ISic020743: ISic020743

Apparatus criticus

• Text after Mussinano 1970

Physical description

Support

Description

Attic black-glazed cup.

Object type

cup

Material

ceramic

Condition

complete

Dimensions

height: 7.4 cm, dim: , width: cm, depth: cm

Inscription

Layout

The text is scratched on the foot.

Text condition

complete

Letter heights

Interlinear heights

Provenance

Place of origin

Herbessus (?)

Provenance found

Found during the excavations (Soprintendenza alle Antichità di Siracusa, 1966—1968) in the East archaic necropolis of Montagna di Marzo, on the bottom niche, East grave 31.

Map

Current location

Place

Agrigento, Italy

Repository

Museo Regionale Archeologico Pietro Griffo , 65645, n. sc. 39G

Autopsy

None

Map

Date

Evidence

archaeological-context, material-context, lettering

Text type

ownership

commentary

The inscription is on one of the 14 inscribed vessels that were part of the grave goods of tomb East 31 of the archaic necropolis of Montagna di Marzo, part itself of a larger set of objects (on which see Albanese Procelli in Agostiniani, Albanese Procelli 2018, pp. 151-182) belonging to two different burials, one more recent than the other, inside a hypogeic chamber with a platform, which was used for the pottery (and not for the deceased, as in the other hypogeic tombs of this type). The burials were contained in two clay sarcophagi. The vessels found in the tomb can be divided into two groups (Agostiniani, in Agostiniani, Albanese Procelli 2018, 194): large Attic (imported) drinking vessels (cups, 'stemless cups', a skyphos, i.e. luxury vessels, typically related to the consumption of wine in the symposium); vessels of different types, all of a smaller size. To the first group belong 7 vases in total, of which 3 belong to the deceased in the front of the chamber, 4 to the second, in the back. The inscriptions of this first group show what appear to be names, perhaps onomastic formulae, followed by an ending in -mi, that could be (cf. Agostiniani, in Agostiniani, Albanese Procelli 2018, p. 195) an aphaeretic form of the verb εἰμί, not known in Greek epigraphic culture but perhaps adapted by the writers of Montagna di Marzo in correspondence with syntactic structures proper to their language. The vessel in question is part of the later deposition and has two inscriptions by two different hands, as shown by the difference in the ductus and the different dimensions of the letters. The first engraver writes 'Ιταλο', genitive of Ιταλος, while the second engraver writes towards the centre of the vase 'αρακακαμι', using the supposed ownership formula. An identical situation, albeit with different ductus occurs in two other cups from the same deposition, the first with the names Italos/ara kaka-mi (ISic020743), the second with Ratora arakakami (ISic020745). The use of different type of alphas, even in the same inscription (αρακακαμι) is still being discussed. The use of the arrow-shaped alpha, in general, has long been attributed the intention of the 'Sikels' to mark their alphabet in contrast with the alphabet used by the Greeks. One might rather link this use with the spread of a particular variety of alpha among the Sikel workshops, which later became characteristic of their alphabet, or with the desire to differentiate phonemes perceived as akin but not identical (as might perhaps also be the case in the Elymian texts, for example, with the alternation of beta used both in the Selinus 'reversed nu' type and in the 'regular' type; cf. Agostiniani 1977, p. 119-120, 4.2.1). For a further discussion on the spread of the arrow-shaped alpha in Sicily see Tribulato, Mignosa 2021. According to Agostiniani (2018, 196) Ἰταλός and ῾Ρατορας are two sodales of the warrior of the later deposition, who had written their names on the cups they used and then dedicated them to the deceased in the funerary ceremony. According to the editor, the names may also indicate that they are not Greeks, even though the morphology used here (the genitive rather than the aferetic formula -emi) is certainly Greek.

Bibliography

Digital editions

• TM: -
• EDR: -
• EDH: -
• EDCS: -
• PHI: -

Printed editions

• Luciano Agostiniani, Iscrizioni anelleniche di Sicilia. II. Sicilia Centrale e Meridionale, vol. 2, Forthcoming, at MMA??
• L. Mussinano, «Iscrizioni da Montagna di Marzo», Kokalos 16 (1970): 166–83, at no. 8, p. 176, pl. XXIV, fig. 6; pl. XXVIII, fig. 2

Discussion

• Luciano Agostiniani e R.M. Albanese Procelli, «La tomba Est 31 di Montagna di Marzo (Enna)», Kokalos 52 (2015): 17–49, at figs. 11, 28
• Luciano Agostiniani e M.R. Albanese Procelli, «Montagna di Marzo (Piazza Armerina): la tomba Est 31», Cronache di archeologia e di storia dell’arte 37 (2018): 151–208, at 163, 186, 191, 195, fig. 108 and fig. 33

Citation and editorial status

Editor

Jonathan Prag

Principal contributor

Valentina Mignosa

Contributors

• Jonathan Prag
• Valentina Mignosa
• James Chartrand
• Michael Metcalfe
• system
• Simona Stoyanova

Last revision

10/14/2021