II.1.1 371. Incertum (commercial?), 1st half VI century B.C.E.

Monument

Type

Wall fragment. 

Material

Clay. 

Dimensions (cm)

H.5.0, W., Th., Diam..

Additional description

Attica, SOS amphora, 1st half VI century B.C.E. 

Find place

Berezan. 

Find context

North sector, half-squares III, IV, quarter-square V, depth 0.40 m. 

Find circumstances

Found in 1965, excavations of K.S. Gorbunova. 

Modern location

Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation. 

Institution and inventory

The State Hermitage Museum, Б.65.114. 

Autopsy

August 2016. 

Epigraphic field

Position

Wall, exterior. Originally inscribed on complete vessel. 

Lettering

Graffito. 

Letterheights (cm)

3.5 (preserved)

Text

Category

Incertum (commercial?) 

Date

1st half VI century B.C.E. 

Dating criteria

Ceramic date. 

Edition

Diplomatic

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
      <lb n="1"/>
   </ab>
   </div>
 
Apparatus criticus

Translation

 

Commentary

The strokes can be construed as an alpha with a left-slanted crossbar. Another, much thinner stroke that cuts the crossbar and runs roughly parallel to the right hasta of the presumed alpha looks intentional but how and if it is related to the main graffito is unclear. The letterheight is quite large (preserved H 3.5 cm), and considering that SOS amphorae often carry ownership inscriptions (Johnston xx, xx), we might have a fragment of a personal name. Several other SOS amphorae with graffiti are attested from Berezan: see XXX in this collection. A short commercial notation is also not out of the question.

 

Images

 

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