Leiden Conventions

The Leiden Conventions are an established set of rules, symbols, and brackets used to indicate the condition of an epigraphic or papyrological text in a modern edition. In previous centuries of classical scholarship, scholars who published texts from inscriptions, papyri, or manuscripts used divergent conventions to indicate the condition of the text and editorial corrections or restorations. The Leiden meeting was designed to help to redress this confusion.

The earliest form of the Conventions were agreed at a meeting of classical scholars at the University of Leiden in 1931, and published in an article shortly thereafter. There are minor variations in the use of the Conventions between epigraphy and papyrology (and even between Greek and Latin epigraphy). More recently, scholars have published improvements and adjustments to the system.

Leiden usage in corpora

 * L'Année Épigraphique, CNRS Editions, Presses Universitaires de France, (Revue Archaeologique supplement 1888-1964; autonomous 1965-). (see front matter)
 * Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum, Berlin: de Gruyter, 1853-. (conventions at front)
 * Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Egypt Exploration Society, 1898-. (see preface)
 * Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum, Lugduni Batavorum : Sijthoff, 1923-. (see front matter)