U.S. Epigraphy Numbers
Each inscription catalogued by the U.S. Epigraphy Project is assigned a unique number consisting of three parts.
1) A U.S. Epigraphy Code designating the location of the object by state, city, and collection.
The codes are constructed on principles similar to those that govern the hierarchy of url addresses: the broadest elements are given first and are followed by ones of increasing specificity, each preceded by a dot. In U.S. Epigraphy codes the first two letters (invariably capitalized) correspond to the postal code abbreviations employed by the United States Postal Service for the fifty United States and the District of Columbia. These are followed by abbreviated designations of the city in which the inscription is currently located and of the institution and, in some cases, building, in which the collection is located.
2) An abbreviated indication of the language of the inscription--currently G(reek), L(atin), or E(truscan)-- or, in the case of multilingual documents, a combination of letters.
3) The inventory or accession number of the piece in its home collection, or, in the case of objects lacking such a number, a provisional designation, signalled by the symbol #, based upon the date of registration by the U.S. Epigraphy Project. "#96.10.2", for example, designates the second inscription of a collection cataloged in October 1996.
EXAMPLE:
U.S. Epigraphy number MI.AA.UM.KM.L.881=
| MI | Michigan, the state in which the inscription is currently located |
| AA | Ann Arbor, the city in which the inscription is currently located |
| UM | The University of Michigan, the institution that owns the inscription |
| KM | The Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, the building in which the inscription is housed |
| L | Latin, the language of the text |
| 881 | The accession number by which the inscription is registered in the Kelsey Museum |