• 1 Van Effenterre (1998).
• 2 See for example Sjögren (2007), Haggis (2014).
• 3 Whitley (1997).

1Two inscriptions, one public from Eleutherna (A), one private from Prinias (B), are reedited and bring to the fore the interpretative limits of epigraphical texts, especially the fragmentary ones which present challenges. Henri van Effenterre1 had already explored the boundaries between the public and the private in Archaic Crete in his “Public et privé dans la Crète archaïque”, where he discussed public and private property as attested in the Law Code of Gortyn. This distinction represents a persistent challenge to research on Archaic Crete, due to the paucity of archaeological documentation of public and communal spaces2 and the limited evidence from epigraphical sources pertaining to private use of writing when compared to other regions.3 Therefore, any new epigraphical evidence is of great value in understanding epigraphical habits in the private and public sphere of the Archaic Cretan society. Although the public inscriptions are much more studied and therefore research treads on safer ground, the digitization of the public “contract” from Eleutherna enables a new reading that so far had been problematic. Likewise, the new reading after autopsy of the private inscription from Prinias offers an opportunity to examine in greater depth the private use of writing in Crete, which has not yet received the attention it deserves.

• 4 IC II.xii.16.
• 5 The photographs of the stone and the squeeze are courtesy of the Archive of Inscriptions of the Ret (...)
• 6 Oikonomaki (2010, 728).

2On a limestone block from a corner of a building in Pyrgi(?) in ancient Eleutherna, broken at the right and bottom and damaged in places, at least three texts are (re)inscribed in boustrophedon on Side A (Figure 1), and a fourth on the narrower Side B of the block (Figure 2). The fact that erasures are clearly visible on the entire surface of Side A in combination with the wear and tear of the surface complicates the reading of the inscriptions, as the erasing process was done either hurriedly or unsuccessfully. Since M. Guarducci’s edition,4 the inscriptions are numbered according to the sequence of the presumed erasures. Thus, the first text Aa is inscribed on the top of the block, the second Ab on the bottom, and the third Ac on the middle.5 All three texts, according to Oikonomaki, are dated to 550–500 BC.6

• 7 Inscriptions IC II.xii.16Aa and Ac are most probably laws concerning economic transactions and comm (...)
• 8 The readings were greatly facilitated by the RTI photography of the inscription’s squeeze (Figures  (...)

3Of the three texts at least on Side A, inscription Ab has attracted attention, although it still remains somewhat puzzling.7 Text Ab (Figures 3a‑b) is inscribed in boustrophedon at the bottom of the block, which bears signs of damage and visible are in places strokes of the carelessly erased previous letters.8 The preserved inscribed area is: 0.195 m in height; 0.26 m in width; and clearly visible are lines 0.026 m in height for cutting the letters.

• 9 If καθαριστάς, then either the original may have prescribed sacred or public provisions about clean (...)

4Line 1: of the theta clear traces of the round strokes; of the kappa the vertical and the upper slanting stroke. Originally it seems that ΟΣΤΙΚΑΘ… was cut,9 but the clear trace of the alpha is not as deep as the strokes of the new text and must belong to the erased text. The nu was read as sigma, but the last slanting is rather a hit.

• 10 IC IIxii16, p. 157.
• 11 Koerner (1993, 363).
• 12 Van Effenterre & Ruzé (1994, 118–9).
• 13 Gagarin & Pearlman (2016, 243).
• 14 Guizzi (2017, 329–38).

15The consensus follows M. Guarducci’s assessment that it is a “lex ad citharoedos”10; R. Koerner remains skeptical as to what the text purports.11 H. van Effenterre and F. Ruzé suggest with a question mark that it pertains to a “contrat (?) pour un citharède”.12 M. Gagarin and P. Perlman “propose instead that Ab regulates festivals, the provision concerning harpists being but one of several rules”,13 and F. Guizzi offers a cogent commentary of how the few words may relate to a sensible text concerning cithara-player(s) and their relation to the city of Eleutherna.14

• 15 SEG 26.1049, Chaniotis (1996, 338–51 no. 59, 358–76 no. 61) and Guizzi (2017) with all the ancient (...)

18In line 2, ἀπαμία, in addition to this text, is so far attested in two inscriptions from the Hellenistic period, a treaty between Hierapytna and Lato and another between Lato and Olous in the delimitation of their borders.15 In both treaties the word is followed by a name, it is the Ἐξάκωντ[ος] or ᾿Εξάκωνος ἀφαμία. Apparently, a territory at the outskirts of a city or at its borders could be named after a person or after a toponym.

• 16 Bile (1988, 32–34).
• 17 Chantraine (1980, 283–4).

20In line 4, all previous editors read ϝικοτήρας, and Gagarin & Perlman explained it tentatively as some form of Attic ἱκέτης, “suppliant”. Perhaps it could also be related to some form of ϝoικ-, whence ϝoικεύς “the household slave”. The new reading however δ̣ικοτήρας (less likely γ̣ικοτήρας) is perhaps a form of ἐσζικαιωτῆρες in Lyttos (SEG 35.991[2], side A, line 8, dated to ca. 500 BC, and Bile,16 or δικαστήρας in Delphi (FdD III.I 294, col. II, line 15, dated to 425–375 BC; FdD III.I 486, col. IA, lines 7 and 12–13, dated to 285–280 BC, and Chantraine).17

• 18 Gagarin & Perlman (2016, 243).

21In lines 4–5, van Effenterre & Ruzé proposed to read ἐνν̣ϝ̣εσθαι (although space does not permit an additional nu at the end of line 4), a form of ἔννυμαι, “to dress” (?). Gagarin & Perlman suggested ἔμϝ̣εσθαι, a form of ἐ(μ)μυέω, “to be initiated”, which together with ϝικοτήρας may mean “suppliants are to be initiated”.18 The new reading ἐσν̣εσθαι (ἐσν̣εῖσθαι) is perhaps a form of ἐσ-νέομαι, “to go to, approach, refer the matter to someone” (LSJ, s.v.).

• 19 Minon (2007, 38–42).

22In line 6, already Guarducci presented the possibility that the word is similar to the one in a Gortynian inscription (IC IV.46, col. B, line 2–3: ὀπαῖον δόμα|τος, “the opening, smoke-hole of the house”); or the term ὀ παίον, “he who strikes”; so too in van Effenterre & Ruzé—not unlike an inscription from Elis,19 where the umpire may punish the athlete by striking him but not on his head. Gagarin & Perlman, “though the Attic-Ionic form (with omicron) is unexpected”, also suggested the reading: τ]õ παιõνο̣ς, “the paian”, perhaps referring to the cithara-player’s song and Apollo, or some religious ritual. Perhaps even here may lie another (micro)toponym in -οπαιον of ancient Eleutherna.

• 20 Perlman (2004), Chaniotis (2013, 4–6), Guizzi (2017, 329–38). The erotic odes, which according to A (...)
• 21 Tzifopoulos (2023).

23Unfortunately, it cannot be determined how much of the inscribed text is lost, or even what kind of laws were erased, because they went out of use(?), in order for the new provisions to be engraved. It is not even certain that the few words preserved (κιθ̣αρισταν, ἀπαμία, πόλις, πλυριτ-, δ̣ικοτήρας, ἐσν̣εσθαι or something else, -οπαιον) are related to each other directly or indirectly, if at all. What is certain, however, is that these words are associated one way or another with archaic Eleutherna, as Perlman, Chaniotis and Guizzi have cautiously shown.20 After all, the archaic sources on Crete and the Cretans highlight archery and running, trade and piracy as their exclusive skills and expertise, but they also portray Cretans as performers and interpreters of rites, paeans, and signs/tales (orgiones, paieones, and semantores).21

• 22 Many thanks are due to the late Professor Dario Palermo, former Director of the Italian Archaeologi (...)
• 23 Ed. pr. Rizza (2008, vol. I, 92, no. NF6 (ph.)); republished by G. Marginesu (2010, 88–90); SEG 60. (...)

24The inscription (Figures 4–6),22 dated to 650–600 BC, is carefully incised before firing sinistroverse on the neck of a clay pithos, of which fragments of the lip, neck and shoulder are preserved. The pithos is found in the northwest area (vano NF) of the archaic city on the patella of Prinias, central Crete. LH: 0.054 m (E)-0.038 m (O).23

• 24 After Oikonomaki (2010, 180).

26Α1 the upper part of the letter with a vertical and a slanting stroke leaning to the writing direction; E1 with an extended vertical and three parallel slanting strokes; M with the first stroke vertical and five instead of four smaller strokes with no parallels in Cretan or to our knowledge any other archaic alphabet; Ο1 as an almost round circle without compass, rather small, hanging from the top of the letter-space; M=san1 instead of Σ, characteristic in the Cretan archaic alphabets.

• 25 Rizza (2008, vol. II, tav. III, EB 1; tav. XXXII, 4).
• 26 According to Bile (1988, 143) the alternation of Ζ is more often with ΣΣ, ΔΔ, or ΤΤ, and less so wi (...)
• 27 In the inscription on a marble base bearing probably a bronze statue from the Athenian Akropolis, c (...)

27[- -]ν̣ετεō: Marginesu restores the word ἐπο]ίεζε followed by the definite article ὁ (it should be ὀ according to the psilotic Cretan dialect), which is problematic. Of the presumed “iota” only a small part of an upper slanting hasta is preserved, but if it were an iota (Ϟ), the middle part would have been preserved in the shape S as the few archaic inscriptions from Prinias testify.25 Most probably it is a nu or kappa (the mu in this inscription has an extra fifth small last stroke, instead of the common shape 𐊃). Also, Marginesu reads a zeta (𐊦) (which most probably is a tau, as the lower “horizontal” seems to be accidental), and restores ἐπο]ίεζε, the aorist of ποιῶ in -ετε=εσε, which is puzzling, as the alternation of Σ with Z is rare.26 Additionally, the verb ἐποίεσε without the final -ν is usually attested if followed by a word starting with a consonant or at the end of an inscription. Consequently, a name in the genitive -νετεō=νετεου (see for example IC IV.167: Λ̣υ[κκ]ηιατέου) to denote the patronym of the κεραμεύς seems more plausible. Moreover, the proposed interpretation of the text as an artist’s signature, the declaration of the profession together with the verb ἐποίεσεν, although it cannot be excluded,27 seems rather redundant, since the artefact itself signifies the artist and the verb ἐποίεσεν would be more than sufficient (or something similar, e.g. SEG 29.78: ἐκεράμευσεν ἐμὲ Οἰκωφέλης, dipinto on a black-figured dish, Athens, ca. 500 BC).

• 28 For the kerameis as dedicators, see Lazzarini (1976, 68), and also for example: SEG 34.1004: Χαῖρε, (...)
• 29 Wagner (2000, 383–7), Gill & Vickers (1990, 7–8), discussing several Attic votive inscriptions in c (...)

29κεραμε̣ύς: the word is unattested in Cretan inscriptions, but many examples of dedicatory inscriptions by potters are found outside Crete.28 Claudia Wagner argues that it is no surprise to find vases dedicated by potters themselves, where the poietes is presented also as the dedicator of his own product. She argues therefore that the term kerameus denotes the potter in many inscriptions from the Athenian Acropolis, although the debate is ongoing whether the word denotes the profession or the demotic Kerameus.29

• 30 For example, Wagner (1997, 57–8) records an inscribed amphora from the Acropolis which preserves a (...)
• 31 Doronzio (2018, 26).
• 32 Chatzidimitriou (2017; 2020, 140, figs 14, 15a‑b, 16a‑b), Charalambidou (2017, 138, figs 14, 17).
• 33 Matthaiou (2004‑2009, 541‑4), SEG 58.962.
• 34 Matthaiou (2004‑2009, 544), Chatzidimitriou (2020, 141); for a more detailed description of this te (...)

30Even though various shapes of vessels could be regarded as suitable for offerings,30 the attestations for dedicatory inscriptions on pithoi are rare enough both inside and outside Crete. Anarita Doronzio records a Proto-Attic geometric pithos with the first incised dedicatory inscription (ἀ[νέθ]εκεν) to be found on the Acropolis.31 A huge relief pithos of the second half of the 7th century BC found in Zarakes, south-central Euboea, in the area of the Apollo Delios temple, is also assumed to be dedicated by a potter.32 The iconographic scene on the pithos depicts the Centaurs and on the decorative zone of the neck there is an incised dedicatory inscription [- -?]ιερος ΖεΙ̣[‑^2‑3‑]Ι̣α̣ς̣ Πα̣φ̣υ̣λάτες ἐσ̣πάλασ̣ε. Angelos Matthaiou, who publishes the inscription argues that Πα(μ)φυλάτες is probably the ethnic name of the dedicator and interprets the unattested verb ἐσπάλασε as the past tense of the verb σφαλάσσω which, according to Hesychius, means τέμνειν or κεντεῖν, i.e. the technique used by the potter for the application of the strip of clay on the vase.33 Nevertheless, this verb is unattested both epigraphically and literary, notwithstanding the alternation of φ with π which is not easily explained given the φ in the word Παφυλάτες. Instead of σφαλάσσω, equally suitable seems the well attested verb παλάσσω (in the compound form εἰσπαλάσσω; cf. the aorist without augment ποίεσεν, SEG 30.476) with a single instead of a double sigma (a very common phenomenon of haplography in the archaic inscriptions). This verb with the meaning “bespringle, defile, smitten” (LSJ s.v. παλάσσω) has also semantic connections with clay and wet soil (Hesychius s.v. παλάσσετο: διεβρέχετο. ἀνεπίμπλατο. ἐμαλάσσετο; and s.v. παλάξαι: βρέξαι· ἔνθεν καὶ πηλὸς ἡ βεβρεγμένη γῆ. ἢ μαλάξαι, συνθράσαι; Scholia Vetera in Homeri Iliadem 5. 100: παλάσσετο: ἐβρέχετο. Ἀφ’ οὗ καὶ πηλὸς, ἡ βεβρεγμένη γῆ). This special verb is probably chosen in the Zarakes text, instead of the more common ἐποίεσεν (or ἐκεράμευσεν), to describe the special technique of using water to help adhesion of the added strips of clay onto the pithos on which the potter would add the relief decoration with a cylinder stamp.34

• 35 For the so‑called period of isolation of the island and the relevant literary testimonies, see Eric (...)

31The reconsideration of published inscriptions along with new epigraphical material that comes to light challenges the opinio communis and gradually changes the picture of archaic Crete being an isolated and in many ways conservative island.35 The inscriptions discussed offer a glimpse at two major aspects of the archaic Cretan city, the public and the private one, and are probably only a small sample of many other, now lost, inscriptions revealing the epigraphical habits of the Archaic period. The epigraphical presence of artists and craftsmen, well attested epigraphically outside Crete, helps to elucidate the activities, festive or ritual, controlled by cities of the island.

• 36 Marginesu (2014, 208–9) discusses the topic regarding the Pythion inscriptions at Gortyn.

32The inscription from Eleutherna preserves overlapping legal texts, an unusual practice for archaic public inscriptions. Especially in Crete, there are very few archaic inscriptions erased close to the date of their creation, in order to either correct a published public text or engrave rather hurriedly a completely new text on top of the previous one. Such examples are often evident during the Hellenistic period, when archaic texts were erased to make space for a new text.36 Many explanations for this lack of palimpsest inscriptions with layered meanings could be possible: either the cutters respected for some reason the older texts; or the text itself acquired a sacred and/or symbolic status partly because it was inscribed on the walls of public buildings or temples, which remained intact for centuries.

• 37 Van Effenterre & Ruzé (1994, 95–6).
• 38 For a discussion of the public contacts from Eleutherna, see also Oikonomaki (2020, 158–60); Centur (...)

33Van Effenterre has underlined the unique and special place of personal contracts in Cretan public inscriptions, which often show an elaborate and meticulous structure and present privileges to the craftsmen, artists, or other officials. He wondered however whether the word “contract” is the correct term for all these public documents or sometimes these privileges are perhaps nothing more than a simple regulation of the city.37 Notwithstanding that in these “contracts” the individuals, workers, craftsmen, or artists were mostly foreigners, there is no indication that the kithara player(s) at Eleutherna were from another Cretan city or from outside Crete. Yet, later epigraphical and literary texts, mention artists who travel and perform at various festivals as official guests. Other “contracts” with specialized artisans from Axos, Eleutherna, and Gortyn reveal the mobility of craftsmen and artists in this period and also the effort of the Cretan cities to regulate rights and privileges of this category of workers, in some cases non‑citizens.38

• 39 Papakonstantinou (2002, 140–1).
• 40 Sporn (2014, 219–24) underlines the fact that only very few necropoleis of the 6th to the 4th centu (...)
• 41 Catalogues of private inscriptions found in Crete have been published by Perlman (2002, 218–25), Jo (...)
• 42 Whitley (2017, 91–4) compares the epigraphical data from the small city of Azoria in East Crete wit (...)
• 43 The newly published dipinto on an aryballos from Prinias, Oikonomaki (2023), along with the unpubli (...)

34In contrast to the public, the private inscriptions found in Crete, which are dated from the early 7th to the 5th century BC, are not thoroughly discussed and conclusions are often based on the quantity rather than the quality of epigraphical finds. What follows is not an updated and detailed presentation of private inscriptions, but a small attempt at setting the frame and range of epigraphical practices in the everyday life of Crete, which to no surprise, as it turns out, parallels other regions of the Greek world. Certainly, the private inscriptions and graffiti found in Crete are rare in the Archaic and Classical periods,39 either because of the perishable material on which they were incised or because very few cities and cemeteries have been excavated and/or published.40 These parameters along with the range of the epigraphical material are sine qua non requirements for a complete and updated record of the private inscriptions of archaic Crete, together with the archaeological context, the reedition of the texts where needed, and the evaluation of the numbers and type of finds, always in comparison with other areas during the same chronological period.41 Statistical results therefore based on comparison of epigraphical data between Cretan cities and, for example, the Athenian Agora are in need of reevaluation.42 Moreover, for areas with no or rescue excavations which are published tentatively, the method of evaluating epigraphical material should draw upon qualitative rather than quantitative criteria. For the qualitative analysis of the published private inscriptions of Crete along with new finds that have been discovered (e.g. Samonion, Azorias, Dreros, Prinias, Lyktos)43 also corroborate new interpretations of the role of the script in the private sphere of the archaic Cretan society.

• 44 Bolmarcich & Muskett (2017, 156–7); for artists’ signatures on Athenian pottery, and sculptors’ sig (...)
• 45 Lang (1976).

35Several methodological problems arise not only from the extended period under discussion, but also from the comparison between Cretan and other Greek cities with a completely different economic, social, and political status. The epigraphical data compared is often dated vaguely to a period of two or three centuries, as the criteria in most cases are wanting for a catalogue of inscriptions per century. Therefore, statistical results, without a comparison between epigraphical data from the same periods and between areas of similar epigraphical production, should be taken with a grain of salt. The early period of alphabetic writing, namely the 8th and 7th centuries BC cannot be examined together with the epigraphy of the 6th and 5th centuries, something more often than not neglected in discussions of Cretan inscriptions. In Athens, for example, artists’ signatures on vases appear later in the Archaic period and become common only after the mid‑sixth century BC and in the next century.44 Likewise, from the Athenian Agora only a few inscriptions date to the early period of late 8th–6th centuries BC (abecedaria A1–2; messages inscribed on sherds B1–2; inscriptions with sexual connotations C1–7; names D1–34; owners’ marks F1–20; dedications G1–4; unclassified L1–4).45

• 46 Johnston (2013, 427, 433–4).

36Against an oversimplifying research approach of numerical statistics, attention must instead focus on the reevaluation of the epigraphical material. Alan Johnston in his discussion of the private or “casual” inscriptions found in Crete stresses the peculiar absence of the most common Greek epigraphical word ἀνέθηκεν (with very few uncertain examples) and of the “speaking object” formula which in Crete is replaced by the pronominal adjective τόδε.46

• 47 SEG 29.821.1: Τιμōς ἠμί· Εὔαγρος μ’ ἔστασε.
• 48 SEG 59.1041: Καναρκο̣[- -].
• 49 From Phaistos: IC I.xxiii.7: Ἀντιφάνε[ι]; and from Kydonia, a city that does not adopt the alphabet (...)
• 50 Levi (1969), Catalano (1970), Manganaro (1995); for the different readings, see: SEG 26.1050, 29.83 (...)

37Revisiting the material, however, shows that there are several inscriptions that could belong to these two categories. The “speaking object” formula is attested in one inscription from Chersonessos in Central Crete on a grave monument of ca. 525 BC,47 where the object, possibly a statue placed on the marble base, declares a certain Timō (Τιμώ, gen. Τιμῶς=Τιμοῦς) as its owner and Evagros as the person who was responsible of the erection of the funerary(?) monument. In a possibly funerary inscription of ca. 600 BC from Eleutherna, the monument declares its owner as well.48 Some other funerary inscriptions written in non‑Cretan alphabets may indicate an imported and not a Cretan habit and should therefore be treated with caution.49 A case in point is also the inscription on the pithos from Phaistos (Ἐρπετιδάμō παιδοπίλας ὄδε or Ἐρπετίδας ὀ Παιδοπίλας ὄδε),50 since the deictic pronoun seems to refer to the speaking pithos.

• 51 Chaniotis (2010, 15–7), see also: SEG 60.989: Παῖστος ἀνέθηκε Συβρίτας τὰν [δ]ε[κ]άτ̣α̣ν. The verb (...)
• 52 Kritzas (2015, 54) suggests the reading: Ἐπάνōρ ἔθηκε ὀ τō Fρṓτō. For the reading οf the name in th (...)
• 53 For the different types of votive inscriptions without the verb ἀνέθηκεν (e.g. only the name of the (...)
• 54 SEG 52.860: Ὀπίληξ / Ὀφίληξ? ὁ Πίληξ / ὁ Φίληξ?
• 55 Rizza & Scrinari (1968, 178, no. 187: ONAT[-).
• 56 The inscription, wrongly ascribed to Setaia, almost certainly must be read sinistroverse and not de (...)
• 57 SEG 52.859A, 63.745: Εὔθετος ←.
• 58 Johnston (2013, 427–9) rightly argues, contra Marginesu (2003), that the second letter is a nu and (...)
• 59 SEG 26.1047: Νοθοκάρτης Νικέτα Δ̣αμάτρι.

38Notwithstanding that the only appearance of the verb ἀνέθηκεν is in a votive inscription of ca. 550–500 BC to Zeus Idatas on a bronze cauldron from the Idaean Cave,51 the verb so far is not attested in any other private inscription. And yet, another inscription on the base of a bronze kouros statuette from the sanctuary of Hermes and Aphrodite at Kato Syme Viannou in Central Crete, dated to the 6th–5th century BC, preserves the more rare votive verb ἔθηκε, and thus reveals that this type of dedication was in use during the Archaic period in Crete.52 Nevertheless, the verb ἀνέθηκεν is frequently omitted as easily implied in many other Greek inscriptions,53 and the short votive formula is a common inscriptional choice outside and inside Crete. For example, next to the two inscribed pithoi mentioned above from Prinias and Phaistos, two votive figurines from Gortyn preserve most probably the name of the dedicator in the nominative,54 and possibly another name.55 A 7th-century BC clay mould-made terracotta statuette from Praisos preserves on the back side an incised inscription, probably a dedication to Athena or the Dioskouroi.56 Two more votive inscriptions come from the sanctuary on the acropolis of Gortyn, one pinakion with a dipinto of a name in the nominative,57 dated to the 8th–7th century BC; and a 6th-century BC clay pinakion or miniature “shield” with the name of the dedicator in the nominative and the reference to the votive object as τόδε (SEG 52.859B: Ἐϝβολίδας (?) [· · ? · ·]Ị τόδε [· · ? · ·]Σ̣Ε ←).58 Also, from Knossos a graffito on an amphora handle ἰαρɛ̄ confirms another type of dedication, where the votive object is termed hieron as belonging to the god. And van Effenterre has republished an inscription incised boustrophedon on a silver ring from the sanctuary of Demeter at Knossos dated to the 5th century BC as a dedication to the goddess.59

• 60 SEG 52.829–42.
• 61 SEG 52.837: ΟΠΡΙϘΣΟΣ τόνδ᾽ ἦλε.
• 62 For the discussion of the inscriptions from Aphrati and their interpretation, see Viviers (1994, 24 (...)

39Finally, the larger group of fourteen possibly votive inscriptions of ca. end of 7th–beginning of 6th centuries BC from Aphrati (ancient Datala?) are dedications of different pieces of armor (cuirasses, mitrai, and helmets), most of them consisting of a formula: name + patronym + pronoun (τόνδε or τόδε) + verb (ἦλε and once ἀπήλευσε, instead of the expected elsewhere ἀνέθεκε); or in its simpler form with the name of the dedicator, or/and the verb.60 One similar retrograde inscription on a bronze mitra, wrongly ascribed initially to Aphrati, comes from Axos.61 Although no interpretation can be supported with certainty because the inscriptions are out of context, the lack of the conventional votive verb ἀνέθηκεν and the absence of a deity’s name has led to the hypothesis that these inscribed weapons may not be offerings to a deity but rather booty taken from the battlefield and were possibly hung in an andreion.62

• 63 SEG 52.864: Δαμόθετος ἐπόσ’ ὀ Δαταλς.
• 64 Galanaki et al. (204, 219–23). Kritzas argues that, since the graffito is incised under the head of (...)

40Moreover, there is also a single attestation of an artist’s signature on a bronze cauldron of 6th century BC from Kato Symi Viannou with the characteristic verb ἐπόησεν,63 where the bronzesmith Damothetos declares his artwork and his origin from Datala. A late-Archaic pithamphora from Arkalochori in Central Crete, preserves a post-firing retrograde graffito of possibly a name (ΠΙΟΣ), but the type of inscription remains doubtful.64

• 65 Oikonomaki (2023, 206–13): [- - δρο]μέōν | ΟΘΛ[- - ca. 7 - -] | [- -?ὠ]κύς (decorative pattern).
• 66 SEG 46.122bis: Περάτας | Καλλίστō | π[- -].

41Furthermore, an aryballos from Prinias with a partly preserved dipinto, possibly an owner’s inscription, mentions the name of the young man/athlete with a reference to his identity as dromeus.65 A second inscribed aryballos 650–625 BC from the North Cemetery of Knossos also denotes the owner.66 A connection between the two aryballoi is possible, if a reading like π[όδας ὠκύς - -], perhaps an allusion to the Homeric formula πόδας ὠκὺς Ἀχιλλεύς, is correct, instead of the one suggested by Alan Johnston: π[ρόχους], which would presuppose the name of the owner in the genitive (I am the vessel of Peratas, son of Kallistos). It is also to be noted that an aryballos’ sherd inscribed with only four letters has been found in a tomb at Knossos, thus indicating that the finds mentioned above point to an epigraphical habit among the male athletes/members of a distinguished social group.

• 67 SEG 37.746: Δαμαγόρας καλός.
• 68 IC III.vii.4: Δηνίō <τ>οίδε πόδες; IC III.vii.1: [- -]μōν ἔγραφέ με.

42As for graffiti, there are some examples of a different type. There is a graffito on a wall of the Odeion in Gortyn representing the common type of “kalos inscriptions”.67 Also, several rupestral graffiti are discovered in Cape Samonion in East Crete, either as “dedicatory” or pilgrim inscriptions, or simply as signatures incised by pilgrims, passers‑by, or sailors.68

• 69 See also Papakonstantinou (2002, 137‑40) for the discussion on the topic of literacy in ancient Cre (...)

43The wide range of private inscriptions, although scarce, provides a different picture of the generally accepted one, namely that private inscriptions in Crete are rare. Writing on personal objects, owner’s inscriptions, rupestral graffiti, epitaphs, dedicatory inscriptions, artists’ signatures, all present the usual epigraphical material from Crete, which is found in other areas of the Greek world as well. Nevertheless, the use of script in some aspects of private life in Crete or elsewhere in this period does not necessarily mean widespread literacy as understood today, but it can provide a unique perspective to frame research questions.69

• 70 Van Effenterre (1948, 313).

44The role of inscribed texts in capturing scenes from the public and private life is fundamental for the formation of a “historical synthesis” of the testimonies from archaic Crete. In van Effenterre’s words: “[…] nous osons espérer que la seule réunion en une vaste synthèse historique des indications de tout ordre dont on peut disposer sur les affaires crétoises est de nature à dissiper bien des malentendus et à faire apparaître sous un jour plus juste et plus vrai les relations de la Crète et du monde grec […].”70 The challenge to keep up with this vivid and ongoing dialogue about the epigraphical testimonies is fascinating as it unfolds Crete’s epigraphical history and as archaic Crete is rediscovered.