About ICG

Inscriptiones Christianae Graecae (ICG) is a digital collection of early Greek Christian inscriptions from Asia Minor and Greece dating from ca. II CE until VI CE. In continuation of a repository initially published in edition|topoi, the primary objective of the ICG database is to collect systematically and to organise regionally all the published material. This digital collection does not constitute a digital epigraphic corpus per se, nor is it intended to replace printed critical editions of the original texts. Rather, it is a repertory whose primary purpose is to record early Greek Christian epigraphic documents, and to assist researchers with the analysis and interpretation of material in order to write historical accounts on the rise and expansion of Early Christianity in Asia Minor and Greece in the series ECAM and ECG.

The database contains about 5,000 inscriptions (and about 7,000 images) from Asia Minor (Lycaonia, Phrygia, Galatia, Asia, Ionia, Bithynia, Pontus), from mainland Greece (Attica, Corinthia and the Peloponnese, Central Greece, Macedonia, Epirus), from the northern Balkans (Thracia, Moesia), and from some Aegean and Ionian islands. Inscriptions from the rest of Asia Minor (Caria, Pamphylia, Pisidia, Cilicia, Cappadocia) and from the remaining Aegean islands and Cyprus will be processed and included in the database in the coming few years.

Each ICG entry features the original Greek text, a German or English translation, a concise critical apparatus and commentary, images (whenever available), as well as all the relevant information pertaining to dating, ancient and modern provenances, current location, and circumstances of discovery (whenever such information is known). Scans of squeezes of inscriptions found in Greece are used by courtesy of the Inscriptiones Graecae (IG) of the Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (BBAW).

The database also allows for more complex searches by combining various filters (‘Dating’, ‘Region’, etc.). For more information, please read the detailed instructions under the search tool bar on the inscription list page by clicking on the question mark sign (?).

(Please note that the same inscription may be included in several sub-folders. For example, an inscription approximately dated between 200-500 will be included in three folders: 3rd century, 4th century, and 5th century.)

(Also note, not all available inscriptions and illustrations can be seen in open access. Researchers can request more comprehensive access from the project leaders.)

(Finally, if you encounter any technical difficulties, please notify the database editor or the project leaders.)