II.1.1 11. Ownership(?) graffito, ca. 475-450 BCE
Monument
Type
Saltcellar.
Material
Clay.
Dimensions (cm)
H., W., Th., Diam.4.0.
Additional description
Attica, black-gloss, ca. 475-450 BCE.
Find place
Berezan.
Find context
Northwestern sector, Area Б, grid square 867-868, grey-clay layer.
Find circumstances
Found in 1985, excavations of Ya.V. Domansky.
Modern location
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.
Institution and inventory
The State Hermitage Museum, Б.85.122.
Autopsy
August 2016.
Epigraphic field
Position
Base, underside. Originally inscribed on complete vessel.
Lettering
Graffito.
Letterheights (cm)
0.3
Text
Category
Ownership(?)
Date
Ca. 475-450 BCE
Dating criteria
Ceramic date.
<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/>πό(λεως)
</ab>
</div>Apparatus criticus
Translation
Commentary
One possible interpretation of this short and fully preserved graffito on the underside of saltcellar is that ΠΟ is an abbreviation of πό(λεως) and signifies public ownership of the vessel. This is suggested by the fact that we have parallels at Olbia Pontica where a few pieces of tableware bear the same or similar abbreviated graffiti. In one and the same area (E8) of the Olbian agora, 11 fragmentary vessels were found inscribed on the underside: six with graffito ΠΟ, four with graffito ΠΟΛΕ, one with graffito ΠΟΛΕΩΣ̣. The publishers of these pieces date them to 525-480 BCE (A. Bekhter, Yu. Ilyina (2020) 'Граффити и дипинти из раскопок Е.И. Леви и А.Н. Карасева. 1. Общественно-владельческие граффити,' VDI 80,4: 907-924). The context of finds at Olbia supports the hypothesis of public ownership.
Images
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