The Graffiti Marking Polis Ownership from the Excavations of Olbian Agora in the 1960s and 1970s

Abstract

The article publishes eleven graffiti from the Olbian Agora, marking pottery owned by the polis (Yu.G. Vinogradov has published photos of six objects). On one of the vessels the word πόλεως̣ is written in its full form, on the others it is represented by abbreviations ΠΟ and ΠΟΛΕ. The collection includes ten imported black-glazed vessels of Attic production (the location of four of them is currently unknown, the description is given on the basis of archival photos) and a red-slip fish dish, supposedly of local production. On the basis of the archaeological context, the typology of pottery and paleography, the graffiti can be dated to the first half of the 5th century BC.