UCL 2023 24

EpiDoc for Latin/Roman Epigraphy modules October 2023 – March 2024

Technical requirements

• Please install Visual Studio Code on your laptop, and check that you are able to open and edit text files. (If you need any help installing or activating this free software, please speak to your university's IT support as soon as possible.)
• Within VSC, please go to the Extensions button on the left bar (5th button down) and in the "Search Extensions in Marketplace" field enter XML. Of the many plugins offered, install the plugin "XML (XML Language Support by Red Hat)". Then in the same field enter tei and install the plugin "tei-publisher-vscode (Visual Studio Code extension to support TEI editing)".
• You will need to restart your computer (not just the software) after installing these plugins.

Editing with EpiDoc

• Download this EpiDoc Template (right-click on the link and save as), and make a new copy of the file for each inscription you are going to encode.
• You may find this Quick Reference sheet a useful overview of EpiDoc tags.

Viewing, tranforming, searching EpiDoc

Default (should work for most people)

• Download the EFES platform on your laptop
  • instructions in the User Guide should be enough
  • but Installation page may help with troubleshooting
• If you know what "Git" means…
  • you may like to fork a copy of EFES into your own Git repo, where you can keep your EpiDoc files (backed up and version controlled) for this course or your bigger project
  • or simply clone the main EFES branch and edit it there (you won't push your changes, obviously)
• Most of you: if you don't want to or cannot use Git, simply click on Code --> Download ZIP to make a static copy of EFES on your desktop.

Backup (in extremis only)

• You can preview the text transcription only of your EpiDoc file by pasting the XML into the box on the iSicily EpiDoc Viewer

Video tutorials

Introductions to EpiDoc

• The Rules of XML (slides) (Gabriel Bodard) (19 min)
• Introduction to EpiDoc Guidelines (Irene Vagionakis) (13 min)
• Structure of an EpiDoc Edition (slides) (Irene Vagionakis) (18 min)

Text encoding

• The Leiden System (slides) (Irene Vagionakis) (20 min)
• EpiDoc Transcription Quick-Reference (QuickRef) (PDF) (Gabriel Bodard) (10 min)
• Abbreviations (slides) (Irene Vagionakis) (8 min)
• Symbols (slides) (Irene Vagionakis) (10 min)
• Complex lacunae (slides) (Gabriel Bodard) (14 min)
• Editorial corrections (slides) (Gabriel Bodard) (13 min)

Descriptive edition

• Structure QuickReference (PDF) (Irene Vagionakis) (5 min)
• Description of Object (slides) (Irene Vagionakis) (9 min)
• Description of campus or layout (slides) (Gabriel Bodard) (5 min)
• Description of Hands, Lettering and Script (slides) (Gabriel Bodard) (10 min)
• Origin date (slides) (Gabriel Bodard) (18 min)
• Origin and locations of object (slides) (Irene Vagionakis) (12 min)

Resources and readings

• EpiDoc Guidelines
• EpiDoc Markup mailing list
• EpiDoc | Wikipedia (good bibliography)
• EpiDoc | Digital Classicist Wiki
• Gabriel Bodard & Polina Yordanova. 2020. "Publication, Testing and Visualization with EFES: A tool for all stages of the EpiDoc editing process." Studia Digitalia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai 65.1 (2020), pp. 17–35. Available: https://doi.org/10.24193/subbdigitalia.2020.1.02
• Hugh Cayless & Charlotte Roueché. 2009. "Epigraphy in 2017." Digital Humanities Quarterly 3(1). Available: http://digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/3/1/000030/000030.html
• Julia Flanders & Charlotte Roueché. 2006. "Introduction To Markup For Epigraphers." Stoa Review 2021-08-19. Available: https://blog.stoa.org/archives/4084
• Lisa Anderson & Heidi Wendt. 2014. "Ancient Relationships, Modern Intellectual Horizons: The practical challenges and possibilities of encoding Greek and Latin inscriptions." In ed. M.T. Rutz & M.M. Kersel, Archaeologies of Text: Archaeology, Technology, and Ethics. Oxbow Books. Pp. 164–175.