[Property] of Artemidore

 

The cup is inscribed by an assured hand and is marked as property of a woman Artemidore. Drinking vessels much less commonly bear women's names than men's, but female names do occur. We cannot tell from the graffito whether Artemidore was literate and inscribed her cup or it was done for her. Her ownership of the cup also does not give a safe indication of her status. Was she a hetaira? Or is it a cup that would have been used in a female thiasos in the context of some cult festivities, for instance, in honour of Dionysos or Demeter? We may compare a fragment of a cup (kylix?) of V century BCE from Olbia, with graffito outside along the rim (Ол. 1257): [Ἀρτ]εμιδώρη (Tolstoy no. 43). The name in its Ionic form is not widely attested at all: in addition to the one from Olbia, there is one in Pantikapaion, IV cent. BCE (CIRB 168), another in Hermonassa (Taman), widely dated ca. 400-250 BCE, and another late at Ephesos (Ephesos 2178: Funerary inscription for Artemidore and Metrad[ore]; imperial; (FiE IV 2 no. 87; *IEph 4287.) There is also an Artemidora at Chersonesos, III century BCE: [Ἀρ]τ̣εμιδώρ̣[α] | [Παρ]θ̣ενίου | [— —ω]νος | [γυ]ν̣ά (III 224; NEPKh II 181)