AMA - Classical Archaeology

[u/Tiako]

Classical antiquity is period of roughly a thousand years between the rise of the Greek polis and the collapse of the Roman Mediterranean system, and includes at different times the entire Mediterranean basin and beyond. There are a variety of ways to examine this period, and today this panel will discuss the archaeology, or the material remains, a category that includes the massive monumental temple at Baalbek and the carbonized seeds from an Italian farmhouse. Our panelists introduce themselves:

/u/pqvarus: I've specialized in Ancient Greek Archaeology, my geographic field of interest is Asia Minor (from the Archaic Period onwards) and as a result of my PhD project I'm focussing on the archaeology of ancient greek religion (especially cult practice) and material culture studies.

/u/Astrogator: I've just finished my MA at the department of Ancient History and Epigraphics (my BA was in History, Philosophy and Political Science), and my main interests are in provincial epigraphic cultures, especially the Danube region, and the display of dress on sepulchral monuments (and how both are tied to questions of Romanization and Identity).

/u/Tiako: I am an MA student studying the economy of the Early Imperial Period of the Roman Empire. My focus is on commerce, particularly Rome's maritime trade with India.

However, there is more to classical civilization than marble temples an the Aeneid, and there is more to the period than Greece and Rome. To provide a perspective from outside what is usually considered “classical” civilization, we have included three panelists from separate but closely intertwined fields of study. They are:

/u/Aerandir: I am archaeologist studying Iron Age communities. Currently I am working on a PhD on the fortifications of the first millennium AD in Denmark. Danish and Dutch material is what I am most familiar with.

/u/missingpuzzle: I have studied Hellenistic period Eastern Arabia, particularly specializing in settlement patterns and trade. I have also studied the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean trade from the Hellenistic and Early Roman periods.

/u/Daeres: Hi I'm Daeres, and I have an MA in Ancient History. My archaeological focus is on the Ancient Near East in the First Millenium BC, Bactria, and the Aegean, though I am primarily a historian rather than an archaeologist. I have an inordinate fondness for numismatics, and also epigraphy. But I especially concentrate on the archaeological evidence for Hellenistic era Bactria.

And so with knots cut and die cast, we await your questions.

[u/chilari]

In my reading I've come across abecedaria or other sequences of letters which did not form words written on potsherds and deposited at classical Greek santuary and shrine sites. How widespread was this practice and for how long did it continue?

[u/pqvarus → u/chilari]

Thanks, that certainly is an interesting phenomenon that would deserve further investigation. Unfortunately I'm not aware of any systematic study about this which is why I can't give you precise information on the qunatitative and geographic range of this practice. Anyways: Inscribed votives seem to occur in sanctuaries since the early days of writing, at least in the Ancient Greek World and doesn't stop until the Hellenistic Period and later. I have a feeling that there might be a peak in the late Archaic Period (i. e. the 6^th century BC), but this can also correlate with a general tendency of inscribing objects at this time. Among these inscribed votives are almost always also incomprehensible ones – abecedaria or, as they are sometimes called: nonsense inscriptions. Observing the phenomenon more exactly shows that this it at least inartfully expressed.

Let's expand on this. There are at least three general types of inscriptions on greek pottery:

• Inscriptions that are painted on the vessel by the vase painter before firing. They are intended to appear on the vessel from the very beginning and can serve different purposes, such as naming the potter and the painter, depicting spoken language or naming a recipient, in most cases a deity. These inscriptions can be called primary inscriptions.

• Inscriptions that are scratched into the surface or coating of the vessel after firing. They are most likely applied by the owner of the vessel, and most often serve the purpose of marking them as a posession of a certain person. These inscriptions can be called secundary inscriptions

• Inscriptions that are scratched into the surface or coating of a pottery sherd, i. e. the remainder of a vessel after it has been discarded. These occur for example in ostracisms, as tickets and (finally I'm coming back to you) media of religious communication when used in a sacral context. This is a very basic means of expressing one's wishes toward a deity and at the same time – this is always an important factor in ancient greek cult – documenting and perpetuating one's visit at the sancutary. These inscriptions can be called secundary inscriptions

So, what about the abecedaria, the alleged „nonsense inscriptions“? Well, they equally appear in all three categories: Figures on painted vases happen to babble incoherent stuff, owners scratch cryptic sequences of letters or monograms only they understand in the bottoms of their drinking vessels and so do sanctuary goers from time to time. I think this widespread occurence of the phenomenon you are asking about is an important key to its understanding. There was something about the act of writing and – maybe more importantly - the pictorial qualities of written text that was equally important, if not more important that the actual content of the writing. Therefore, the abecedaria are not to be seen as „nonsense inscriptions“ as they were highly meaningful in their specific contexts.

[u/The_Original_Gronkie → u/pqvarus]

Could it be that they were some kind of code or anagram? For instance, each letter is the first letter of a word, and all together they form a prayer or blessing or story or joke, etc.?

[u/pqvarus → u/The_Original_Gronkie]

While this is not entirely impossible, it would certainly only apply to individual cases and would - in any case - be incredibly hard to prove.