The inscriptions from the mound necropolis of Duvanlii (Thrace) and their socio-cultural context

Abstract

Abstract The article attempts to restore the socio-cultural context of four inscriptions found on various artifacts in graves from the mound necropolis at Duvanlii in Thrace (present day Bulgaria) dating back to the 5th century BC. They are written with a different technique - the erroneously transmitted graffito written in early Attic alphabet on the bottom of a plate ΙΠΠΟΜΑΧΣ, the depinti KOAΣ and ΚOMOΣ on a red-figure hydria, and the Thracian anthroponym ΔΑΔΑΛΕΜΕ engraved on four silver vases. The author focuses both on the interpretation of the single inscriptions (especially the placement of ΔΑΔΑΛΕΜΕ in a series with other known Thracian names, as well as with the newly published from Zoni) and on the contact zone of Thracians and Greeks in Thrace and Samothrace, whose specifics can explain the considered graphical practices.