The Phiale of Megara is an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

silver phiale, a libation vessel, found in a tomb in

Upper Macedonia Upper Macedonia ( Greek: Ἄνω Μακεδονία, ''Ánō Makedonía'') is a geographical and tribal term to describe the upper/western of the two parts in which, together with Lower Macedonia, the ancient kingdom of Macedon was roughly divi ...

near present-day

Kozani Kozani (, ) is a town in northern Greece, capital of Kozani (regional unit), Kozani regional unit and of Western Macedonia. It is located in the western part of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, in the northern part of the Aliakmonas, Aliakmonas riv ...

. Dated form BC, it bears a one-line inscription in

Doric Greek Doric or Dorian (), also known as West Greek, was a group of Ancient Greek dialects; its Variety (linguistics), varieties are divided into the Doric proper and Northwest Doric subgroups. Doric was spoken in a vast area, including northern Greec ...

, which reads "sacred to the

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

Megara Megara (; , ) is a historic town and a municipality in West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being taken ...

" (, ).Poinikastas, database of Greek inscriptions
/ref> Today it is kept in the Archaeological Museum of Kozani, in northwestern

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Description

On the basis of the reference to

and its well-known sanctuary of

, its provenance is usually assumed to be of that city, situated in southern Greece, and it is dated to the early part of the fifth century. Among the characteristics of its writing system is an archaic, B-like glyph shape for the letter E (

epsilon Epsilon (, ; uppercase , lowercase or ; ) is the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet, corresponding phonetically to a mid front unrounded vowel or . In the system of Greek numerals it also has the value five. It was derived from the Phoenic ...

), a feature found regularly in early inscriptions from Megara and nearby

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

. However, James L. O'Neil, following Hammond and Griffith, conjectures that the inscription could also have been written locally in

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

. In this case, it would constitute the earliest known example of a local Greek dialect written in Macedonia, and would confirm the hypothesis―derived from another archaeological find, the

Pella curse tablet The Pella curse tablet is a text written in a distinct Doric Greek idiom, found in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedon, in 1986. Ιt contains a curse or magic spell (, '' katadesmos'') inscribed on a lead scroll, dated to the first half of the ...

―that Macedonian Greek was of Doric nature. O'Neil argues that there is evidence that a place in Macedonia was also called Megara, something that is also supported by

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

's records,Plutarch ''Pyrros'' 2,2
/ref> and that the inscription fails to display the specifically Megarian archaic shape of Epsilon. However, the notes by L. H. Jefferey for ''LSAG'' do show just this archaic Megarian form. Of the linguistic forms in the inscription, the word ἰαρά ('sacred') can be identified unambiguously as Doric. The archaic form of the name of the Goddess Athena, Ἀθαναία(ς), is less distinctive and could occur in any dialect except Ionic, while the genitive article form τᾶς points to any dialect except Ionic and

Attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building. It is also known as a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because they fill the space between the ceiling of a building's t ...

. The form of the name Megara, with initial ''mh-'', reflects its etymological origin *''sm-'' and is found frequently in inscriptions from Megara but also elsewhere.

References

Sources

* *

External links

* *
Photograph of the phiale (3rd from the top)
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091210214328/http://www.kozanh.gr/web/guest/amuseumkoz , date=2009-12-10 - Kozani Municipality Doric Greek inscriptions Silver objects Ancient Greek metalwork Archaeological discoveries in Macedonia (Greece) Art of ancient Macedonia

Description

See also

References

Sources

External links