Alphabet
IGCyr000700
Trismegistos ID: 738104
Source Description
Support
Fragment of crater of local ware (0.095; 0.03;0.014; diameter 0.225-0.253).
Layout
Scratched on rim.
Letters
0.003 - 0.007; archaic forms of letters: closed heta, serpentine three-strokes iota.
Place of Origin
Findspot.
Date
Probably ca. 550 B.C. (context)
Findspot
Found in 1968 at Cyrene pleiades; HGL : West of agora, House by the Propylaeum .
Last recorded Location
Seen by L. Gasperini in 1972 in Shahat : Cyrene Museum .
Present Location
Not seen by IGCyr team.
Text constituted from
Transcription from editor (CDL).
Bibliography
Gasperini, 1973-1974 Gasperini, L., 1973-1974, Alfabetario arcaico da Cirene, Archeologia classica (ArchClass)25-26, 297-302 [= , 111-118] - see in bibliography (= Gasperini, 2008 Gasperini, L., and Arnaldi, A., Marengo, S.M. (eds.), 2008, Scritti di epigrafia greca, Ichnia10, Tivoli - see in bibliography , pp. 111-118 (drawing)). Cf. D'Angelo, 2010 D'Angelo, I., 2010, Le produzioni locali di ceramica fine e di uso comune in età arcaica a Cirene dagli scavi della 'casa del Propileo', in M. Luni (ed.), Cirene e la Cirenaica nell'Antichità, Monografie di archeologia libica30, Cirene Atene d'Africa: attività delle missioni archeologiche internazionali a Cirene e in Cirenaica3, Roma, 105-115 - see in bibliography , p. 108; Dobias-Lalou, 2015 Dobias-Lalou, C., 2015, Les débuts de l'écriture en Cyrénaïque, in A. Inglese, Epigrammata 3. Saper scrivere nel Mediterraneo antico. Esiti di scrittura fra VI e IV sec. a.C., in ricordo di Mario Luni. Atti del convegno di Roma, 7-8 Novembre 2014, Tivoli, 59-80, 315-321 - see in bibliography , pp. 62-72; Marengo, 2016 Marengo, S.M., 2016, Scoperte epigrafiche a Cirene, in Rizzo, M.A., Macerata e l'archeologia in Libia. 45 anni di ricerche dell'Ateneo maceratese. Atti del Convegno Macerata, 18 marzo 2014, Monografie di archeologia libica40, Roma, 161-170 - see in bibliography ,, p. 163..
Apparatus
French translation
Alpha, bêta, gamma, delta, epsilon, digamma, zèta, hèta, thèta, iota, kappa, lambda, [mu, nu, omicron, pi, san, qoppa, rho, tau, upsilon, phi, khi].
English translation
Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, digamma, zeta, heta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, [mu, nu, omicron, pi, san, qoppa, rho, tau, upsilon, phi, chi].
Italian translation
Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, digamma, zeta, heta, theta, iota, kappa, lambda, [my, ny, omicron, pi, san, qoppa, rho, tau, ypsilon, phi, chi].
Commentary
About the fabric of the vase Gasperini, although inclined to judge it local, followed Stucchi's advice that it was Eastern, perhaps Rhodian ware. More precise information has been given as to the provenance and type of ceramics by D'Angelo, who dates it about 550 B.C. This is somewhat later than the date proposed from the lettering (first half of the sixth century B.C.) by Gasperini.
The shape of beta, differing from that in use on Thera, confirms the statement that IGCyr000300 had been written at Thera or in Cyrenaica by a Theran.
The presence of digamma in this alphabet does not imply that it was still used as a character with a phonetic value in words.
As for the eighth letter, its value should be aspirate, so that we translate heta. However, there are some clues of early psilosis in the Cyrenaean dialect, see Dobias-Lalou, 2000 Dobias-Lalou, C., 2000, Le dialecte des inscriptions grecques de Cyrène, Karthago25, Paris - see in bibliography , pp. 10-13 and 59 and Dobias-Lalou, 2015 Dobias-Lalou, C., 2015, Les débuts de l'écriture en Cyrénaïque, in A. Inglese, Epigrammata 3. Saper scrivere nel Mediterraneo antico. Esiti di scrittura fra VI e IV sec. a.C., in ricordo di Mario Luni. Atti del convegno di Roma, 7-8 Novembre 2014, Tivoli, 59-80, 315-321 - see in bibliography , pp. 74-75. This letter might thus also be considered a 'dead' one.
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