Of the above names, Αμφανδρος, Θέσπων, Λάβρος, Νεόμα[χος], Πολυσίων, and Ροφῶν 5 are unknown to Pape. Thespon, Labros, and Rophon are quite characteristic; the second is especially interesting. Labros is mentioned in Ovid' as a dog's name "Glutton;" this is the first instance of its occurring as a man's name. Simple and straightforward as these inscriptions are, they raise some curious points for discussion. That OAMINN should occur in all of them is not to be wondered at; the people of Thasos were naturally anxious that all their productions should be known as theirs. But the proper name and the type are less easy to explain. First with regard to the name. We may at once put aside any notion that it may be that of either the master-potter who made the amphora or the wine-grower who filled it. There are good reasons which make these hypotheses untenable. It is found that in the case of Rhodian, Cnidian, and other handles, there is very often appended to the name a title, such as hiereus or phrourarchos, and the same name occurs frequently with and without such a title. The title kerameus or potter, on the other hand, occurs but once or twice on handles from the Euxine Sea, and always accompanied by a magistrate's name. And further, no satisfactory reason can be given why the potter should thus mark his productions, but very good reasons why a magistrate should seal them. The only supposition remaining is that in every case it is a Perhaps HPONN, as there seems to be space for another letter, and the name Herophon does occur in Thasian inscriptions. 1863-70. "Wörterbuch der Griechischen Eigennamen," 3rd edit., 7 Metamorph. III. 224. magistrate's name which appears in the Thasian inscriptions, and it only remains to inquire what was guaranteed by this official seal. The fact that Rhodian amphoras are stamped with the name of the month, as well as that of the hiereus, is remarkable, and might at first sight incline one to think that the stamps were intended to mark an exact date, and so testify to the age of the wine enclosed. But there are strong reasons for rejecting this theory. Firstly, the name of every month occurs on various manubria; but it is clear that the wine would usually be placed in the amphoras only at the time of vintage, and so always date from one or two months. Secondly, the stamp must have been impressed upon the clay while it was soft and unbaked, but in that state it must of course have been empty of wine, and it is very improbable that the potter can have known at what time it would be filled. To mark the exact date of the fabrication of an amphora seems a curious custom, but it is one which certainly existed at Rhodes, and it may be explained if we suppose that it was not the date only but also the capacity of the amphora which was thus warranted. It is probable that in all these cities magistrates were appointed, called agoranomi, to inspect all amphoras manufactured in the potteries, and to depute officers who should gauge them, and on finding the measure exact, mark them with an official seal.s Such a system of inspection certainly existed in the case of weights and of coins; for instance, the later coinage of Athens may be taken, every piece of which bears as a guarantee of weight and metal the names of three different magistrates. Also it is by no means rare to find on ancient weights the name of an agoranomos with his title. 8 Birch," History of Ancient Pottery," p. 137. Ed. 1873. In the case of the Cnidian handles, and some Thasian ones published by Stephani, two names appear; and it has been ingeniously conjectured by Dr. Brandis' that the former of these represents the eponymous magistrate of the year, thus marking the date, while the second belongs to the official who was immediately responsible for the legal measure of the amphoras, namely, the agoranomos. It may, perhaps, be doubted whether the one name in the present Thasian inscriptions is that of the eponymous or the subordinate officer, but probability points rather to the former. Mr. Stoddart has discussed at length the question of the probable date of these manubria. He arrives at the trustworthy conclusion that all are less ancient than the date of the foundation of Alexandria, B.C. 332, and probably than the peace which closed the first Macedonian war in 196. The latest may be about contemporary with the Antonines. As there are copper coins of Thasos which may be reasonably attributed to this period, and which exhibit monograms probably representing the names of magistrates, I had hoped to discover, in some cases, the same name on both coins and amphoras. But after examining all the coins of Thasos to which I had access, I found myself disappointed in this expectation. One point remains, the type. All analogy indicates that this is copied from the private or family seal of the magistrate whose name appears. Although writers have tried hard to trace, on the coins of Athens, a real connection between the magistrates' names and the accessory types in the field, they have been unsuccessful. And although, in the case of the coins of Abdera there does seem to be, in some cases, in the type, a half-punning "Zeitschr. für Numismatik," Vol. I. p. 47. allusion to the accompanying name,10 yet this is by no means always the case. It is safest to say that, as far as present evidence goes, no reason can be found for the adoption of particular types by various magistrates.11 In the case of these Thasian vase-inscriptions in particular, there is no trace of any such reason to be observed. Here, almost all the types are Dionysiac. Noteworthy among those which do not certainly belong to this class are the galloping horse and crescent, frequent types in Thrace, the seamonster, and especially the very curious type of No. 14. This seems to represent a male figure, holding out at arm's length a star, and is hard of explanation. I have had it figured at the head of this paper. PERCY GARDner. P.S. Since I wrote the above, my attention has been called to a piece of positive evidence which proves that we must modify Mr. Stoddart's opinion as to the date of the Thasian handles. In the tumulus of the barbarous king discovered by M. Dubrux at Koul-Oba, there was a ΘΑΣΙ Thasian amphora, entire, incribed in addition ΑΡΕΤΩΝ to various objects in gold and electrum, which from the excellence of their work, certainly cannot be assigned to a later period than that of Alexander. Some Thasian inscribed amphoras must, therefore, date from the middle of the fourth century B.C. 10 Thus Molpagoras has for type a dancing-girl, and Python a tripod. On the coins also of Neapolis, Artemi the magistrate has an Artemis for emblem. " Dr. Brandis, in the article already referred to, maintains the opinion that each tribe or family had an emblem corresponding to the modern coat of arms, and used by all its members during their magistracies. He produces a good deal of valuable evidence that this was the case. But how each family came by its emblem still remains to be explained. |