According to ancient sources, Methone in Pieria was established by Euboean colonists from Eretria in 733/2 BC. Excavation (ongoing since 2003-04) of a rectangular pit, apparently used as an apothetes, on top of the lower eastern hill, revealed a huge quantity of pots, potsherds, and other remnants of the activities of nearby workshops. 191 of these pots and potsherds bear inscriptions, graffiti/dipinti, and (trade)marks, the majority of which (157) date to c. 700 BC. The great majority, 166 pots and potsherds (amphorae and sympotic vessels), bear non-alphabetic symbols, marks, graffiti and very few dipinti, most probably signs of ownership and/or trading. Of the remaining 25 amphorae and sympotic vessels, 18 bear alphabetic symbols, marks, and graffiti, which again probably denote ownership and/or trading activities, and seven bear complete or fragmentary inscriptions. This unique and unexpected group from Methone should be added to the chronologically comparable groups from Lefkandi, Eretria, Oropos and Thebes, from Hymettos and Attica, from Pithekoussai and Cumae, and especially from Kommos in south Crete, where the same variety of vessel provenance and incised inscriptions, symbols, and (trade)marks is clearly evident. The new Methone group presents evidence for: trading and economic activities during the colonization period; the early phase of the alphabet and its scripts and techniques, the Greek language and dialects, and competence in writing in commercial and sympotic contexts; and, finally, for literary beginnings in Greece, which soon afterwards emerge with Archilochos’ Panhellenes at Thasos.

The past two decades have seen an increase in the interest in historic graffiti in general, and late antique graffiti in specific. Nevertheless, the publication of the graffiti itself has been disparate, and there has been no attempt to collate and present graffiti from the period of 300-700 CE in one volume. Although an exhaustive overview of all late antique graffiti is not possible, this thesis presents the first collection of interregional late antique graffiti carved upon the architecture of public spaces in the eastern Mediterranean, accompanied by an analysis of these texts and images. Thematically, this thesis follows two key strands. The first strand approaches graffiti from a personal standpoint, establishing the commemorative and religious roles graffiti held for the late antique individual. The second strand examines graffiti from a spatial perspective, physically locating graffiti within the urban landscape of the eastern Mediterranean, and examining the interplay between informal inscriptions and their tangible environment. This section also considers graffiti in relation to its epigraphic environment, and the direct interaction between graffiti and formal visual culture of antiquity. This thesis concludes by examining the universalities and distinctions which exist in the late antique graffiti tradition, with focus on how local practices were informed by broad trends (and vice versa).

The definitive version of this article is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com. Since 1994 almost 2000 ancient rupestral engravings, both verbal and pictorial, have been discovered in southern Attica. These include about 200 depictions of warships, merchantmen, and smaller vessels of various types. These engravings are dated to the 6th century BC on the basis of their style and the formal characteristics of their associated inscriptions. They contain the earliest known labeled images of the Greek ship types triakonter, pentekonter, and holkas as well as of two-masted merchantmen, and possibly of Greek triremes. They also include the earliest images of the three-pronged ram and of the spur of a merchantman being used as a cutwater.

Inscriptions are a major feature of the Greek and Roman worlds, as inhabitants around the Mediterranean chose to commit text to stone and other materials. How did the epigraphic habit vary across time and space? Once adopted, how was the epigraphic habit variously expressed? The chapters of this volume analyze the epigraphic cultures of regions, cities, and communities through both large-scale analyses and detailed studies. From curse tablets in Britain to multilingual communities in Judaea-Palestine, from Greece to Rome to the Black Sea, and across nearly a millennium, the epigraphic outputs of cities and individuals underscore a collective understanding of the value of inscribed texts.

Full text and volume available here: https://brill.com/display/title/69091?language=en

The group of rock-cut graffiti from Thasos provides relevant information regarding phonetics, morphology or syntax of the Ionian spoken in the island and shows some instances of ephemeral words, that is, some singularities in vocabulary. It also has the advantage of being a homogeneous and closed group where it is possible to venture who their authors and addressees were.

The Hellenistic coinage of Histria (Istros), Callatis and Tomis circumscribes the types issued by the local workshops as a sign of the political and economical authority of these West-Pontic colonies during this chronological framework. The main purpose of these monetary issues was to be used as payment means, at an imposed value, validated on the local market and inside the chora, and sometimes on larger geographic areas as well. At the same time the coins represent items of propaganda and social display, their iconography corresponding to deities significant both inside the area controlled or influenced by the cities and beyond. Also, the gods’ presence on the coins, accompanied on the reverse by their characteristic attributes, is just another way of paying them homage. During the Hellenistic times, in general, such representations are characterised by expressivity and artistic quality. The presence of specific deities on coinage is dictated by religious criteria (each colony favouring various cults and gods), but also by the historical and military contexts which influence directly the situation of the analysed cities, inclusively from the point of view of their economical and commercial life. This paper focuses on several new observations concerning relevant aspects of the West-Pontic monetary iconography during the Hellenistic period until the complete instauration of the Roman authority in Dobrudja.