The rock is located approximately in the middle of the promontory and is divided into
two parts by a natural vertical groove. The right side measures 53 cm at its widest
point, 32 cm at its narrowest, and has a height of approximately 1.05 m. The left
side is about 15 cm wide. Adjacent to the right edge of the rock surface, after a
deep natural vertical groove, is graffito no. 573.
Layout
There is a sense of graphic sophistication; in fact, the layout of the name is well
ordered,
with curled terminals on both the iota and the oblique strokes of the kappa, as well
as the height of the letters,
albeit with a non-uniform module.
Execution: chiselled.
Palaeography
Letters of the archaic alphabet of Thera: Kappa (l. 6): oblique bars with the same
attachment point on the vertical stroke, divergent and short. Kappa (l. 7): oblique
bars with the same attachment point on the vertical stroke, divergent and curled at
the ends. Aspiration (l. 2): represented as a closed rectangular with orizontal crossbar.
Iota (l. 7): composed of three bars with curled terminals. Rho (l. 2): rounded bowl.
San: used for the sibilant sound.
Provenance and Discovery
Place:Archaía Thíra (36.36349, 25.47804)
Date:Lines 2 and 4 were written in the 7th century BCE, while lines 6-8 appear to have
been added later, around the 6th century BCE.
Findspot:Hiller
Coordinates:36.36192, 25.48085
Last recorded location: in situ; Last seen by A. Inglese in 2003 in situ; rubbing
line 1. Hiller: hερμ[- - -] line 3. Hiller, in Suppl.: [- - -]λις line 5. Hiller: Ἀστυκρα[- - -] line 6. Hiller: Ἀστυδικίδας line 7. Hiller (line 5 in Hiller's edition): Σαμαγόρας line 8. Hiller: [ὁ δεῖνα Πh]ανο[κλ]έος ἔραται
Commentary
According to Hiller’s readings in IG XII 3 and in Suppl., the graffito consists of
six lines; the writing direction is retrograde in ll. 1, 2, 4, 5,
while it is orthograde in l. 3. In the first reading, the editor of the Suppl. had
placed below l. 2 a note on the letters for which he provided a
doubtful transcription: ‑λις. Line 5, completed by the same editor as [ὁ δεῖνα Πh]ανο[κλ]έος
ἔραται, would be arranged
descending along the left side of the rock.
The state of preservation of the graffito does not allow for a certain reading. Interpretation
is only possible through comparison
between direct autopsy and what the rubbing reveals. The rubbing seems to show eight
lines.
In l. 6, 50 cm below a natural oblique groove, aligned to the right, 50 cm from the
upper edge of the rock surface, with orthograde direction, only the letters u, k, p, i
are visible from autopsy, while the rubbing showed two additional initial letters,
alpha and san, although faint.
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
and IThera015).
It is not possible to integrate the final part with certainty, as both Ἀστυκρατίδας
(cf. no. 564) and Ἀστυκράτης (cf. no. 563)
are attested in Thera (see Inglese 2008, ch. 5).
In l. 7, 6 cm from the previous line, only autopsy makes legible, in retrograde direction,
Ἀστυδικίδας. The incision technique is of the second type.
The name Ἀστυδικάς is attested only in Thera and solely in this case, though other
occurrences of names starting with Ἀστυ- are known (e.g. nos. 563, 564, 566, and
the others occurring in this inscription).
In l. 8, the name Σαμαγόρας, retrograde, is written in a rectangular frame (17 × 4 cm),
as in other cases in the area (e.g. nos. 567, 597),
with letters of constant height (3 cm). Only the rubbing allows recognition of the
rectangular frame, but not the individual letters.
Hiller read on the left side of the rock (l. 5) was illegible by autopsy alone in
2003. The rubbing, however, shows the orthograde letters
[‑‑-]αντιος[‑‑-].
Based on the incision type, letter forms, and layout, it can be concluded that the
graffiti were engraved by different hands and at different times:
an earlier, more archaic phase (probably 7th century BCE) includes ll. 1–5; a later
phase (6th century BCE) includes ll. 6–8.
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
