buyers used total line counts to check that copied texts were complete. Library catalogs listed the total number of lines in each work along with the title and author.

Scholars believe that stichometry became established in Athens sometime during the 5th century BC when copying prose works became common. Stichometry is mentioned briefly in Plato's Laws (c. 347 BC), several times in Isocrates (early to mid-4th century), and in Theopompus (late