ABSTRACT
The conviction that inscriptions were of secondary importance in Byzantium derives from the widely held belief that epigraphy refers exclusively to texts engraved on stone (a common practice throughout antiquity until at least the sixth century AD).1 It is true that the number of inscriptions on stone appears to decrease significantly in Byzantine times.2 Likewise, in Byzantine society the number of literate people, who could actually read texts in whatever medium they were presented, was fairly small;3 and this may explain the gradual decrease in the use of inscriptions as a means of communication. Nonetheless, a new space for the written word to be displayed in public was developed in medieval Byzantium: an epigraphic space with multiple functions and connotations. This new setting is the church.4
