Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 October 2013
The building accounts of Epidauros are among the most interesting architectural and economic records of the Classical and Early Hellenistic period. It has rarely been recognized that they deserve to rank alongside the Athenian, Delphian, and Delian inscriptions, but although the Epidaurian material is slighter in bulk than the Delian, and covers a smaller area (politically and economically speaking) than the Athenian, it provides a far more comprehensive picture of that most important cultural activity, temple building. The Epidaurian inscriptions indicate the means by which one Greek city converted its sanctuary into a panhellenic cult-centre, that of the healing god Asklepios, during a period of a hundred years or so from about 370 B.C. onwards.
1 It proved impossible to get copies from all the stones, so that I can show here examples of the lettering only of records I, II, IV–IX, XI, XIII, XV, XVIII, XIX, XXI, XXII, XXV, XXVI, and XXVIII, figs. 1–18. They are reduced to half-size. The numerical signs are given in the table at the end of the article (Fig. 19).