CAVI Lemma: Fragmentary BG olpe (oinochoe). From Athens. Unattributed. Early fifth.
CAVI Subject: Undecorated.
CAVI Inscriptions: On the shoulder, just below the neck and starting to right of the handle,
Gr.: μhετριο.
CAVI Comments: A small vase. The rho nearly D-shaped. Lang reads μηετριο, a measure
(medium-sized jug, or referring to the contents, not strong or weak); her eta is
a misunderstanding of the combination mu-heta (cf. e.g. Sparkes–Talcott (1970),
p. 380). She does not discuss the ending, which seems unlikely at this early
date, but Sparkes–Talcott (1970) compares a (possibly Attic) olpe from Rhodes
(Clara Rhodos 3, 111, pl. 3) which has the BG Dip. μεττριο [sic]. Nevertheless,
a reading Μhετρ[ο]ιο is intriguing: the olpe was found in a well containing many
olpae (perhaps a cleanup from a public buiding, see Sparkes–Talcott (1970), p.
288, E 14: 5), in an area to the South of where the archaic Metroon was probably
situated, and the rho has a shape somewhat resembling an omicron. The olpe would
have been the property of the Metroon. A proper name Μετριος does not seem to
occur; compare however Agora P 8848, which has Α[--] in the same position on a
similar vase. For μh, cf. μhεσ[σ]οι, IG i/3. 1023 = i/2. 837, Threatte (1996),
330.
CAVI Number: 0396
AVI Bibliography: Sparkes–Talcott (1970), 78, n. 12 and 380. — Lang (1976), 59/Ha 1, pl. 32
(dr.).
CAVI / AVI Data from Henry Immerwahr's Corpus of Attic Vase Inscriptions (CAVI), updated by Rudoph Wachter's Attic Vase Inscriptions (AVI)
