II.1.1 1. Speaking object , ca. 550 B.C.E.

Monument

Type

Oil lamp. 

Material

Clay. 

Dimensions (cm)

H.1.6, W., Th., Diam.9.0.

Additional description

Broken into 3 fragments, glued together; parts of the underside and wall are missing; half a spout is also missing. 

Find place

Berezan, Ukraine. 

Find context

Trench В8, Pit 28. 

Find circumstances

Found in 1909, excavations of E.R. Shtern. 

Modern location

Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation. 

Institution and inventory

The State Hermitage Museum, Б.368. 

Autopsy

August 2016. 

Epigraphic field

Position

On the vertical face that runs the circumference of the lamp. 

Lettering

Graffito. Letters are somewhat sloppily cut and unevenly distributed; letter strokes filled with white paste. 

Letterheights (cm)

0.5-1.0

Text

Category

Speaking object. 

Date

Ca. 550 B.C.E. 

Dating criteria

Ceramic date. 

Edition

dipunct λύχνον εἰμὶ καὶ φαίνω θ̣[εοῖσ]ιν κἀνθρώποισιν .[. 2-3.]ως

Diplomatic

dipunctΛΥΧΝΟΝΕΙΜΙΚΑΙΦΑΙΝΩ.[....]ΙΝΚΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΙΣΙΝ·[. 2-3.]ΩΣ

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
      <lb n="1"/><g ref="#dipunct"/> λύχνον εἰμὶ καὶ φαίνω <unclear>θ</unclear><supplied reason="lost">εοῖσ</supplied>ιν 
    κἀνθρώποισιν <gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="character"/><gap reason="lost" atLeast="2" atMost="3" unit="character"/><w part="F">ως</w>
   </ab>
   </div>
 
Apparatus criticus

ὡς : λύχνον etc. Shtern 1910; : λύχνον εἰμὶ Vinogradov, Tokhtasiev; [Προμηθέ]ως Gubochkin, π̣[ρηέ]ως(?) Vinogradov, Ι̣[- 2-3 -]ως Tokhtasiev

Translation

 

Commentary

Several restorations have been proposed for the end of the line. The trace that is visible after the final nu of κἀνθρώποισιν is not the letter stroke itself, but a slip of the writing implement, and as this slip runs parallel to the diagonal of the preceding nu, it seems that the letter would have had a left diagonal stroke; an iota is therefore not likely. One possibility is lambda, and we could perhaps restore λαμπρῶς, but alpha is another possibility, and a short ἀγλαῶς is attractive.

The text has been interpreted as a clumsy attempt to construct a hexameter (Yaylenko, V.P. (1979) “Несколько ольвийских и березанских граффити.” КСИА 159:57-58, no. 11, fig. 2) or trochaic tetrameter (Vinogradov, Yu.G. (1991) Review of M. Guarducci, L’epigrafia greca dalle origine al Tardo Impero. Roma, 1987// VDI 1991/2, 232). Yaylenko (1979, 16, n. 32) sees an echo of line 8 of the Homeric Hymn to Helios (ὃς φαίνει θνητοῖσι καὶ ἀθανάτοῖσι θεοῖσιν) and of Iliad 20.64.

Vinogradov 1991 deduces from the text that the lamp was used in a domestic context where it would provide light for people and household cult images; Yaylenko (1979) argued for the use in a cultic setting, specifically in a synnaos shrine, while Shtern 1910, 88 envisioned mortuary context.

 

Images

 

(cc)© 2024 Irene Polinskaya