History of Ancient Pottery: Greek, Etruscan, and Roman....

In view of the palaeographical importance of these inscriptions, it may be worth while to dwell briefly on their peculiarities. The dialect is of course Doric, and consequently the names often differ widely from the forms to which we are accustomed; and this is increased by divergencies of spelling, which produce many anomalous results. For instance, () (Κεσάνδρα) appears for Kassandra on a vase in the Louvre.[2127] ΑΕ is used for ΑΙ, as in (Ἀέθων = Αἴθων) on the Chares pyxis, and in (Περαεόθεν for Πε(ι)ραιόθεν) on the pinax already quoted. A nasal is dropped before a consonant, as in the names of Amphiaraos () and Amphitrite () The digamma lingers as a medial (more rarely as initial) in many words, such as ϝαχύς, Δαμοϝάνασσα, Ποτειδαϝων, and Διδαίϝων; its written form is 15Ϝ or 15ϝ The use of for the rough breathing is invariable.[2128]

One or two vases have been recognised as of Sicyonian fabric by the use in inscriptions of the unique 15E for Ε, peculiar to that place (Vol. I. p. 321). The only certain example, however, is a krater in Berlin (Cat. 1147), with the names of Achilles () and Memnon (). It may also be noted that an Athenian sixth-century vase, signed by Exekias, has a Sicyonian inscription incised upon it by its owner[2129]:

Boeotian vases never attained to the importance of the Corinthian fabrics, though, on the other hand, the manufacture lasted longer; but there are several instances of early signed vases from this district. Two, of which one is in the British Museum, are by Gamedes, the others by Theozotos, Gryton, Iphitadas, Mnasalkes, and Menaidas.[2130] They are recognised as Boeotian by the use of typical letters, as well as by origin, style, and dialect; such are the for A, for Χ, and so on. There is also a fifth-century vase with the Boeotian alphabet.[2131] The Kabeirion vases have inscriptions in the local alphabet, with a few exceptions, which are Ionic.[2132]

A unique vase, from the epigraphical point of view, is E 732 in the Louvre, found at Cervetri, to which allusion has been made elsewhere (Vol. I. p. 357, and see Fig. 111). It bears eleven names (of gods and giants) in an alphabet which has been recognised as Ionian, and is according to Kretschmer most probably that of the island of Keos. The great uncertainty as to the Ε sounds presented by this vase finds parallels in the stone inscriptions found on that island, while in the use of Β for Ϲ (the older form of that letter), the four-stroke and , with a central dot, this attribution finds further support. The only other islands that would fit the conditions are Naxos and Amorgos. As instances of the confused use of Ε, we have for Ζεύς, but for Πολυβώτη[ς, while again Ἐφιάλτης appears as ! But this confusion does not occur in Naxos or Amorgos.

Other vases are undoubtedly of Ionic origin, but their actual home is uncertain; they are usually assigned to the coast of Asia Minor. For some reason, however, it is very rare for these vases to bear inscriptions; in all the numerous instances now collected, only some half-dozen with inscriptions can be found.[2133] One of these is the well-known Würzburg kylix with Phineus and the Harpies (see Vol. I. p. 357); another is a vase from Vulci, published by Gerhard,[2134] which has since disappeared. On both of these we find the characteristic Ionic letters Ω for ω, Η for η, Χ for χ, Λ for λ, and with four strokes. Both vases are of the sixth century, and other details attest their Ionic origin.

We now come to a very important but somewhat puzzling class of inscriptions, those in the Chalcidian alphabet.[2135] The number of these is hardly more than a dozen, but such as they are they have enabled archaeologists to establish a Chalcidian school of painting by comparisons with other uninscribed vases. In all cases the inscriptions relate exclusively to the figures in the designs. Among the characteristic Chalcidian letters are the Ϙ for Κ, as in (Κλύτιος); the curved Ϲ for Γ, as in (Γαρυϝόνες=Γηρυόνης); for Λ and for Χ, as in ; (Ἀχιλλεύς); for , as in (Ξάνθος); and the abnormal form of the digamma , as in (Ϝαχύς). is represented by in one instance ( = Μ<π>όψος).

Kretschmer has compiled a list of twelve vases with inscriptions in this alphabet, to which one or two may be added, but for a fuller treatment of the questions involved in studying this group the reader is referred to Chapter VII. This, however, may be a more suitable place for a few remarks relating to the inscriptions alone.

In one or two instances the dialect alone is peculiarly Chalcidian, as the characteristic letters happen to be wanting. In some instances, as Kretschmer points out, the Aeolic fondness for the vowel υ is to be traced, as in , for Κύκνος, which finds parallels in the Chalcidian colony of Cumae, and probably influenced the Latin language through that means. Hence, too, the preference for the Q sound of the Ϙ, as in English and other languages when υ is preceded by a guttural. On the British Museum Geryon vase (B 155) there is a curious mixture of dialect in the forms Γαρυόνης, Νηίδες.

It must be borne in mind, in speaking of the Chalcidian alphabet, that it really extended over a wide area, including not only Chalkis in Euboea, but Chalkidike in Northern Greece, and the colonies on the coast of Italy, such as Cumae, and this may partly account for the mixed character of the dialect on some of these Chalcidian vases. But although an attempt has been made to connect them with Cumae, it cannot be said at present that any certainty has been attained as to the place of their manufacture.

Though not belonging to the Chalcidian group, there is a vase which must be mentioned here, on account of its inscription, which is partly in the alphabet of the Chalcidian colonies. The vase is of the “Proto-Corinthian” class (see Vol. I. p. 308), and dates about 700–650 B.C.; it bears the name of the maker, Pyrrhos[2136]: