The inscription is located in the archaeological context called 'Agora of the Gods'
by the first excavators. 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 runs from left to right, except for the iota, and remains largely legible
except for the final two letters.
Execution: chiselled.
Palaeography
Letters of the archaic alphabet of Thera: Alpha: with diverging strokes and an oblique
crossbar. Iota: with three strokes. Ny: with a short third stroke slightly diverging.
San: used for the sibilant sound. Theta: circle with cross-shaped bars inside.
Provenance and Discovery
Place:Archaía Thíra (36.36349, 25.47804)
Date:Beginning of the 6th century BCE
Findspot:«sed extra antiquum aedificium», «notum versus»». Hiller
Coordinates:36.36197, 25.48079
Last recorded location: in situ; Last seen by A. Inglese in 2003 in situ
Edition
Ἀθαναία̣ς̣
Apparatus
Hiller: Ἀθαναία[ς]
Commentary
The inscription is carved on a rock surface outside the enclosed area, 3.10 m east
of graffito no. 365, to the southwest
of the entrance to the temple of Apollo Carneios. It is one of the earliest inscriptions
discovered on the rocky promontory
adjacent to the temple. The rock surface has a total height of 64 cm, while the inscription
itself measures between 40 cm and
45 cm in length.
The text runs from left to right, except for the iota, and remains largely legible
except for the final two letters.
The letter sizes are consistent: alpha and san measure 9–10 cm, while pi is 8 cm high.
The incision consists of a narrow V‑shaped groove, about 2 mm wide, produced with
a pointed tool.
This technique is known in the area but is less frequent than the broader, shallow
groove made with a wide‑tipped tool,
which was widely used from the late 7th to early 6th century BCE (see Inglese 2008, pp. 61-65).
Nearby inscriptions predominantly contain anthroponyms, sometimes followed by adjectives.
The name of the divinity is one of the cases on the island in the Archaic period where
a testimony of Doric dialect can be identified
(other examples of divine names are nos. 370 Ηερμᾶς and no. 361 Δαμία, to which various
anthroponyms can be added).
It should be noted that the divine name is in the genitive, unlike most Archaic graffiti
in the area, which are in the nominative
(except for the probable genitive of inscription no. 358, datable to the same chronological
horizon).
In rock inscription no. 376, outside the enclosed area to the west, there is another
case of a divine name in the genitive,
the epithet being that of Zeus Στοιχαίο, which can be dated to at least the mid‑5th century BCE.
Regarding dedicatory formulas, in a single case of rock inscription, no. 551, the
divine name is attested in the dative
without the dedicator’s name, but the verb of dedication is expressed. In archaic
inscriptions nos. 401 and 402 and probably
no. 403, currently lost, the divine name would appear in the nominative and, in particular
in nos. 401 and 403,
the dedicator’s name in the genitive. In inscription no. 389, read by Hiller on a
small altar of volcanic material
(now lost), the dedicator’s name would have been present in the nominative, the verb
ἐποίε and probably the divine name
in the accusative Λύκειον.
Several features as the type of incision, the fairly consistent letter size, the presence
of Doric alpha, and also the comparison
with other dedicatory formulas may serve as dating criteria, placing the inscriptions
from the beginning of the 6th century BCE onwards.
The theonym also appears in another Archaic inscription (IG XII 3.450), which mentions
both damiourgoi and
Apollo with the epithet Agyieus (see Inglese 2008, chap. 4). IG XII 3.450 is the only
official document from this period
so far found on the island. Another important reference to Athena occurs in a graffito
from the area known as Skaros
(northwest coast of the island), where boundary markers (οὖροι Ἀθαναίας) are mentioned,
probably indicating land
belonging to the goddess. On Athena’s cult in Thera, see Inglese 2008, pp. 175-177.
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
