Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Epigraph \Ep"i*graph\, n. [Gr. ?, fr. ?: cf. F. ['e]pigraphe.
   See {Epigram}.]
   1. Any inscription set upon a building; especially, one which
      has to do with the building itself, its founding or
      dedication.

   2. (Literature) A citation from some author, or a sentence
      framed for the purpose, placed at the beginning of a work
      or of its separate divisions; a motto.

Source : WordNet®

epigraph
     n 1: a quotation at the beginning of some piece of writing
     2: an engraved inscription