ISic020756: ISic020756

Apparatus criticus

• Text after Agostiniani, in Agostiniani, Albanese Procelli 2018.

Physical description

Support

Description

Kylix.

Object type

kylix

Material

ceramic

Condition

complete

Dimensions

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

Inscription

Layout

The text is placed on the outer surface of the wall of the vessel.

Text condition

complete

Letter heights

Line 1: mm

Interlinear heights

Provenance

Place of origin

Herbessus (?)

Provenance found

Found during the excavations (Soprintendenza alle Antichità di Siracusa, 1966—1968) in the area of the archaic necropolis, grave 211.

Map

Current location

Place

Agrigento, Italy

Repository

Museo Regionale Archeologico Pietro Griffo ,

Autopsy

None

Map

Date

Evidence

archaeological-context, material-context, lettering

Text type

ownership (?)

commentary

The name graffitied on the vase is a personal name in the form of a citation, i.e. in nominative case and therefore with an implicit association to the object (as opposed to the use of the genitive and dative cases, which make direct reference to the link between the object and the name/owner). The name, as already noted by Agostiniani (2018, 192) is attested elsewhere in the indigenous epigraphy: on two cups from Castiglione di Ragusa (IAS II, CAS 18-19; Agostiniani 1992, p. 149 no. 8), on the so-called Stele of Sciri (IAS II SCI 1; Agostiniani 1992, p. 148 no. 7, ISic003362), and it could occurr abbreviated on two bowls in the corpus of Montagna di Marzo (ISic020757, ISic020758). In the Greek documents, the name is attested in Gela (Arena IGASM II[2], no. 74; ISic020545), and in an inscription from Selinus (Arena 1997; Brugnone 2008). It is also attested on a graffito from Palazzo, in Aspromonte (Lazzarini, Poccetti 2009, 125-141, in Agostino, Sica 2009).

It is generally agreed that the name is not Greek (most recently Agostiniani 2018, 192, who notes that, like other names such as Τίτας, Πλακίτας, Ματυλας, Ταμιρας, Πυτίκκας, the nominative ending in -ας can be associated with a class of Greek anthroponyms - e.g. Ἀρχέλας, Φιντίας, Νικάτας, Λεπτίνας - widely attested also in Sicily). In this case, given the occurrence of the name alone, there is no indication of whether the writer is Greek or indigenous. Agostiniani notes, however, how it may be legitimate to consider Nendas (like Dendas, cf. MMA 86 a-b, ISic030302 and ISic030303) not a noun in -ας, but a noun in -α, here therefore in genitive. A masculine nominative in -α, alien to Greek, is in fact conceivable for other cases from Montagna di Marzo, such as Ταμυρα (MMA 83; ISic020752), perhaps πυρρια (MMA 44a; ISic020759), κακρυολα (MMA 81; ISic020761).

From a palaeographical point of view, it is interesting to note the use of an arrow-shaped alpha and a three-stroke sigma with a different rendering than those found in other inscriptions of Montagna di Marzo, which could testify, as with the different types of alpha, to several coexisting epigraphic varieties.

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 68

Discussion

• Luciano Agostiniani, « Les parlers indigenes de la Sicile pregrecque », Lalies 11 (1992): 126‑57, at 148-149, nos. 7-8
• Renato Arena, «Lettura di un’iscrizione funeraria da Selinunte», La Parola del Passato 52 (1997): 421–22.
• Renato Arena, Iscrizioni greche archaiche di Sicilia e Magna Grecia. Iscrizioni di Sicilia. II. Iscrizioni di Gela e di Agrigento, 2nd ed., vol. 2, 5 voll. (Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso, 2002), at 74
• Antonietta Brugnone, «A proposito di un’epigrafe sepolcrale da Selinunte», Mélanges de l’École Francaise de Rome: Antiquité 120, fasc. 1 (2008): 21–28.
• 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 183-185, 192

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