Archive

A.P. Bekhter (Saint Petersburg) – Φιλισκοσ Ο Μαχιμοσ (to the Interpretation of the Graffito from Myrmecium)

download PDF

Abstract

The paper publishes an ostracon with a two-line graffito found during the excavations ar the Myrmecium, dating from the 2nd–1st centuries BC. The inscription on the shard Φιλίσκος ὁ μάχι|μος, which is most likely a private one (marking?), can be interpreted in two ways. In the first case, ὁ μάχιμος is interpreted in the broad meaning of “warrior, fighter”, representing a playful nickname of Philiskos, in the second – in a highly specialized one, used as a designation for foreign mercenaries in the Egyptian army of the Ptolemaic era. The involvement of documents fixing the presence of immigrants from the Bosporus in the Ptolemaic army allows us to consider the second reading option as quite possible. The graffito in question gives an occasion to turn once again to the interpretation of the lines 1–2 of CIRB 450 proposed by the author: Δολης ὁ [[Ἡ]]γοῦμεν|oς, which was seriously criticized by V.P. Yailenko. The analysis of the argument of an opponent reveals its inconsistency, and allows you to draw an interesting parallel between Δολης ὁ [[Ἡ]]γοῦμενος and Φιλίσκος ὁ μάχιμος in the first understanding of the graffito.

Keywords

Greek epigraphy, Myrmecium, graffi to, ostracon, Bosporan mercenaries in the Egyptian army, Bosporus and Egypt, CIRB 450, Δολης.

Anastasiya P. Bekhter

Saint Petersburg Institute of History Russian Academy of Science

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Avram, A. 2013: Prosopographica Ponti Euxini externa. Leuven–Paris–Walpole.

Bekhter, A.P. 2013: Predvaritel’nye zamechaniya k IOSPE II2. Epigraficheskie pamyatniki iz fondov Khersonskogo kraevedcheskogo museya [The preliminary observations on IOSPE II2: The epigraphic monuments of Cherson Local History Museum]. Vestnik drevney istorii [Journal of Ancient History] 1, 9–20.

Dovatur, A.I. 1965: Kratkiy ocherk grammatiki bosporskikh nadpisey [Short essay of the grammar of the Bosporan inscriptions]. In: V.V. Struve et al. (eds.), Korpus bosporskikh nadpisey [Corpus inscriptionum regni Bosporani]. Moscow–Leningrad, 797–831.

Fox, W.S. 1917: Greek inscriptions in the Royal Ontario Museum. American Journal of Philology 38, 304–311.

Heichelheim, F. 1925: Die auswärtige Bevölkerung im Ptolemäerreich. Leipzig.

Lang, M. 1976: Graffiti and Dipinti (Athenian Agora XXI). Princeton.

Launey, M. 1949–1950: Reserches sur les armees hellenistiques. T. I–II. Paris.

Levi, E.I. 1985: Ol’viya. Gorod epokhi ellinizma [Olbia. The City of the Hellenistic Period]. Leningrad.

Litvinenko, Yu.N. 1991: Ptolemeevskiy Egipet I Severnoe Prichernomor’e v III v. do n.e. [Ptolemaic Egypt and the Northern Black Sea region in the 3rd century BC]. Vestnik drevney istorii [Journal of Ancient History] 1, 12–26.

Molev, E.A. 1994: Bospor v period ellinisma [Bosporus in the Hellenistic Period]. Nizhniy Novgorod.

Shelov-Kovedyaev, F.V. 2018: Ostrakizm i ostrakony Pantikapeya [Ostracism and ostraca of Panticapaeum]. Tavricheskie studii [Tauric Studies] 16, 183–192.

Shelov-Kovedyaev, F.V. 2019: Ostrakony Aziatskogo Bospora [The ostraca of Asiatic Bosporus]. Stratum Plus 6, 211–219.

Sokolskiy, N.I. 1973: Kul’t Afrodity v Kepakh kontsa VI–V v. do n.e. [The cult of Aphrodite in Kepoi in the 6th–5th centuries BC]. Vestnik drevney istorii [Journal of Ancient History] 4, 88–92.

Sokolskiy, N.I. 1976: Tamanskiy tolos i rezidentsiya Chrisaliska [The Taman Tolos and the Residence of Chrysaliskos]. Moscow.

Treister, M. Yu. 1985: Bospor i Egipet III v. do n.e. [Bosporus and Egypt in the 3rd century BC]. Vestnik drevney istorii [Journal of Ancient History] 1, 126–139.

Tsetschladze, G.R., Kondrashev, A.V. 2001: The rescue excavation of the Tuzla necropolis (1995–1997). In: G.R. Tsetschladze (ed.), North Pontic Archaeology (Colloquia pontica 6). Leiden–Boston–Köln.

Vinogradov, Yu.A. 1986: Otchet o rabote Mirmekijskogo otryada Bosporskoy ekspeditsii LOIA AN SSSR v 1986 g. [Report on Works of Myrmecium Team of the Bosporan Expedition of Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Archaeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences]. Manuscript Department of the Scientific Archive of the Institute for History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Fund 35. List 1986. File 79.

Vinogradov, Yu.G., Zolotarev, M.I. 2000: Bozhestvennaya egipetskaya triada v Khersonese Tavricheskom [The sacred Egyptian triad in Taurian Chersonesus]. In: V.Yu. Zuev (eed.), ΣΥΣΣΙΤΙΑ. Pamyati Yu.V. Andreeva. [ΣΥΣΣΙΤΙΑ. In memoriam Ju.V. Andreev]. Saint Petersburg.

Yailenko, V.P. 2019: Epigraficheskie zametki. I. O publikatsii nadpisey Arteziana. II. Tekstologiya i prosodika ol’viyskogo gimna VI v. do n.e. k Gilee. III. В защиту вотива IOSPE I2 188 из ОАМ. [Epigraphical notes. I. About publication of the of the inscriptions from Artezian. II. The Olbian hymn of the 6th century BC. III. In defence of the votive inscription IOSPE I2 188 in the Museum of Odessa]. Bosporskie issledovaniya [Bosporos Studies] 39, 117–209.

Details
Hits: 111