Miniature amphora with inscription

The alphabet was adopted in Greece in the 8th c. BC. The available evidence suggests that initially it was used by merchants and potters. Merchants were probably responsible for bringing the new script from Phoenicia to the Aegean, while the earliest Greek alphabetic inscription have been found on ceramic vases, some of which were for commercial use.

In the earlier stages, alphabetic writing was used for diverse purposes and in very varied ways; people were still experimenting with the new technique of communication. An early feature is that objects were presumed to “talk” themselves, giving information about their history.

Such an inscription encircles the illustrated vase. It is a miniature of a well-known type of large-size commercial jar, known as “SOS amphora” (the name derives from the decoration of the neck of such amphorae). The miniature was probably used as perfume container. It has an incised inscription, which runs around the neck and continues in a second line. Η επιγραφή αναφέρει

ΦΕΡΕΚLΕΙΔΕS: ΕΔOΚΕΝ: ΜΕLΑΝΘΙΔΙ: ΜΕΜΝΗΜΑ: ΦΙLΕΜΟSΥΝΕS,

which means “Pherekleides gave it as a present to Melanthis, in memory of love”. It seems that the perfume jar was an erotic gift by Pherekleides to his beloved girl.

PUBLICATION
– Dettori E. 2017. ‘Ancora su φιλημοσύνη epigrafico’, Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 202, 118-124.