Beyond the Digital Edition: Modeling Philological Interpretation in Semitic Epigraphy

Digital epigraphic projects have significantly expanded access to ancient inscriptions, yet many still preserve the results of analysis more effectively than the interpretive processes behind them. The central question is how philological interpretation in Semitic epigraphy can be encoded as structured data without reducing ambiguity.

Drawing on an annotation workflow for Phoenician and Punic inscriptions, a model is proposed for mapping interpretive knowledge across graphemic, linguistic, and editorial dimensions. It focuses on epigraphic phenomena that resist linear textual encoding, including linked tokens forming words across inscription lines, linked words forming expressions and constructions, and alternative readings maintained as coexisting possibilities.

The model treats uncertainty and analysis as machine-readable data, not ancillary commentary. The paper argues for a shift from digital editions as textual surrogates to structured models of philological knowledge that are transparent, queryable, and reusable.