Early Greek alphabetic writing has received extensive attention in the
literature. Yet such writing is often treated as immaterial, both literally and
metaphorically. My study addresses this problem by offering a systematic
investigation of the material properties of nearly 300 inscribed objects,
mostly ceramic, that date from ca. 750–600 BCE and originate from seven sites
across the Greek world.
Inspired by work on classical art and text, and on the
materiality of writing, I use a quantitative approach to investigate the ways
in which early inscriptions interact with the fabric, the shape, and the
decoration of the vessels on which they are rendered, reflecting also on the
ramifications of this interaction for the socialization of early Greek
inscribed objects in diverse contexts. The investigation exposes a range of
hitherto neglected patterns attesting to the preferential inscribing and use of
particular types of vessels in specific sites or contexts, and to the
association of certain types of text with the material properties of the medium
that carries it. More broadly,
methodologies that promote the documentation and interpretation of not only the
textual but also the material properties of inscribed objects.
ΠΗΓΗ-ΔΙΑΒΑΣΤΕ το άρθρο Antonis
Kotsonas «Early Greek Alphabetic Writing: Text, Context, Material Properties, and Socialization» στο AJA, τ. Απριλίου 2022 (126.2). ΑΡΧΕΙΟΝ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ, 17.3.2022.
