🏛️THE HELLENIKOS PHILOLOGIKOS SYLLOGOS EPIGRAPHIC CORPUS: ANCIENT INSCRIPTIONS FROM ISTANBUL

The Hellenikos Philologikos Syllogos was a pioneering society founded by Greek intellectuals in nineteenth-century Istanbul to promote scholarship and education. Between 1863 and 1914, through the journals and monographs it published, the society meticulously documented archaeological remains and ancient inscriptions across the Ottoman lands. A remarkable manuscript held in the archives of the Istanbul Research Institute stands as a unique historical source, containing detailed records of some 1,270 ancient inscriptions, many of which have since been lost. The documents examined here offer critical data on Istanbul's landmark monuments, including Dikilitaş, Yılanlı Sütun, and Çemberlitaş, as well as on various funerary stelae and sanctuary arrangements. The sources bring together both the institutional history of this venerable society and the scholarly analysis of epigraphic finds that illuminate the city's ancient past. In doing so, they present a comprehensive picture of how the physical heritage of Istanbul's Roman, Byzantine, and Hellenistic eras was recorded and passed down to the present day.