Epigraphic samples

Epigraphy is the study of ancient inscriptions. The science of epigraphy traces origins of writing and the evolution of written or alphabetic systems. This science classifies and explains inscriptions and, in a specific sense, concerns the paleography of inscriptions.
    Inscription is writing in the form of letters, of words, or of other conventional symbols cut into a permanent material to convey some information or to preserve records. An inscription is distinguished, on the one hand, from manuscript, and is distinguished, on the other, from a picture or a relief that is intended to convey information or to record events, though inscriptions often are combined with pictures or with reliefs.