IThera007

Findspot and Location

  • Country: Greece
  • Region: Santorini
  • Settlement: Ancient Thera
  • Repository: Archaeological site of Ancient Thera

Support

Material: stone.
Object type: rock face.

The inscription is located in the archaeological context called 'Agora of the Gods' by the first excavators. The graffito, which is still clearly legible, is on the vertical face of a rock near the horseshoe-shaped area to the west of the temple of Apollo Carnaeus. This complex is located to the west of the temple of Apollo Carnaeus, from which it is separated by the main road.

Layout

The text, 42 cm long, is written from right to left.

Execution: chiselled.

Palaeography

Letters of the archaic alphabet of Thera: Alpha: left stroke widely extended and oblique crossbar

Omicron: smaller than the other letters, also used for /o/

Pi: hook-shape

Ny: third bar shorter and widely angled.

Provenance and Discovery

Place:Archaía Thíra (36.36349, 25.47804)

Date:Beginning of the 7th century BCE

Findspot:«Intra aedificium perantiquum, quod prope Apollinis Carnei templum meridiem fere versus situm est». Hiller, Suppl. p. 86

Coordinates:36.36199, 25.48065

Last recorded location: in situ; Last seen by A. Inglese in 2003 in situ

Edition


a
Ἀπόλο̄ν

b
[- - -]ΣΙΣ

Apparatus


a
Hiller: Ἀπόλ[λ]ων

b
Hiller: ΚΣΙ[- - -]

Commentary

This is the only graffito in this context that mentions Apollo. The graffito is located on a horizontal rock surface within the perimeter area, enclosed by polygonal walls. It is placed near the summit of the wall and extends from left to right. To the left of the main inscription, there is a carved depiction of what might represent the outline of a boat. Below the letters, other characters like iota, san, and samek are visible. The sequence of letters in the graffito likely includes a name. Based on the palaeographic analysis, the graffito is dated to the late 8th or early 7th century BCE and was likely part of a votive or sacred space dedicated to deities. The epithet for Apollo Carnaeus, mentioned in the surrounding archaeological context, suggests a close connection between the deity and civic protection. Apollo, along with other deities, was worshipped in this area, and similar inscriptions can be found near sacred spaces such as altars or public structures. The presence of dedications to both Apollo and Zeus reinforces the religious significance of the site, pointing to a place of worship and protection for the ancient city.

Bibliography

To consult the full bibliography of the project, visit our Zotero library.

Images

Photograph (Inglese 2008 no. 22). © Greek Ministry of Culture / Ephorate of Antiquities of the Cyclades. Reproduction authorized for this use only. Any further use requires permission

Editorial Team

Editor: Alessandra Inglese

Principal Investigator: Alessandra Inglese

Funder: CHANGES - Theme 5. Humanities and Cultural Heritage as Laboratories of Innovation and Creativity, funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, Associazione Centro di Eccellenza DTC

Alessandra Inglese: original data collection and edition

Valentina Mignosa: encoding, editing metadata and geo data, website content creation, HTML transformation, website design and styling, interactive mapping implementation

Marika Griffo: rubbings digitisation

Simone Lucchetti: rubbings digitisation

Luigi Tessarolo: website construction, design and styling, interactive mapping implementation

Virgilio Costa: methodological and digital consultancy

Publication Details

Authority: ThERA (Theran Epigraphic Rubbings Archive) project

Licence: Licensed under a Creative Commons-Attribution 4.0 licence

Encoding model / validation: EpiDoc encoding model and validation framework adapted from ISicily

Download

To consult the full TEI EpiDoc XML source of this inscription, click here.