What
The project aims at documentation, study and interpretation and publishing of all known ancient inscriptions on stone originating from the ancient city of Halikarnassos, whether presently in to be found in Bodrum or in museums and collections outside of Turkey.
Why
Inscriptions are original, written documents which were considered of such an importance in the ancient community of Halikarnassos that they were recorded on stone and kept at the Sanctuary of Apollo or at other relevant locations in the ancient city. They constitute a direct source of information extending, correcting and supplementing the evidence provided by literary documents and by archaeological research of the physical remains in present day Bodrum at the site of ancient Halikarnassos.
The inscriptions hold essential evidence on political institutions, foreign relations, topography, religion and cult, citizens and the history of Halikarnassos as well as on contemporary history in general. They are important for a deeper understanding of the history and culture of the ancient world.
How
More than 500 inscriptions are known from Halikarnassos. Most are preserved in physical form at the archaeological museum of Bodrum or in the modern city area of Bodrum. Others are preserved in museums and collections outside of Turkey, while a considerable number do no longer exist, but are known from squeezes or descriptions made by early travellers and know kept at universities and collections in a number of different countries.
Whatever the state of preservation may be they will all be included in the corpus. Each inscription will have an entry in the catalogue including a thorough description of the inscription and its stone, a philological discussion of its language and a suggested reconstruction of the text if damaged, before the final, essential interpretation of its content.
SSR
Halikarnassos was an important city on the west coast of Asia Minor where Eastern empires met the world of small Greek city-states. In this fertile cultural environment ideas were exchanged on society, art and philosophy with impact on later historical periods and influencing the formation of modern civilization. In the search for the ancient roots of the modern world, the city of Halikarnassos plays a role and the inscriptions of the city are an essential source of information.
The epigraphical project on ancient Halikarnassos is a cooperation between the archaeological museum of Bodrum and the Danish Halikarnassos Project. It has as its aim the creation of a corpus of all known inscriptions from Halikarnassos and by the publication of these to make this important evidence available.