Stoichedon

The majority are Attic, but it was widely used in the Greek world, and the earliest examples are from not later than the mid-6th century BCE; the first is perhaps the Phrasikleia Kore[1] or the Salaminian Decree.

The last stoichedon text dates from the 3rd century CE and is the genealogical inscription from the Heroon of Oenoanda in Lycia.

[3] The idiom was less common in Latin epigraphy; a rare exception is the Sator square.

This form of inscription is of particular interest to scholars of Greek epigraphy due to the chance it affords to reconstruct fragmentary texts.

Few, if any, Greek tablets survive intact; however, the language and tenor of inscriptions are often formulaic and with a knowledge of the precise number of missing letters it is possible to make an informed guess about the lost text.