Ancient Greek votive epigraphy: Ancient religion between individual choice and cultural trends
- 1Department of General History, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
Abstract
Ancient votive inscriptions, numbering in the tens of thousands across the Mediterranean, offer direct evidence for religious practice but have rarely been studied comprehensively across time and space due to their sheer volume. This paper presents a “distant reading” analysis of approximately 11,000 Greek dedicatory inscriptions (sixth century BCE – seventh century CE) drawn primarily from the GIST/I.PHI digital corpus. By tagging inscriptions for key features (votive/dedicatory terminology, deities, motives, gender) and analyzing their distribution chronologically and geographically while controlling for the “epigraphic habit,” this study identifies large-scale trends. The results reveal a significant relative increase in the use of explicit votive terminology (forms of euche/euchomai) over time, particularly during the Roman Imperial period and Late Antiquity. This practice exhibits strong regional variation, being markedly more prevalent in Asia Minor and the East than in mainland Greece before the fourth century CE. Furthermore, the use of votive formulae correlates strongly with specific deities (e.g., Men, Meter, Hypsistos, Hosios kai Dikaios) and negatively with others (e.g., emperors, Athena). Votive terminology also appears negatively correlated with the explicit mention of other motives (like dreams or commands) and with the use of standard consecration terms. While demonstrating the potential of computational methods for identifying broad patterns of continuity and change in religious expression, the study also highlights methodological challenges (dating uncertainty, data tagging) and underscores the persistent difficulty in definitively separating shifts in epigraphic conventions from changes in underlying religious mentalities.
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BibTeX
@article{blidstein2026ancient,
title = {{Ancient Greek votive epigraphy: Ancient religion between individual choice and cultural trends}},
author = {Moshe Blidstein},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0361143},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361143},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Ancient Greek votive epigraphy: Ancient religion between individual choice and cultural trends
AU - Moshe Blidstein
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0361143
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0361143
AB - Ancient votive inscriptions, numbering in the tens of thousands across the Mediterranean, offer direct evidence for religious practice but have rarely been studied comprehensively across time and space due to their sheer volume. This paper presents a “distant reading” analysis of approximately 11,000 Greek dedicatory inscriptions (sixth century BCE – seventh century CE) drawn primarily from the GIST/I.PHI digital corpus. By tagging inscriptions for key features (votive/dedicatory terminology, deities, motives, gender) and analyzing their distribution chronologically and geographically while controlling for the “epigraphic habit,” this study identifies large-scale trends. The results reveal a significant relative increase in the use of explicit votive terminology (forms of euche/euchomai) over time, particularly during the Roman Imperial period and Late Antiquity. This practice exhibits strong regional variation, being markedly more prevalent in Asia Minor and the East than in mainland Greece before the fourth century CE. Furthermore, the use of votive formulae correlates strongly with specific deities (e.g., Men, Meter, Hypsistos, Hosios kai Dikaios) and negatively with others (e.g., emperors, Athena). Votive terminology also appears negatively correlated with the explicit mention of other motives (like dreams or commands) and with the use of standard consecration terms. While demonstrating the potential of computational methods for identifying broad patterns of continuity and change in religious expression, the study also highlights methodological challenges (dating uncertainty, data tagging) and underscores the persistent difficulty in definitively separating shifts in epigraphic conventions from changes in underlying religious mentalities.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -