II.1.1 86. Oval-shaped ostracon with graffito, Classical period.

Monument

Type

Fragment of oval-shaped ostracon. 

Material

Clay. 

Dimensions (cm)

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

Additional description

Shaped ostracon made from the wall of Attic BG open vessel, Classical period. The glaze is rubbed off along the perimeter. 

Find place

Berezan. 

Find context

Western sector, grid square 80-81б, depth down to 0.6-0.9, fill of ditch. 

Find circumstances

Found in 1977, excavations of L.V. Kopeykina. 

Modern location

Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation. 

Institution and inventory

The State Hermitage Museum, Б.77.151. 

Autopsy

August 2016. 

Epigraphic field

Position

Wall, interior. Originally inscribed on ostracon. 

Lettering

Graffito. 

Letterheights (cm)

Unknown.

Text

Category

Oval-shaped ostracon with graffito. 

Date

Classical period. 

Dating criteria

Ceramic date. 

Edition

Diplomatic

EpiDoc (XML)

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

Translation

 

Commentary

Graffiti run along the perimeter and are placed in the central portion of this ostracon. Of letters on the perimeter, three can be quite confidently read as iota, kappa, alpha. To the left iota, there is a circular letter with one straight side, but this form of omicron is attested locally. the left of the omicron, the sherd is very worn, but two verticals and a horizontal can be discerned. It is possible that they form a pi, or a gamma and iota. Finally, an eta is also possible. ]ΠΟΙΚΑ[ . ]ΓΟΙΚΑ[ . ]ΗΟΙΚΑ[ . There are many possibilities for restoring the text. The difficulty of choosing a likely restoration is inhibited by the fact that we do not understand the function of these shaped ostraca. In the central portion of the ostracon, a circle is likely an omicron, two parallel horizontals (one of which touches the circle) are apparently intersected by a vertical suggesting a dzeta or ksi, although an eta with extended horizontal is also possible. Another preserved letter has two strokes meeting at a straight angle, which might be a pi, but a shrot stroke at a possible end of the strokes could also suggest an omega with square loop, the shape locally attested in the classical period. There is also a faint trace of a stroke parallel to the short leg of the hypothetical omega, but it appears on the filed away perimeter and may belong with the sequence of letters inscribed along the circumference of the sherd.

 

Images

(cc)© 2024 Irene Polinskaya