The Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaea/Palestinae

The first comprehensive multilingual (Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Aramaic dialects, Samaritan, proto-Arabic, Arabic and the Caucasian languages) corpus of all inscriptions, both published and unpublished, from the fourth century BCE to the seventh century CE, from the territory of present-day Israel (Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae = CIIP). The project is currently under way in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Cologne. This innovative format is especially important for the area of Israel, where, as the many surviving written documents attest, the local languages and cultures pre-dating the arrival of the Greeks and Romans proved more tenacious and potent and remained more vital and vibrant than elsewhere in the Graeco-Roman world.