The different types of epigraphy found in Byzantine Athens all point towards a complex usage of texts within the daily life of the population. Texts could show ownership,  origins, and/or even the content of vessels. The function varied between the different types of text, and their location on the vessel clearly fitted their purpose.

Despite the fact that it is often thought that most people were illiterate, texts served a vital function in the daily life of a city.  By studying texts as material culture, several lines of research open up which  -as of yet- have not been studied in-depth.