II.1.1 39. Incertum (dedication or ownership?) inscription, late Archaic.
Monument
Type
Wall fragment.
Material
Clay.
Dimensions (cm)
H.6.5, W.6.0, Th., Diam..
Additional description
Closed vessel, North Ionia, late Archaic.
Find place
Berezan.
Find context
Western sector, square 74a, depression in the ground.
Find circumstances
Found in 1975, excavations of L.V. Kopeykina.
Modern location
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.
Institution and inventory
The State Hermitage Museum, Б.75.148.
Autopsy
August 2016.
Epigraphic field
Position
Wall, exterior. Originally inscribed on complete vessel.
Lettering
Graffito.
Letterheights (cm)
0.8-1
Text
Category
Incertum (dedication or ownership?)
Date
Late Archaic.
Dating criteria
Ceramic date.
<div type="edition" xml:lang="grc">
<ab>
<lb n="1"/>Ρυνδα<gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>
<lb n="2"/><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>Χ̣<gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/>
</ab>
</div>
Apparatus criticus
Translation
Commentary
Ρυνδα[- -] is clear in the top line, and there is a second line with a trace of a diagonal of either Χ̣ or retrograde Σ̣. Rhynda- is the beginning of either a personal name or potamonym. This graffito was published by Jury Vinogradov in Arkheolohiia (1994.2) pp. 146-147, with proposed reading Ῥύνδα[ξ] or Ῥύνδα[κος] (SEG 44.653, ca. 550-525 BC), and he also drew attention (pp. 144-148) to an honorific inscription from Olbia Pontica ca. 100-50 BCE (IOSPE I² 207, SEG 44.656) where the city of Ἀπολλωνιᾶται πρὸς Ῥύνδακον (Apollonia ad Rhyndacum) is mentioned (see https://pleiades.stoa.org/places/511151). Outside the Northern Black Sea region, there are attestations of the name Rhyndax in Attica in the IV century (IG II² 9096; SEG 24:223; SEG 35:134); and in Euboea (IG XII,9 978). I am inlined to see a personal name derived from the potamonym in our graffito.
Ῥύνδακος was the ancient Greek name of the river on the border between Mysia and Bithynia; today it is called Mustafakemalpaşa river, a tributary of Simav river, which flows into the Sea of Marmara. At least two ancient settlements are known in epigraphic sources as located near the river Ῥύνδακος: Ἀρταίο τεῖχος ἐπὶ το͂ι Ῥύνδακι is listed in Athenian Tribute Lists (IG I³ 71, Col. III, line 115, 425/4 B.C.E. and IG I³ 77, Col. IV, lines 4-5, 422/1 B.C.E.). Besides the above mentioned inscription from Olbia, the demos of Ἀπολλωνιᾶται πρὸς Ῥύνδακον is attested honouring the city of Miletos (Milet I 3, 155); the city also features in several inscriptions of the Roman period.