II.1.1 282. Commercial(?) notation, 3rd quarter VI century B.C.E.

Monument

Type

Fragment of base, floor and walls. 

Material

Clay. 

Dimensions (cm)

H., W., Th., Diam.7.2.

Additional description

Ionia, cup, 3rd quarter VI century B.C.E. 

Find place

Berezan. 

Find context

North sector, square VIII east of wall 5, depth down to 1.05 m. 

Find circumstances

Found in 1964, excavations of K.S. Gorbunova. 

Modern location

Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation. 

Institution and inventory

The State Hermitage Museum, Б.64.117. 

Autopsy

August 2016. 

Epigraphic field

Position

Interior, center. Originally inscribed on the whole (?) 

Lettering

Graffito. 

Letterheights (cm)

2.1

Text

Category

Commercial(?) notation. 

Date

3rd quarter VI century B.C.E. 

Dating criteria

Ceramic date. 

Edition

Diplomatic

EpiDoc (XML)

<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
   <ab>
      <lb n="1"/>
   </ab>
   </div>
 
Apparatus criticus

Translation

 

Commentary

Numerical notation? Double chi would equal 600+600 in Ionic, and 1000+1000 in Attic systems. This being a cup, the notation could not be the volume? and it could be the price of a single cup, but perhaps of a consignment of cups or of a whole china set? All of this would apply if the graffito was made on the complete cup. If made on an ostracon, it could serve as a token or label with price or other sort of calculation included in a basket or sack with dry goods. The same mark is listed as trademark in Johnston 1979, type 19B. He says (p. 2) that they are frequent on East Greek vases, but "it is not necessarily a ligature."

 

Images

 

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