CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM. — Corpus means a general collection. Many general collections of inscriptions have been made for antiquity. Of those embracing both Christian and pagan inscriptions, the following are or were of fundamental importance:
Janus Gruterus, Inscriptiones antiquae totius orbis romani in corpus absolutissimum redactae cum indicibus XXV (Heidelberg 1603).
L. A. Muratori, Novus theanurus veterum inscriptionum (4 vols., Milan 1739–42), followed by 2 vols. of Supplementum, by Sebastiano Donati (Lucca 1765).
After this date, not only did new discoveries multiply greatly, but the defects of the earlier collections also became increasingly apparent, especially with regard to the authenticity, reliability, and accuracy of the texts. After various attempts, the first result was a C. I. Graecarum auctoritate et impensis Academiae Litterarum regiae Borussicae, ed. Augustus Boeckh; I and II (Berlin 1828–43); III, Ex materia collecta ab A. Boeckhio edidit Joannes Franzius (ibid. 1853); IV, Ex materia ab A. Boeckhio et I. Franzio collecta et ab hoc ex parte digesta et pertractata edidit Ernestus Curtius (ibid. 1856) and Adolphus Kirchhoff (ibid. 1859); Indices subiecit Hermannus Roehl (ibid. 1877). It is a work fully worthy of the reputation of its authors, although it made use almost exclusively of published sources and, as regards the Christian inscriptions, Kirchhoff held too narrow a view and displayed an intolerable boldness in conjecture. The extraordinary growth of new material and the need for innumerable corrections to the texts already published led the Berlin Academy to plan the publication of a new C., this time restricted solely to Greece and the classical age (and therefore including only part of the oldest Christian inscriptions). Its director was Adolfo Kirchhoff, assisted by other famous epigraphists such as Ulrico Köhler, Giovanni Kirchner, and Guglielmo Dittenberger. It was first issued in various Corpora distinct for the several regions of Greece, and then, from 1906 onward, merged into a single series of volumes under the title Inscriptiones Graecae editae consilio et auctoritate Academiae Regiae Borussicae (still in the course of publication): I–III (1873–97), inscriptions of Attica (formerly C. I. Atticarum, vols. I–IV); IV (1902), inscriptions of Argolis; V (1913), inscriptions of Arcadia, Laconia, and Messenia; VII (1892), inscriptions of Megaris and Boeotia; IX (1897–1908), inscriptions of Phocis, Locris, Aetolia, Acarnania, the Ionian Islands, and Thessaly; XI (1912–27), inscriptions of Delos; XII (1895–1915), the Aegean islands; XIV (1870), inscriptions of Sicily, Italy, and the rest of the West.
As regards Latin inscriptions, throughout the first half of the nineteenth century there was much discussion about how to compile a C. truly answering the requirements of scholarship, until Mommsen, with his volume Inscriptiones regni neapoletani latinae (Leipzig 1852), showed how it ought to be done and who was capable of doing II. The Berlin Academy of Sciences therefore entrusted him with the task and the means of carrying out the gigantic publication which began to appear in 1863 and eventually comprised 15 volumes, containing all Latin inscriptions earlier than the seventh century, including the Christian ones (with the exception of vol. VI), and, as far as possible, all those that were unpublished and had never been copied or had been preserved only in ancient manuscript copies. C. I. Latinarum consilio et auctoritate Academiae Regiae Borussicae editum: I, inscriptions earlier than the death of Caesar (Berlin 1863–1931); II (1869 and 1892), Spain; III (1873–1902), Illyricum and the East; IV (1871–1909), Pompeii; V (1872–77), Northern Italy; VI (1876–1933), Rome; VII (1873), Britain; VIII (1881–1916), Africa; IX (1883), Calabria, Apulia, Samnium, Sabina, Picenum; X (1883), Campania, Lucania, Bruttium, Sicily, Sardinia; XI (1888–1922), Aemilia, Etruria, Umbria; XII (1888), Gallia Narbonensis; XIII (1899–1933), the rest of Gaul and Germany; XIV (1887–1930), Latium; XV (1891–1899), instrumentum domesticum of Rome. The praise of the C. I. Latinarum is no longer necessary. It may be said to represent the most gigantic and perfect achievement of classical philology. A new edition of the C. for the inscriptions of Italy is in progress under the auspices of the Unione accademica italiana: Inscriptiones Italiae (Rome 1932 ff.).
Although the Christian inscriptions were included in the volumes of the C. together with the pagan ones (only those of Spain and Britain were collected separately by Emilio Hübner in two smaller volumes, Inscriptiones Bri-
tanniae christianae [Berlin 1876] and Inscriptiones Hispaniae christianae [ibid. 1871 and 1900]), national collections or corpora were nevertheless also produced in various places, generally with greater luxury of execution, a more extensive commentary, and an extension of the chronological limits of the C. The first was Edmondo Le Blant, who, following the example and encouragement of De Rossi, published Inscriptiones christianae de la Gaule antérieures au VIIIe siècle (3 vols., Paris 1865–92), a work rich in learning, with extensive commentary and graphic reproductions of the inscriptions. He was followed by Francesco Saverio Krauss, Die christlichen Inschriften der Rheinlande (2 vols., Freiburg im Breisgau 1890–94), a collection extending to the middle of the thirteenth century and providing photographs of the texts. Then came Emilio Egli, Die christlichen Inschriften der Schweiz vom 4. bis. 9. Jahrhundert (Zurich 1895). Most recently, Giuseppe Vives reworked the collection of all the Inscriptiones cristianas de la España romana y visigoda, including coins (Barcelona 1942), not with the completeness of a proper C. (for example, he omits the minor fragments and the entire bibliography preceding Hübner), but far surpassing Hübner’s collection and furnished with extremely comprehensive indexes. S. Gsell published Inscriptiones latines de l’Algérie, I, Paris 1922, and A. Merlin Inscriptiones latines de Tunisie, ibid. 1944.
The Christian inscriptions of Rome, not included in vol. VI of the C., were to have been published separately by De Rossi, who, however, produced only 2 volumes: I, Epitaphia certam temporis notam exhibentia (Rome 1857–61), and II, Series codicum in quibus veteres inscriptiones christianae descriptae sunt ante sanctium XVI (ibid. 1888).
After De Rossi’s death, the task passed to Giuseppe Gatti, who was able to publish only a Supplementum to vol. I (Rome 1915). After Gatti’s death as well, it was entrusted to Angelo Silvagni, who has so far published, in a more concise form than De Rossi’s and replacing the systematic order with a topographical one, 2 further volumes of a new series: Nova series, I, Inscriptiones incertae originis, that is, those whose provenance is no longer known (Rome 1922); II, Coemeteria in viis Cornelia Aurelia Portuensi et Ostiensi (ibid. 1935).
A general collection of all the Christian inscriptions then known from before the year 1000 had been compiled toward the end of the eighteenth century by Gaetano Marini, in approximately 10,000 entries; but it remained incomplete and unpublished, summarized in four codices of the Vatican Library, Vat. lat. 9071–74, a small part of which was later published by Angelo Mai in Scriptorum veterum novus collectio, V (Rome 1831). More recently, Ernesto Diehl published a very extensive collection, Inscriptiones latinae christianae veteres, in 2 volumes with a third volume of indexes (Berlin 1923–31). Carlo Wessel had prepared a similar work for the Greek inscriptions of the Western world, but its printing was interrupted by the Second World War.
Una raccolta generale di tutte le iscrizioni greche cristiane fu progettata dall'Homolle, che nel 1878 ne tracciò il disegno generale, determinò il metodo ed elencò i collaboratori in Bulletin de correspondance hellénique, 22 (1898), p. 410, e nel 1905 il Congresso archeologico di Atene diede la sua approvazione e formolò grandi voti, ma non se ne fece nulla. Simile progetto di una specie di Diehl greco fu pure presentato dal p. Guglielmo Jerphanion al VI Congresso internazionale degli studi bizantini di Sofia nel 1935 (cf. Bulletin de l'Institut archéologique bulgare, 9 [1935], p. 129) ma restò esso pure lettera morta. In compenso sorsero qua e là vari Corpora regionali: C. Bayet, De titulis Atticae christianis antiquissimis (Parigi 1878); G. Lefebvre, Recueil des inscriptions grecques-chrétiennes d'Égypte (Cairo 1907); H. Grégoire, Recueil des inscriptions grecques-chrétiennes d'Asie Mineure (Parigi 1922; solo quelle delle sponde occidentali); C. der griechisch-christlichen Inschriften von Hellas, I, 1, Isthmus-Corinthos a cura di N. A. Bees (Berlino 1941). In gran parte raccolte di iscrizioni cristiane sono pure quelle di B. Latyschev, Inscriptiones antiquae orae septentrionalis Ponti Euxini grecae et latinae (2 voll., Pietroburgo 1885-90) e vol. IV, Supplementa (ivi 1901), e di L. Jalabert-R. Mouterde, Inscriptiones grecques et latines de la Syrie, I, Parigi 1929; II, ivi 1939; la pubblicazione continua.
Infine il p. Giambattista Frey ha pubblicato un C. i. indacorum, Recueil des inscriptions juives qui vont du IIIe siècle avant Jésus-Christ on VIIe siècle de notre ère, I, Europe (Città del Vaticano 1936). Il II vol., postumo, che comprenderà quelle dell'Africa e dell'Asia, è d'imminente pubblicazione.
Le iscrizioni non latine né greche dell'Italia antica sono state raccolte da A. Fabretti, C. I. Indicorum antiquioris aevi (Torino 1867-77; 1 vol. e 3 supplm.), quelle etrusche in particolare da C. Paoli, C. I. Etruscarum, I, Lipsia 1893-1902. Per le iscrizioni semitiche è stato intrapreso un C. dall'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres di Parigi, con riproduzioni in fototipia dei testi C. I. Semiticarum, parte 1°, Inscriptiones Phoeniciae (5 tomi, 1881 sgg.); parte 2°, Inscriptiones Aramaicae (5 tomi, 1889 sgg.); parte 4°, Inscriptiones Himyariticae et Sabaeae (3 tomi, 1889 sgg.).