II.1.1 1. Speaking object , ca. 550 B.C.E.
Monument
Type
Oil lamp.
Material
Clay.
Dimensions (cm)
H.1.6, W., Th., Diam.9.0.
Additional description
Broken into 3 fragments, glued together; parts of the underside and wall are missing; half a spout is also missing.
Find place
Berezan, Ukraine.
Find context
Trench В8, Pit 28.
Find circumstances
Found in 1909, excavations of E.R. Stern.
Modern location
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.
Institution and inventory
The State Hermitage Museum, Б.368.
Autopsy
August 2016.
Epigraphic field
Position
On the vertical face that runs the circumference of the lamp.
Lettering
Graffito. Letters are somewhat sloppily cut and unevenly distributed; letter strokes filled with white paste.
Letterheights (cm)
0.5-1.0
Text
Category
Speaking object.
Date
Ca. 550 B.C.E.
Dating criteria
Ceramic date.
<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/>λύχνον εἰμὶ καὶ φαίνω <unclear>θ</unclear><supplied reason="lost">εοῖσ</supplied>ιν
κἀνθρώποισιν <gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="character"/>[- -]<w part="F">ως</w> <g ref="#dipunct"/>
</ab>
</div>
Apparatus criticus
ὡς : λύχνον etc. Stern; λύχνον εἰμὶ Vinogradov, Tokhtasiev; [Προμηθέ]ως Gubochkin; π̣[ρηέ]ως(?) Vinogradov; Ι̣[- 2-3 -]ως Tokhtasiev
Translation
Commentary
Since the first edition of E.R. von Stern ("Отчет о раскопках на о. Березани летом 1909 г.", ЗООИД 28, 1910, p. 88; ОАК за 1910 г., p. 108; "Graffiti", Philologus 72, 1913, p. 547), several scholars have taken ΩΣ as the start of the text: ὡς in the sense of "since, as". Yaylenko, V.P. (“Несколько ольвийских и березанских граффити,” КСИА 159 (1979):57-58, no. 11, fig. 2) and L. Dubois, IGDOlb no. 39 (Inscriptions grecques dialectales d’Olbia du Pont, Geneve 1996, pp. 80-81) translate the text as "Since I am a lamp, so I shine for gods and humans." Yuri Vinogradov (Review of M. Guarducci, L’epigrafia greca dalle origine al Tardo Impero. Roma, 1987// VDI 1991/2, 232) was the first to argue that the text began with λύχνον, although he printed dipunct as the starting mark. So it is taken by S.R. Tokhtasiev (“Граффити.” Борисфен-Березань. Начало античной эпохи в Северном Причерноморье. Каталог выставки. Государственный Эрмитаж, St. Petersburg, 2005, 141, no. 268, p. 141). In my view, the text started with the word λύχνον and ended with a dipunct, or rather, the dipunct, at the same time, marked the end and the start of the text's circular layout. Importantly, however, the text started just to the right of the spout, and as it wrapped counter-clockwise around the side of the lamp, it ran out of space, causing the last word to be split on the either side of the spout, which later broke off. Ι estimate a maximum of four lost letters before [- -]ΩΣ:
Several restorations have been proposed for the end of the line. The trace that is visible after the final nu of κἀνθρώποισιν is not a letterstroke itself, but a slip of a writing implement (this was noted by Vinogradov 1991 and is reflected in his drawing). It was also observed by me during de visu study of the lamp in 2016. Despite noting that the preserved stroke was a slip, Vinogradov did not pay attention to the direction of the slip and envisioned it as a continuation of a vertical stroke, but the slip runs parallel to the diagonal of the preceding nu, suggesting that the missing letter would have had a left diagonal stroke; thus, neither a pi (as read by Vinogradov 1991), nor an iota (as read by Tokhtasiev 2005, unless he simply meant a vertical stroke) is very likely. One possibility is a lambda, and we could perhaps restore an adverb λ̣[αμπρ]ῶς, or if it were an alpha, ἀ[γλαῶς] would fit the context, but such words would make the lamp's message rather pedestrian. Vinogradov proposed to restore π̣[ρηέ]ως(?), "gently" (from πρᾶος/πραΰς, Ion. πρηΰς), a word not attested in epic vocabulary (see below). Earlier, V.B. Gubochkin (Проблемы скифо-сарматской археологии Северного Причерноморья. Тезисы докладов конференции. Zaporizhzhia, 1989, pp. 36-38) proposed [Προμηθέ]ως, but the latter is too long and does not make good sense.
The text has been interpreted as an attempt to construct a hexameter (Yaylenko 1979, p. 57), trochaic tetrameter (Vinogradov 1991, 232), or catalectic iambic tetrameter (Dubois, IGDOlb, p. 80). Yaylenko (1979, 16, n. 32), very plausibly, saw an echo of line 8 of the Homeric Hymn to Helios (ὃς φαίνει θνητοῖσι καὶ ἀθανάτοῖσι θεοῖσιν) and of Iliad 20.64. Dubois thought that the allusion to Homeric Hymn to Helios was playful, humourous, since a humble lamp was speaking of itself in a lofty manner of the mighty Sun. I am inclined to agree with Dubois that playfulness was intended, and in light of this consideration, other possible restorations come to mind, derived from epic usage, e.g. since hymns to the gods celebrate divine κλέος, the lamp's message could underline the contrast with its own unsung utility by using the adverb ἀ̣[κλε]ῶς; or it could emphasize its own ungrudging service with ἀ̣[φθόν]ως - in other words, the juxtaposition of gods and humans seems to call for some clever contrast, or an expectation and denial of a contrast.
Dubois speculated that the metric form echoed the Ionian tradition of Hipponax. Indeed, Rix argued just that ("Ein Hipponax-Vers auf einer Tonlampe aus Olbia, Pontos?" Würzburger Jahrbücher für die Altertumswissenschaft 17 (1991), pp. 41-48, as referenced by Tokhtasiev 2005), and if something like ἀ̣[κλε]ῶς were to be restored, it would fit well with that hypothesis. The shortness of this option is also appealing in consideration of the tightness of space/suraface apparently lost. Metrical features of this text have been also discussed by M. Guarducci (Epigrafia greca III. Roma 1974, p. 346); P.A. Hansen, Carmina epigraphica graeca saeculorum VIII-V a. Chr. n., Berlin-New York 1983, no. 463); P. Friedländer, with H.B. Hoffleit (Epigrammata, Berkeley 1948, no. 177k)).
Vinogradov 1991 deduced from the text that the lamp had been used in a domestic context where it would provide light for people and household cult images; Yaylenko argued for use in a cultic setting, specifically in a synnaos shrine of multiple deities, while Stern (1910, 88), followed by Guarducci, envisioned mortuary context. The findspot does not aid us in determining the functional context of the lamp, but I see it as an item intended for household service, perhaps also, but not exclusively, at symposia, where its witty message with erudite allusions could be especially appreciated.