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The Berezan Lead Letter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2013

John Chadwick
John Chadwick
Affiliation:
Downing College, Cambridge
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Extract

Private letters written on lead sheets in antiquity are rare, but not unknown; the publication of a new example found on the island of Berezan near Olbia in the Black Sea is remarkable as offering an early specimen of the Ionic dialect. Its Russian editor admitted that all its problems had not been solved, and the present article is an attempt to improve the readings and offer some suggestions for a better interpretation.

The document is completely preserved and legible without difficulty; it was found rolled up with the address written on the reverse. As Vinogradov suggests, it seems likely that it never reached its addressee. Vinogradov puts its date as the second half of the sixth century B.C. Dr L. H. Jeffery has kindly confirmed that on grounds of letter-forms the date would appear to be not far from 500 B.C.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society (Second Series) , Volume 19 , 1973 , pp. 35 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published online by Cambridge University Press 1973

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References

page 35 note 1 Vinogradov, Y. G., Vestnik Drevnei Istorii 1971, 4, pp. 74–100Google Scholar. A later specimen from Olbia has long been known; see Schwyzer, , Dial. 736Google Scholar; also, Minns, E. H., Scythians and Greeks, p. 466Google Scholar.

page 35 note 2 Boardman, J., The Greeks Overseas, pp. 259–60Google Scholar.

page 35 note 3 Bechtel, , Griechische Dialekte, III, 34Google Scholar.

page 36 note 1 In view of its etymology (cf. εὐθυορϝίαν in Arcadian, Schwyzer, , Dial. 664Google Scholar. 14) we might expect the word to be spelt here ἰθύōρα. The difference is minimal, and this spelling is supported by ἰθυωρίη Hippocrates, , Off. 15Google Scholaret al. M. Lejeune has a note in the press on the subject.

page 37 note 1 I am indebted to all with whom I have discussed this inscription, especially Professor W. S. Allen, Dr L. H. Jeffery, Dr J. T. Killen, Professor M. Lejeune, and Mr A. G. Woodhead.