Epigraphy (from the Greek epigráphein ‘to write on something’) indicates the action of noting signs on a surface, whether by inscribing, incis- ing, painting, stamping or tracing. The possi- bility of writing presupposes the action of a literate society that develops a graphic system and formalizes it: although such achievements cover more than five millennia of multiple and varied dynamics of creation, they are a relatively recent phenomenon in human history. Epigra- phy embraces all potential branches of activ- ity in a literate environment and represents a thematically immense field. I