkhitashvili, Tamar. 2022. "Digital Edition of the Inscriptions of Georgia." KADMOS 14: 7–32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.32859/kadmos/14/7-32
• Liuzzo, Pietro Maria. “EAGLE and EUROPEANA: Architecture Problems for Aggregation and Harmonization.” Proceedings of the Symposium on Cultural Heritage Markup. Balisage Series on Markup Technologies vol. 16 (2015). DOI: https://doi.org/10.4242/BalisageVol16.Liuzzo01
• Maniero Azzolini, A.C. 2024. Altinum: Un progetto Wikidata per l’epigrafia digitale. MA Dissertation. Università di Venezia. Available: https://unitesi.unive.it/handle/20.500.14247/23596
• Ortimini P. 2025. "Wikibase for Epigraphy: The Instance Greek Metrical Inscriptions" (poster). DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15102921
• Nicola Reggiani. 2017. “Cataloguing Metadata.” in Digital Papyrology I: Methods, Tools and Trends. De Gruyter. Pp. 37–117. Available: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110547474-003
• Irene Vagionakis. 2021. “Cretan Institutional Inscriptions: A New EpiDoc Database.” Journal of the Text Encoding Initiative. Available: https://doi.org/10.4000/jtei.3570
• Isabel Velázquez Soriano & David Espinosa Espinosa (Eds.), 2021. Epigraphy in the Digital Age: Opportunities and Challenges in the Recording, Analysis and Dissemination of Inscriptions. Archaeopress.

• EpiDoc Guidelines
• EpiDoc Tutorials
• WikiProject Epigraphy
• WP:Epigraphy – Learning Wikidata
• EAGLE Vocabularies
• FAIR Epigraphy
• Biblissima EpiVoc
• EpiDoc Markup list
• EpiDoc bibliography at Wikipedia
• EpiDoc projects from Digital Classicist Wiki

1. Install the free Visual Studio Code editor. If you need any help installing or activating this free software, please speak to your university's IT support as soon as possible. Useful plugins: please go to the Extensions button on the left bar (5th button down) and search for:
   1. XML (XML Language Support by Red Hat)
   2. tei-publisher-vscode (Visual Studio Code extension to support TEI editing)
   3. Scholarly XML (XML validator RELAX NG and Schematron)
2. For the EpiDoc exercises: download the EpiDoc Template (right-click on the link and "save link as…")
3. You may find the Text Quick Reference sheet a useful overview of text transcription elements, and the Structured Data Quick Reference a summary of descriptive and historical features.

1. Starting with a copy of the EpiDoc Template for each new document, create EpiDoc files for 2 or 3 inscriptions, papyri, seals or other text-bearing objects of your choice.
   • Possible sources of inscriptions:
     • Latin inscriptions: EDH, EDR. Suggestions: HD000063, HD000319, EDR000014, EDR000015.
     • Greek inscriptions: PHI, AIUK collections on AIO. Suggestions: PH2302, PH334064, AIUK 2 no. 5, AIUK 2 no. 8.
     • Papyri: Papyri.info. Suggestions: BGU 1.4, P.Oxy 5364.
     • ORACC -- if you want to mark up a Cuneiform text
     • DAMOS -- if you want to mark up a Mycenaean text
     • Inscriptions in English: Download archive. Suggestions: 4334688516_155ff19988_o.jpg, 11402116453_87a952462e_h.jpg.; or search for "broken gravestones" in Wikimedia Commons or your favourite image resource.
2. As discussed in this session, focus on the "Manuscript Description" features of the edition. Encode as many of the features of object description, document history, and other metadata as you can find.
   • The EpiDoc Structure Quick Reference (PDF) will be a useful guide to encoding
   • For more detail, see EpiDoc Guidelines section on Descriptive and Historical data
   • If you want to see some examples of already marked-up inscriptions, you may visit IGCyr, IOSPE or CGRN.
3. At least: Make notes on how the features you are encoding in EpiDoc would be handled in Wikidata, according to the example that Anna Clara has shared or this document. If you can find them, suggest the properties or values (P-numbers/Q-numbers) in Wikidata you would use. If you like: you may create a basic entry for your inscription in Wikidata, and bring it along to discuss with your class next week.

1. Pasting your XML into the iSicily Viewer will display the transcribed text only in standard Leiden format
2. Install the EFES platform onto your laptop, following the Installation instructions
3. If you are using the Oxygen XML editor (download) (30-day free trial), there is an EpiDoc-specific Oxygen Stylesheets Project (see “Running EpiDoc Stylesheets” for instructions) for transforming your XML files into HTML pages.