Ancient Greek ‘graduate school yearbook’ discovered on marble slab

An ancient Greek inscription discovered on a marble slab in a museum collection is a ''graduate school yearbook'', according to experts.

The stone, which had been in storage at the National Museum Scotland (NMS) collection for more than 100 years, dates back to the first century AD.

It lists the names of 31 young men who together completed a year of elite military and civic training, known as the Athenian "ephebate", to prepare them for adult life.

The marble slab, which experts say could have been on display at the gymnasium where they trained together, was meant ''to create a sense of camaraderie and comradeship''.

The stone dates to the reign of the Roman Emperor Claudius (AD 41-54) and was analysed as part of project to publish English translations of inscriptions from ancient Athens held in UK collections.

Dr Peter Liddel, professor of Greek history and epigraphy at the University of Manchester, who led on the discovery, said experts thought the slab might be a copy of a similar list at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

''On seeing it we realised that this was not a copy of an already known inscription, but it was a completely unique new discovery which had been in the storerooms of the NMS for a very long time, since the 1880s, and it listed a group of young men who called themselves co-ephebes or co-cadets and friends'', he said.

Professor Liddel added: “It turned out to be a list of the cadets for one particular year during the period 41-54 AD, the reign of Claudius, and it gives us new names, names we’d never come across before in ancient Greek, and it also gives us among the earliest evidence for non-citizens taking part in the ephebate in this period.

“It is a really interesting inscription, partly because it’s new but also because it gives us new names and a bit of insight into the sort of access or accessibility of this institution which is often associated with elite citizens.”

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It is not known where the list was displayed but it is thought it could have been put up somewhere such as the gymnasium where the young men trained.

Dr Liddel said: “It was made to create a sense of camaraderie and comradeship among this group of people who had been through a rigorous training programme together and felt like they were part of a cohort.

“It’s the ancient equivalent of a graduate school yearbook, although this is one which is created by a number of individuals who wanted to feel like they had come together as friends.”

The inscription is published this week on the website www.atticinscriptions.com.

Experts said the discovery represents an important new source of information about elite Athenian society in the mid-first century AD, a period that was crucial for Athens as it adapted to its place under the Roman Empire.

Inscriptions from this period are relatively rare, and experts said this makes it all the more striking that the newly discovered ephebic list belongs to the same year and cohort as the inscription at the Ashmolean.

Dr Margaret Maitland, principal curator, Ancient Mediterranean, at NMS, said: “To have the team come and visit and confirm it was something that had never been published before was really thrilling.”