Conférencier: Prof. Antonis Kotsonas (NY University)
The earliest Greek alphabetic inscriptions, which date from the 8th and 7th c. BC, have received much attention in the scholarship, but this typically focuses on the texts and their meaning. Notwithstanding its merits, this research has often rendered early Greek writing as immaterial. Inspired by work on the materiality of writing, I investigate the ways in which early inscriptions interact with the fabric, the shape, and the decoration of the clay vessels on which they are usually rendered. Particular emphasis is placed on the sites with the largest collections of such finds, which are located in different parts of the Greek world. The investigation exposes the preferential inscribing and use of particular types of vessels in specific sites or functional contexts.