These names may have been placed on the vases with the view of attracting the public to purchase them, or may even have been the subject of special orders from customers. Some light seems to be thrown on the matter by a cup signed by the painter Phintias,[[2213]] which represents a young man, purse in hand, making purchases of vases in a potter’s workshop. This vase has the inscription Χαιρίας καλός, but whether it is intended as a representation of Chairias or his admirer it is impossible to say. The names, however, are not always those of every-day life. They may have relation to the figures on the vase, as
We have already noted that historical names frequently occur in this series, and it is obvious that if they can be identified with the actual historical owners of such names much valuable information in regard to the chronology of Greek vases will be gained. The question has already been discussed in a previous chapter (Vol. I. p. [403]), and the principles there laid down need not be repeated. It is sufficient to say that so far only two or three names have been identified with those of historical personages, though more results may yet be obtained. Of these one is Stesileos, occurring on two vases in Berlin, and identified with a strategos who fell at Marathon in 490.[[2215]] On two lekythi (one late B.F., the other R.F.) the name of Glaukon son of Leagros[[2216]] appears, and these two names have also been identified with Athenian strategi, Leagros having fallen in battle against the Edones in 467, while Glaukon commanded at Kerkyra in 433–432 B.C. It may be roughly inferred that Leagros was a boy (παῖς) about 510 B.C., and his son Glaukon about 470 B.C., which gives an approximate date (within ten years or so) for these two groups of vases. It is, however, obvious that much at present only rests on hypothesis.
It is curious to note that nearly all these names have an aristocratic sound: thus we have Alcibiades, Alkmaeon, Hipparchos, and Megakles, besides those already quoted. Miltiades καλός occurs on a R.F. plate at Oxford,[[2217]] but there seems hardly sufficient evidence for referring it to the youth of the conqueror of Marathon (cf. Vol. I. p. [403]). The table at the end of this chapter may be found useful as giving a conspectus of the principal names and their relation to the artists.
It is now necessary to discuss some of the principal peculiarities of the Attic vase-inscriptions, in regard to palaeography, orthography, and grammar.[[2218]] The variety in the forms and uses of the letters is somewhat surprising at first sight, but it must be remembered that non-Attic influences were always strong, as has indeed already been pointed out.
Α usually appears either in that form or as
,