CHAPTER XVII

_INSCRIPTIONS ON GREEK VASES_ Importance of inscriptions on vases—Incised inscriptions—Names and prices incised underneath vases—Owners’ names and dedications—Painted inscriptions—Early Greek alphabets—Painted inscriptions on early vases—Corinthian, Ionic, Boeotian, and Chalcidian inscriptions—Inscriptions on Athenian vases—Dialect—Artists’ signatures—Inscriptions relating to the subjects—Exclamations—Καλός-names—The Attic alphabet and orthography—Chronology of Attic inscriptions—South Italian vases with inscriptions. The practice of inscribing works of art with the names of persons and objects represented was one of some antiquity in Greece. The earliest instance of which we have historical record is the chest of Kypselos, which dated from the beginning of the sixth century B.C., and concerning which Pausanias[2058] tells us that “the majority of the figures on the chest have inscriptions written in the archaic characters; and some of them read straight, but other letters have the appearance called by the Greeks ‘backwards-and-forwards’ (βουστροφηδόν), which is like this: at the end of the verse the second line turns round again like a runner half through his course. And any way the inscriptions on the chest are written in a tortuous and hardly decipherable fashion.” There is, however, no mention of inscribed vases until a much later date; Athenaeus speaks of a cup with the name of Zeus Soter upon it, also of γραμματικὰ ἐκπώματα, or cups with letters on them.[2059] Inscriptions on Greek vases are found in comparatively early times, even prior to the date to which the chest of Kypselos is attributed. This question will receive more attention subsequently; meanwhile, we may point out some of the ways in which they have proved important in the study of archaeology. In the first place, they were originally among the principal, perhaps the strongest, arguments in the hands of Winckelmann, Sir W. Hamilton, and the other upholders of the true origin of Greek vases against Gori and the other “Etruscans” (see Vol. I. p. 19). They are, in fact, if such were required, an incontestable proof of Greek manufacture. Secondly, in more modern times, they have been of inestimable value in enabling scholars to classify the early vases according to their different fabrics. The alphabets of the different cities and states being established by inscriptions obtained from trustworthy sources or found _in situ_, it was an easy matter to apply this knowledge to the vases. In Chapters VII.-VIII. numerous instances have been given of the value of this evidence (see also below, p. 247 ff.), perhaps the best being that of the Chalcidian class, for which the inscriptions have been a more important criterion even than style. Thirdly, the inscriptions are sometimes of considerable philological value. Those on Attic vases may fairly be said to represent the vernacular of the day; and thus we learn that the Greeks of the Peisistratid age spoke of Ὀλυττεύς, not Ὀδυσσεύς, and of Θῆσυς, not Θησεύς; that they used such forms as υἱύς for υἱός,[2060] and πίει for πίε (see below, p. 255). Traces of foreign influence in the inscriptions, as in the frequently occurring Doric forms, imply that many of the vase-painters were foreigners, probably of the metic class. We shall also see that one class of inscriptions gives some interesting information on the subject of the names and prices of vases in antiquity. The whole subject has been treated exhaustively—especially from a philological point of view—in a valuable treatise by P. Kretschmer,[2061] to which we shall have occasion to make constant reference in the following pages. He classifies them under two main headings: (_a_) inscriptions incised with a sharp tool in the hard clay; (_b_) inscriptions painted with the brush after the final baking. They are also found in very rare instances impressed in the soft clay and varnished over.[2062] In later times inscriptions in relief are actually found, sometimes painted with thick white pigment, sometimes gilded.[2063] On the so-called Megarian bowls and on the Arretine and other wares of the Roman period they are stamped from the moulds. Lastly, there are the stamps imprinted on the handles of wine-amphorae, which have been discussed in Chapter IV. The =incised inscriptions= are of three kinds: (1) those executed by the maker of the vase; (2) those scratched under the foot; (3) those incised by the owner. As these represent a much smaller class than the painted ones, they shall be dealt with first. (1) Inscriptions incised by the maker before the final baking. These are found on the handles and feet, round the edge of a design, or interspersed therewith like the painted inscriptions. Generally they represent the signature of the potter, as in the case of the early Boeotian vase signed by Gamedes,[2064] the vases of the fifth-century artist Hieron,[2065] and those of Assteas, Python, and Lasimos in Southern Italy.[2066] On the vases of the latter class explanatory inscriptions seldom occur, but when they do (as on the vases of Assteas) they are always incised. Of their palaeographical peculiarities we will speak later. On a vase in the South Kensington Museum[2067] the words Βραχᾶς καλός are incised and painted red, and on the pottery found on the site of the Kabeirion at Thebes the same process is often adopted, except that the paint used is white.[2068] (2) Of inscriptions scratched under the foot a considerable number remain, especially on B.F. vases. They are often difficult to decipher, being in the form of monograms, and frequently appear to be meaningless. In many cases they may have been private marks of the potter or his workmen; others, again, are evidently private memoranda made by the workman, relating to the number of forms of vases in his batch, or by the merchant respecting the price to be paid. Commonly they take the form of names of vases,[2069] such as [ΗVΔΡΙ] for ὑδρία (_hydria_), [ΛΗΚ] or [ΛΗΚV] for λήκυθος (_lekythos_), [ΣΚV] for σκύφος (_skyphos_),[2070] and so on. Many of the inscriptions give the words in full, with numbers and prices, and we may obtain from them some curious information. Among the more elaborate examples given by Schöne in his valuable monograph is one from a krater in the Louvre[2071]: [ΚΡΑΤΕΡΕΣ : ΠI] κρατῆρες ἑξ [ΤΙΜΕ : ͰͰͰͰ ΟΞΙΔΕΣ : [Π]ΙΙΙ] τιμὴ τέσσαρες ὀξίδες ὀκτώ [ΒΑΘΕΑ : ΔΔͰΙ] βαθέα εἰκόσι (at 1 _dr._ 1 _ob._) That is, six kraters, value four drachmae; eight _oxides_; twenty _bathea_ (an unknown form), one drachma one obol. The _bathea_ were probably deep cups or ladles; the _oxides_ (_lit._ vinegar-cups) were small vessels, probably answering to our wine-glasses. Another instance given by Schöne[2072] is: [ΛΗΚΥΘΙΑ Δ] ληκύθια δέκα [ΟΙΝΟΧΟΑΙ ΙΙ] οἰνοχοαὶ δύο or ten lekythi and two oinochoae. Another good example is on a krater in the British Museum (E 504): [ΚΡΑΤΕΡΕ [Π]Ι : ͰͰͰͰ] κρατῆρε(ς) ἑξ τέσσαρες [ΠΕΛΛΙΝΙΑ : ΔΙΙ : ΙΙΙ] πελλίνια[2073] δώδεκα τρεῖς [ΟΞΙΔΕΣ : ΔΔ : ΙΙΙ] ὀξίδες εἰκόσι τρεῖς [ΟΞΥΒΑΦΑ : ΔΔͰI] ὀξύβαφα εἰκόσι (at 1 _dr._ 1 _ob._) _i.e._ six kraters at four drachmae, twelve cups at three obols, twenty _oxides_ at three obols, twenty _oxybapha_ at one drachma one obol. Another in Vienna[2074]: [ΚΡΑΤΕΡΕ[Σ] : [Π]Ι : ΤΙΜΕ : κρατῆρες ἑξ τιμὴ τέσσαρες (4 _dr._) ͰͰͰͰ] [ΒΑΘΕΑ : ΔΔ : ΤΙΜΕ : ͰΙ] βαθέα εἰκοσι τιμὴ ͰΙ (1 _dr._ 1 _ob._) ..[ΟΞΙΔΕ[Σ] : Δ] ὀξιδες δέκα is to the same effect as the two preceding. On a hydria at Petersburg[2075] we find: [ΥΔΤΡΙΔΡΑΧΠΟΙ ΑΝ] ὑδ(ρίαι) τρ(ε)ῖ(ς) δραχ(μῶν) π(έντε) ὀ(βόλου) ἑνός or three hydriae worth five drachmae one obol. The last example that need be mentioned is from a vase at Berlin[2076]: [Α] · ΛΥΔΙΑ ΜΕΙΩ : Ι : Ε : ΛΕΠΑΣΤΙΔΕΣ : Κ : Ι ὠά(?)· Λύδια με(ί)ξω ιέ λεπαστίδες κξ’ Here the letters probably stand for numerals of the ordinary kind, denoting the numbers of the batch (ιε’ = 15, κξ’ = 27). The form of the letters in all these cases is that of the fifth century. In the case of the second, third, and fourth examples given, it will be noted that the shape of the vase itself corresponds with the first item. Jahn and Letronne originally held the view that these marks were made by the potter on the feet of the vases _before_ they were attached to their respective bodies.[2077] Schöne, in the light of the examples already quoted, makes the ingenious suggestion that each list represents a different “set” of so many vases of different forms, and used for different purposes, sold together in a batch, like a modern “dinner-set” or “toilet-set” of china. Thus we have in our fourth example a set of six mixing-bowls at four drachmae (3_s._) apiece, ten wine-glasses at (probably) three obols or 4½_d._ apiece, and twenty cups or ladles at about 10½_d._ apiece. Some of the shorter inscriptions also throw light on the prices at which different vases were sold. For instance, 15[123]ΛΗΚV : ΛΔ : ΛΗ would denote thirty-four lekythi for thirty-seven obols, or roughly 1½_d._ apiece; 15[121]ΛΗΚV : ΙΓ : ΙΑ thirteen lekythi for eleven obols, at a slightly lower price.[2078] Aristophanes[2079] tells us that one obol would purchase quite a fine lekythos, just as elsewhere[2080] he mentions three drachmae as the cost of a κάδος or cask. This latter statement is borne out by the inscription on a vase, [[Π]·ΚΑΔΙΑ·ΔΙΙ], or five κάδια value twelve drachmae, _i.e._ at about 2½ _dr._ apiece.[2081] An inscription quoted below shows that the owner of a cup valued it at one drachma. Other examples of the same kind are collected by Schöne. The cup from Cerigo in the British Museum, on which is incised [[Ͱ]ΕΜΙΚΟΤVΛΙΟΝ] (ἡμικοτύλιον)[2082] does not strictly come into this category, but may be mentioned as having an inscription of the same class. (3) Inscriptions incised by the owner, and subsequently to the completion of the vase. These usually take the form of the word [ΕΙΜΙ] ([ΕΜΙ]), with the owner’s name in the genitive, as [ΑΣΤΥΟΞΙΔΑ ΗΜΙ] (“I am Idamenes’”), or [ΑΣΤΥΟΞΙΔΑ ΗΜΙ] (“I am Astyochidas’”), on two B.F. cups from Rhodes.[2083] Sometimes this appears in an extended and metrical form, as on another B.F. kylix from the same site: [ΦΙΛΤΟΣΗΜΙΤΑΣΚΑΛΑΣΑΚΥΛΙΞΣΑΠΟΙΚΙΛΑ] Φιλτῶς ἠμὶ τᾶς καλᾶς ἁ κύλιξ ἁ ποικίλα “I am the painted cup of the fair Philto.”[2084] Another metrical inscription runs: Κηφισοφῶντος ἡ κύλιξ· ἐὰν δέ τις κατάξη δραχμὴν ἀποτείσει· δῶρον ὄν παρὰ Ξενο.... “I am the cup of Kephisophon; if any one breaks me, let him pay a drachma; the gift of Xeno(krates).”[2085] A yet more remarkable example is on an early lekythos from Cumae in the British Museum,[2086] which, in the manner favoured by modern schoolboys, invokes an imprecation on the head of a thief: [Illustration: FIG. 171.] Ταταίης ἐμὶ λήϙυθος ὃς δ’ ἄν με κλέφσῃ θυφλὸς ἔσται “I am Tataie’s oil-flask, and he shall be struck blind who steals me.” Others, again, record the gift of the vase, as: “Epainetos gave me to Charopos”[2087]; [ΤΕΝΔΙ[Σ]ΟΙ ΘΟΔΕΜΟ[Σ] ΔΙΔΟ[Σ]Ι[:]] “Lo, this Thoudemos gives to thee.”[2088] A boat-shaped vase (_kymbion_) in the British Museum has incised on it the exhortation [[Π]ΡΟ]Π]ΙΝΕ ΜΗ ΚΑΤΘΗΣ], “Drink, do not lay me down.”[2089] The owner’s name is found in the nominative on a vase from Carthage at Naples: [ΧΑΡΜΙΝΟΣ] [ΘΕΟΦΑΜΙΔΑ] [ΚΩΙΟΣ], “Charminos, son of Theophamidas, a Coan”[2090]; similarly in the genitive with the omission of εἰμί: [ΑΡΙϹΤΑΡΧΟ] [ΑΡΙΣΤΩΝΟϹ], Ἀριστάρχου Ἀρίστωνος; [ΑΛΕΞΙΔΑΜΩ] Ἀλεξιδάμου.[2091] Under the same heading comes the class of votive or dedicatory inscriptions, found in such large numbers on the pottery of certain temple-sites, such as that of Aphrodite at Naukratis,[2092] and that of the Kabeiri at Thebes.[2093] The usual formula at Naukratis is ὁ δεῖνα ἀνέθηκε τῇ Ἀφροδίτη (or τῷ Ἀπόλλωνι)[2094]; but sometimes we find the formula Ἀπόλλωνος εἰμί, where the god as the recipient of the gift is regarded as the owner. [Illustration: FIG. 172.] One of the most interesting, and certainly the most ancient, of all incised inscriptions on Greek vases is that engraved on a jug of “Dipylon” ware found at Athens in 1880.[2095] It runs: ὃς νῦν ὀρχηστῶν παντων ἀταλώτατα παίζει, τῦυ τόδε.... “He who now sports most delicately of all the dancers,” etc. Though probably not contemporary with this eighth-century vase, it is still of great antiquity, and the earliest Athenian inscription known. In studying these _graffiti_, it must always be borne in mind that they lend themselves easily to forgery, and that many are open to grave suspicion. Instances of these doubtful inscriptions are the Kleomenes vase in the Louvre[2096] and a late vase signed by Statios in the British Museum (F 594). * * * * * The =painted inscriptions= are practically limited to a period extending over two centuries, from the time at which the primitive methods of painting were slowly emerging into the black-figured style, down to the finest stage of red-figure vases. Rare at first, they rapidly spring into popularity, being constantly found on the sixth-century fabrics; but throughout the red-figure period they gradually become rarer and rarer, until they drop out almost entirely. In the vases of the Decadence they have for the most part fallen into disuse; at any rate, they are comparatively scarce. Some of the latest inscriptions are in the Oscan and Latin languages, showing the increasing influence of the Romans over Southern Italy, and especially Campania. The inscriptions always follow the laws of palaeography of the region and period to which they belong. Generally speaking, it may be said that they have some reference to the design painted on the vase; at least, the majority are explanatory of the subject represented. Sometimes not only is every figure accompanied by its name, but even animals and inanimate objects, instances of which are given below. On the François vase there are no less than 115 such inscriptions. In almost all cases we can be certain that they are original, and contemporaneous with the vase itself. The explanatory inscriptions are generally small in size, the letters averaging one-eighth of an inch in height. On B.F. vases they are painted in black; on R.F. vases of the “severe” style, in purple on the black ground, or in black on the red portions; on later R.F. vases, in white. There is no rule for their position, or indeed for their presence; but, as a general rule, it may be said that they are oftener found on the finer and larger vases, and that they are placed in close juxtaposition to the figures to which they refer. The direction in which they are written may be either from left to right or right to left (as generally on Corinthian or Chalcidian vases); on the Panathenaic amphorae are the only known examples of κιονηδόν inscriptions, in which the letters are placed vertically in relation to each other. They are occasionally found on the objects depicted, as on stelae or lavers (see pp. 260, 272), on shields,[2097] or even on the figures themselves.[2098] Signatures of artists are occasionally found on the handle or foot of a vase.[2099] Kretschmer (p. 5) illustrates the practice of employing inscriptions on vases from the art of the Semitic nations. He instances clay vases from Cyprus with painted Phoenician inscriptions,[2100] for which the same pigment is used as for the decoration of the vases themselves. But none of these are likely to be earlier than the first Greek inscriptions, and it is more than probable that the Cypriote Phoenicians borrowed the practice from the Greeks. In order, therefore, to obtain information as to the date of these painted inscriptions, we are entirely dependent upon internal evidence. The importance of these inscriptions may, perhaps, be best realised when it is pointed out that they are one of the chief guides to the age of the vases, and have contributed more than any other feature to the establishment of a scientific classification of the earlier fabrics, as will be fully indicated in the succeeding account. The Greek alphabet, as is well known, is derived from the Phoenician, and this is attested not only by tradition, but by the known existing forms of the latter, the signs being twenty-two in number. The invention of the two double letters, and of the long η and ω, which are purely Greek, was attributed by popular tradition to various personages without any authority. With the question of the introduction of writing into Greece this is not the place to deal. Recent discoveries, especially in Crete, have greatly modified all preconceived notions on the subject, and for the present we are only immediately concerned with the earliest use of the Greek alphabet, as we know it. This can be traced as far back as the seventh century B.C. on various grounds, and in all probability the traditional view which placed its