Lapidary
A scholarly instrument that reads and translates Latin inscriptions and medieval manuscripts from a single photograph.
What Lapidary Is
Photograph a stone inscription, a manuscript leaf, a coin, or a printed Latin source. Lapidary returns a structured reading: a diplomatic transcription, an English translation, expanded abbreviations, identified names, and historical context.
Every reading is built to be a transferable, citable artifact — exportable, aligned with established scholarly encoding conventions, and independently verified. Lapidary is made for epigraphers, paleographers, librarians, collectors, students, and anyone who meets Latin in the wild and wants to read it honestly.
Two Ways to Read
Reader
Fast, dependable readings of legible text. Each reading carries a confidence grade so you know how much to trust it.
Scholar
Our most capable model, paired with an independent verifier that audits the reading and surfaces caveats — for codices, patristic manuscripts, and difficult hands.
How It Works
- Photograph the textUse your camera, your photo library, or a file from your cloud storage.
- Choose a readingReader for clear text, Scholar for difficult or dense material.
- Receive a verified readingTranscription, translation, expanded abbreviations, and context — with a confidence grade and, on Scholar, a full verification audit.
- Keep and cite itExport the reading and carry it into your own scholarly workflow.
Contact
Questions, corrections, or feedback are welcome. Write to dave@developerd.com.