Πυρ(ρ)ος μ’ εποιησεν Αγασιλεϝου
and is therefore one of the oldest existing signatures.
Athenian Vases
Under this heading are included all remaining vase-inscriptions, except a few from Italy. Their value to us, as Kretschmer points out, is not to be measured only by the mythological information they provide, or by the list of Athenian craftsmen and popular favourites which can be drawn up from them, but it is also largely philological. In other words, they illustrate for us the vernacular of Athens in the sixth and fifth centuries, just as the Egyptian papyri have thrown light on the Hellenistic vernacular of the second. In countless small details the language of the vase-painters varies from the official language of state documents and the literary standard of Thucydides, Sophocles, and even Aristophanes. The reason is, of course, a simple one—namely, that the vase-artists occupied a subordinate position in the Athenian state; they were mere craftsmen, of little education, and in all probability their spelling was purely phonetic.[[2137]] Hence we constantly find such forms as πίει for πίε, υἱύς for υἱός, or Θῆσυς for Θησεύς (see above, p. [237]); and even the rich potter Hyperbolos is ridiculed by the comic poet Plato[[2138]] for saying ὀλίον (sc. oliyon) for ὀλίγον, and δῃτώμην for διῃτώμην.
Another interesting point is that many of the artists who have signed their vases were obviously not Athenians by birth. Thus we find such names as Phintias, Amasis, Brygos, Cholkos, Sikanos, Thrax,[[2139]] and even such signatures as ὁ Λυδός (or ὁ Σκύθης) ἔγραψεν. It is, then, evident that many of them were μέτοικοι or resident aliens, and consequently occupied but a humble rank in the social order of the city.[[2140]] One name, indeed, that of Epiktetos, is actually a slave’s name (Ἐπίκτητος = “acquired”).
We need not, then, be surprised at meeting with many un-Attic forms or spellings in the vase-inscriptions, which sometimes give a clue to the origin of the artist, and of which it may be interesting to give some specimens. Kretschmer notes that these variations are always Doric, never Ionic.
The commonest Doricism on Attic vases is the use of Α for H, of which there are many instances, such as
, Δαιάνειρα for Δηιάνειρα[[2141]];
