ISic020949: Ligatured graffito on an Attic kylix from Kasmenai
No image available
Edition
Apparatus criticus
- Text: Mignosa in Scarci 2026, section 4.3.1, figs. 44-45.;
- The marks may alternatively be read as a ligature of delta and alpha; chi results from the meeting of their apices.;
- The possible expansion δραχμὰ αʹ is interpretative and is not otherwise attested in this form.
Physical description
Support
- Description
- Fragmentary foot of an Attic Type C black-glaze kylix.
- Object type
- kylix
- Object condition
- fragment
- Dimensions
- height: cm, width: cm, depth: cm
Material
- Description
- ceramic
Inscription
- Layout
- The graffito was scratched after firing on the underside of the foot. The characters are joined in a ligature.
- Text condition
- partly_illegible
- Technique
- scratched
- Pigment
- No data
- Lettering
Alpha has a horizontal crossbar and a right stroke approximately one third longer than the left one. The second character, damaged internally, is probably delta and is arranged symmetrically to alpha. One of its strokes continues beyond the horizontal stroke, while the meeting of the two apices produces a chi-shaped form.
- Letter heights
- Line 1: 10mm
- Interlinear heights
Provenance
- Place of origin
- No data
- Provenance found
- Found in the urban sanctuary at Kasmenai, Monte Casale, near Chiaramonte Gulfi; the fragment was preserved among materials in boxes attributed to the temple, but its precise excavation context is not recorded.
- Map
Current location
- Place
- Siracusa,
- Repository
- Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi
- Autopsy
- None; edited from a photograph.
- Map
Date
500-480 BCE (500 BCE - 480 BCE)- Evidence
- material-context, lettering
Text type
commentary
Alpha is clearly legible, whereas the second character, damaged internally, is probably delta. The two characters are arranged symmetrically and their apices touch, producing a chi-shaped form. The graffito may therefore be read either as a ligature of delta and alpha or, as proposed by Mignosa, as delta-chi-alpha. The shape of delta suggests the Attic alphabet and supports a broadly fifth-century date, consistent with the chronology of the Type C kylix, c. 500-480 BCE. The marks may be para-alphabetic signs referring to the owner, producer or production batch. Alternatively, they may abbreviate δραχμὰ αʹ, indicating a price of one drachma, a plausible amount for an everyday vessel imported from mainland Greece. On this interpretation, the graffito may have been added in Greece before export, although the proposed abbreviation is not otherwise attested. Its position beneath the foot might be connected with a sales practice in which vessels were displayed upside down, leaving the price visible.
Bibliography
- Digital editions
- TM: -
- EDR: -
- EDH: -
- EDCS: -
- PHI: -
Citation and editorial status
- Editor
- Jonathan Prag
- Principal contributor
- Valentina Mignosa
- Contributors
- Last revision
- 8/4/2026