To Write and to Paint: More Early Iron Age Potters′ Marks in the Aegean
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John K. Papadopoulos
Abstract
In 1994 I published a paper on Protogeometric and Geometric potters′ marks in Greece, which, up to that time, were largely overlooked. Since then not only has the number of potters′ marks-symbols inscribed or painted prior to firing- more than doubled, from 70 to at least 172, but so too the number of postfiring marks, including the new corpus from the “Ypogeio” at Methone. The first part of this paper assembles and discusses the growing number of Early Iron Age potters′ marks that have come to light since 1994 known to me. The fact that the new corpus includes no fewer than nine Late Geometric alphabetic inscriptions from Eretria and Pithekoussai painted before firing indicates that potters were among the earliest literate population of the 8th century BCE. The remainder of the paper focuses on what bearing these early potters’ marks had on the issue of literacy. The paper also looks at the similarity of the vowels in early Greek and Phrygian, together with the Phoenician symbols from which they were derived, the testimony of Herodotus, and argues that the place of the adoption and adaptation of the Phoenician alphabet must be imagined as one where not only Greeks and Phoenicians interacted, but also Phrygians. That place can only have been the Aegean.
Abstract
In 1994 I published a paper on Protogeometric and Geometric potters′ marks in Greece, which, up to that time, were largely overlooked. Since then not only has the number of potters′ marks-symbols inscribed or painted prior to firing- more than doubled, from 70 to at least 172, but so too the number of postfiring marks, including the new corpus from the “Ypogeio” at Methone. The first part of this paper assembles and discusses the growing number of Early Iron Age potters′ marks that have come to light since 1994 known to me. The fact that the new corpus includes no fewer than nine Late Geometric alphabetic inscriptions from Eretria and Pithekoussai painted before firing indicates that potters were among the earliest literate population of the 8th century BCE. The remainder of the paper focuses on what bearing these early potters’ marks had on the issue of literacy. The paper also looks at the similarity of the vowels in early Greek and Phrygian, together with the Phoenician symbols from which they were derived, the testimony of Herodotus, and argues that the place of the adoption and adaptation of the Phoenician alphabet must be imagined as one where not only Greeks and Phoenicians interacted, but also Phrygians. That place can only have been the Aegean.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Table of Contents IX
- Introduction 1
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Part I: Graphê and Archaeology
- Transport Amphorae from Methone: An Interdisciplinary Study of Production and Trade ca. 700 BCE 9
- The Archaeological Background of the Earliest Graffiti and Finds from Methone 20
- To Write and to Paint: More Early Iron Age Potters′ Marks in the Aegean 36
- Counting on Pots? Reflections on Numerical Notations in Early Iron Age Greece 105
- Texts and Amphoras in the Methone “Ypogeio” 123
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Part II: Graphê, Alphabet, Dialect, and Language
- From Gabii and Gordion to Eretria and Methone: the Rise of the Greek Alphabet 135
- Alphabets and Dialects in the Euboean Colonies of Sicily and Magna Graecia or What Could Have Happened in Methone 165
- Alphabet and Phonology at Methone: Beginning a Typology of Methone Alphabetic Symbols and an Alternative Hypothesis for Reading Hακεσάνδρō 182
- Thoughts on the Initial Aspiration of HAKEΣANΔPO 219
- The Impact of Late Geometric Greek Inscriptions from Methone on Understanding the Development of Early Euboean Alphabet 232
- Methone of Pieria: a Reassessment of Epigraphical Evidence (with a Special Attention to Pleonastic Sigma) 242
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Part III: Graphê and Culture
- Local ‘Literacies’ in the Making: Early Alphabetic Writing and Modern Literacy Theories 261
- Form Follows Function? Toward an Aesthetics of Early Greek Inscriptions at Methone 285
- Wine and the Early History of the Greek Alphabet 309
- Bibliography and Abbreviations 329
- Notes on Contributors 360
- General Index 365
- Index Locorum 374
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Preface V
- Table of Contents IX
- Introduction 1
-
Part I: Graphê and Archaeology
- Transport Amphorae from Methone: An Interdisciplinary Study of Production and Trade ca. 700 BCE 9
- The Archaeological Background of the Earliest Graffiti and Finds from Methone 20
- To Write and to Paint: More Early Iron Age Potters′ Marks in the Aegean 36
- Counting on Pots? Reflections on Numerical Notations in Early Iron Age Greece 105
- Texts and Amphoras in the Methone “Ypogeio” 123
-
Part II: Graphê, Alphabet, Dialect, and Language
- From Gabii and Gordion to Eretria and Methone: the Rise of the Greek Alphabet 135
- Alphabets and Dialects in the Euboean Colonies of Sicily and Magna Graecia or What Could Have Happened in Methone 165
- Alphabet and Phonology at Methone: Beginning a Typology of Methone Alphabetic Symbols and an Alternative Hypothesis for Reading Hακεσάνδρō 182
- Thoughts on the Initial Aspiration of HAKEΣANΔPO 219
- The Impact of Late Geometric Greek Inscriptions from Methone on Understanding the Development of Early Euboean Alphabet 232
- Methone of Pieria: a Reassessment of Epigraphical Evidence (with a Special Attention to Pleonastic Sigma) 242
-
Part III: Graphê and Culture
- Local ‘Literacies’ in the Making: Early Alphabetic Writing and Modern Literacy Theories 261
- Form Follows Function? Toward an Aesthetics of Early Greek Inscriptions at Methone 285
- Wine and the Early History of the Greek Alphabet 309
- Bibliography and Abbreviations 329
- Notes on Contributors 360
- General Index 365
- Index Locorum 374
