CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM. — *Corpus* signifies a general collection. Many general collections of inscriptions have been compiled for antiquity. Among those that include both Christian and pagan inscriptions, the following have been or are of paramount importance:
L. A. Muratori, *Novus thesaurus 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 previous collections became increasingly apparent, especially regarding the authenticity, reliability, and accuracy of the texts. After various attempts, a *C. I. Graecarum* was first produced under the authority and expense of the Royal Prussian Academy of Letters, edited by August Boeckh: I and II (Berlin 1828–43); III, edited by Johannes Franz from material collected by A. Boeckh (ibid. 1853); IV, edited by Ernst Curtius (ibid. 1856) and Adolph Kirchhoff (ibid. 1859) from material collected by A. Boeckh and J. Franz and partly arranged and treated by the latter; indices by Hermann Roell (ibid. 1877). This work fully lives up to the reputation of its authors, though it relied almost exclusively on published sources, and Kirchhoff, in dealing with Christian inscriptions, exercised too strict a hand and displayed intolerable boldness in conjecture. The extraordinary growth of new material and the need for countless corrections to already published texts led the Berlin Academy to plan a new edition, this time restricted to Greece and the classical period (thus including only part of the earliest Christian inscriptions). Adolf Kirchhoff directed the work, assisted by other renowned epigraphists such as Ulrich Köhler, Johannes Kirchner, and Wilhelm Dittenberger, and it first appeared in various separate *Corpora* for the different regions of Greece, later merged from 1906 (Kirchhoff had been succeeded in the directorship in 1902 by the great Hellenist Ulrich Wilamowitz-Moellendorff) into a single series of volumes under the title *Inscriptiones Graecae* published by the decision and authority of the Royal Prussian Academy (still in progress): 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 (1895–1913), inscriptions of the Aegean Islands; XIV (1870), inscriptions of Sicily, Italy, and the rest of the West.
For Latin inscriptions, much debate took place throughout the first half of the 19th century regarding the best way to compile a *Corpus* truly meeting the demands of scholarship, until Mommsen, with his volume *Inscriptiones regni Neapolitani latinae* (Leipzig 1852), demonstrated how it should be done and who could do II. The Berlin Academy therefore entrusted him with the task and resources to produce the monumental publication that appeared from 1863 onward in 15 volumes, comprising all Latin inscriptions prior to the 7th century, including Christian ones (except vol. VI), and, as far as possible, all unpublished or uncopied texts preserved only in ancient manuscripts. *C. I. Latinarum* published by the decision and authority of the Royal Prussian Academy: I, inscriptions prior to Caesar’s death (Berlin 1863–1931); II (1869 and 1892), Spain; III (1873–1902), Illyricum and the East; IV (1871–1909), Pompeii; V (1872–77), Upper Italy; VI (1876–1933), Rome; VII (1873), Britain; VIII (1871–1916), 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 (1890–1933), the rest of Gaul and Germany; XIV (1887–1930), Latium; XV (1890–1899), *instrumentum domesticum* of Rome. The praise of the *C. I. Latinarum* needs no repetition. It may be said to represent the most monumental and perfect work of classical philology. For the inscriptions of Italy, a new edition of the *Corpus* is in progress under the auspices of the Italian Academic Union: *Inscriptiones Italiae* (Rome 1932 ff.).
Although Christian inscriptions were included in the volumes of the *Corpus* alongside pagan ones (only those from Spain and Britain were collected separately by Emil Hübner in two smaller volumes, *Inscriptiones Britannicae christianae* (Berlin 1876) and *Inscriptiones Hispaniae christianae* (ibid. 1871 and 1900)), national collections were also compiled in various places, generally with greater attention to execution, extensive commentary, and a broader chronological scope than the *Corpus*. The first was Edmond Le Blant, who, following the example and encouragement of Giovanni Battista de Rossi, published *Inscriptiones chrétiennes de la Gaule antérieures au VIIIe siècle* (3 vols., Paris 1865–92), a learned work with extensive commentary and graphic reproductions of the inscriptions. He was followed by Franz Xaver Kraus, *Die christlichen Inschriften der Rheinalnde* (2 vols., Freiburg im Br. 1890–94), a collection extending to the mid-13th century with photographs of the texts. Then Emil Egli, *Die christlichen Inschriften der Schweiz von 4. bis 9. Jahrhundert* (Zurich 1895). Most recently, Giuseppe Vives has revised the collection of all *Inscriptiones christianae de la España romana y visigoda*, including coins (Barcelona 1942), not with the completeness of a proper *Corpus* (omitting, for example, minor fragments and all bibliography prior to Hübner), but far surpassing Hübner’s collection with very extensive indices. 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. I. L.*, were to be published separately by Giovanni Battista de Rossi, who only issued 2 vols.: I, *Epitaphia certam temporis notam exhibentia* (Rome 1857–61) and II, 1, *Series codicum in quibus veteres inscriptiones christianae descriptae sunt ante saeculum XVI* (ibid. 1888).
After de Rossi’s death, the task passed to Giuseppe Gatti, who could only publish a *Supplementum* to vol. I (Rome 1915); upon Gatti’s death, Angelo Silvagni took over and has thus far published, more succinctly than de Rossi and replacing the systematic order with a topographical one, two further volumes of a new series: *Nova series*, I, *Inscriptiones incertae originis*, i.e., those whose provenance is no longer known (Rome 1922); II, *Geometria in viii Cornelis Aurelia Portuensi et Ostiensi* (ibid. 1935).
A general collection of all Christian inscriptions up to the 18th century was compiled by Gaetano Marini, numbering about 10,000 items; it remained incomplete and unpublished, summarized in four codices of the Vatican Library, Vat. lat. 9071–74, of which Angelo Mai later published a small part in *Scriptorum veterum nova collectio*, V (Rome 1831). Most recently, Ernst Diehl published an extensive collection, *Inscriptiones latinae christianae veteres*, in 2 vols. with a third of indices (Berlin 1923–31); a similar work for Greek inscriptions of the Western world had been prepared by Karl Wessel, but its printing was interrupted by the Second World War.
A general collection of all Christian Greek inscriptions was planned by Homolle, who in 1878 outlined the general design, determined the method, and listed the collaborators in *Bulletin de correspondance hellénique*, 22 (1898), p. 410, and in 1905 the Archaeological Congress of Athens gave its approval and expressed great hopes, but nothing came of II. A similar project, akin to a Greek *Diehl*, was also presented by Fr. Guglielmo Jerphani at the VI International Congress of Byzantine Studies in Sofia in 1935 (cf. *Bulletin de l'Institut archéologique bulgare*, 9 (1935), p. 129), but it likewise came to nothing. In compensation, various regional corpora arose in different places: C. Bayet, *De titulis Atticae christianis antiquissimis* (Paris 1878); G. Lefebvre, *Recueil des inscriptions grecques-chrétiennes d'Égypte* (Cairo 1907); H. Grégoire, *Recueil des inscriptions grecques-chrétiennes d'Asie Mineure* (Paris 1922; only those from the western coasts); C. der griechisch-christlichen Inschriften von Hellas, I, 1, Isthmos-Corinthos, ed. N. A. Bees (Berlin 1941). To a large extent, collections of Christian inscriptions are also those of B. Latyschev, *Inscriptiones antiquae orae septentrionalis Ponti Euxini graecae et latinae* (2 vols., St. Petersburg 1885–90) and vol. IV, *Supplementa* (ibid. 1901), and of L. Jalabert–R. Mouterde, *Inscriptiones graecae et latinae Syriae*, I, Paris 1929; II, ibid. 1939; publication continues.
Finally, Fr. Giambattista Frey published a *C. i. indicarum. Recueil des inscriptions juives qui vont du IIIe siècle avant Jésus-Christ au VIIe siècle de notre ère*, 1, Europe (Vatican City 1936). The second volume, posthumous, which will include those from Africa and Asia, is imminent.
Non-Latin and non-Greek inscriptions of ancient Italy were collected by A. Fabretti, *C. I. Italiarum antiquioris aevi* (Turin 1867–77; 3 vols. and suppl.), those Etruscan in particular by C. Paoli, *C. I. Etruscarum*, I, Leipzig 1893–1902. For Semitic inscriptions, a corpus has been undertaken by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in Paris, with phototype reproductions of the texts: *C. I. Semiticarum*, part 1, *Inscriptions Phoeniciae* (3 vols., 1881 ff.); part 2, *Inscriptions Aramaicae* (3 vols., 1889 ff.); part 4, *Inscriptions Hinyariticae et Sabaeae* (3 vols., 1889 ff.).