Many EpiDoc projects will need to refer users to images of the text-bearing objects treated by the projects, and to other relevant imagery that provides context or comparison. Such images may be photographs or drawings ("copies") of the objects themselves or of intermediary derivatives like squeezes, rubbings, and ink-transfers (estampages), as well as other kinds of maps, plans, and illustrations. The TEI provides a variety of mechanisms for making reference to such visual materials, whether published alongside the textual material produced by the project or published by third parties online or in print.
When an EpiDoc project publishes digital images of an inscribed object alongside textual material, the facsimile element should be used to list, link to, and describe the images, and to connect them to the textual and analytic material marked up elsewhere in the XML. The encoding approach outlined in the initial sections of the TEI Guidelines, chapter 11 "Representation of Primary Sources" should be followed by EpiDoc projects where appropriate. This portion of the TEI Guidelines also describes the use of the sourceDoc element, which should be used instead of facsimile when a project has comprehensive photographic documentation for a text-bearing object, and when the goals of the project and the character of the text call for a digital facsimile that contains a documentary transcription tied to the visible layout in the photographs.
The following examples, adapted from the Inscriptions of Aphrodisias and from the Corpus of the Inscriptions of Campā, illustrate the application of the facsimile element (and some of its optional subordinate elements) in an EpiDoc context. Additional examples drawn from the TEI Guidelines may also provide helpful encoding patterns.
Within facsimile, EpiDoc follows default TEI in allowing surface to contain the zone element, which defines any two-dimensional area within surface. This permits the editor to identify a section of the support and to associate it with an area within the facsimile in which it is represented. A zone may be of any shape: a rectangular zone can be defined using ulx, uly, lrx, and lry, while a polygonal zone can be defined using points. These same attributes can also be used on the surface element itself. More complex examples can be found in the TEI Guidelines.
When signalling the availability of images published externally to the EpiDoc project (whether available on-line or only in print), editors may prefer to treat references to these images as bibliographic citations. The following example adapts conventions used by the Digital Corpus of Literary Papyrology project for this purpose, subtyping the standard EpiDoc div with type = "bibliography".
Other pages describing <facsimile>:
Other pages describing <surface>:
Other pages describing <graphic>:
Other pages describing <div>:
Other pages describing <desc>:
Other pages describing <bibl>:
Other pages describing <ptr>:
Other pages describing <ref>:
Other pages describing <date>: