EpiDoc: Epigraphic Documents in TEI XML

"EpiDoc was started in 1999 by Tom Elliott, then a graduate student in Ancient History at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (U.S.A.). With the early assistance of Amy Hawkins, George Houston, Hugh Cayless, Kathryn McDonnell and Noel Fiser, an initial emphasis on the transcription of Greek and Latin epigraphic materials quickly brought us to a close examination of the Text Encoding Initiative. We were seeking a digital encoding method that preserved the time-tested combination of flexibility and rigor in editorial expression to which classical epigraphists were accustomed in print, while bringing to both the creator and the reader of epigraphic editions the power and reusability of XML. Although the TEI Guidelines did not specifically address epigraphic materials — indeed, if they had, there would have been no need for the development of EpiDoc — many of their provisions for text criticism and transcription were readily adaptable to our needs."