Interprétation des timbres amphoriques « à la roue » d'Akanthos

Abstract

The mysterious stamps 'with the wheel ' dating from the second half of the 4th century BC have the original form of a circle divided generally into 3 or 4 sectors, each containing a letter or monogram. About 2,000 examples of these have been retrieved, mainly in the north Mediterranean and the Black Sea. They have been thought to originate from Thasos and have been attributed unquestionably to Akanthos, ever since the discovery in the 1980s of abundant remains of an amphora workshop (scrap heaps and kilns) at the foot of the fortification wall. More recently, it has also proved possible to distinguish and interpret the two types of abbreviation found together on each of the stamps: on the one hand we have a proper name (of the magistrate rather than the maker?) and on the other a capacity (between 2 chous and 1 metrete, sometimes in the form of monograms {ΠΧ} and {ME}). This decipherment will undoubtedly be of some use to the formal study of Greek amphoras and reflection on the finality of their stamping.

Mediterranean Containerization

“…Far more often a single letter or generic image is all that appears on the stamp. Date of manufacture only begins to be indicated with the names of annual magistrates found on fourth-century Thasian amphoras (Garlan 1999). The closest one gets to the name of a manufacturer on Greek stamps is the name conventionally referred to as the fabricant (only seen from the fourth century and later, not earlier), but the identity of this person is very much debated (Debidour 1998;García Sanchez 2008;Garlan 1998).…”

“…Date of manufacture only begins to be indicated with the names of annual magistrates found on fourth-century Thasian amphoras (Garlan 1999). The closest one gets to the name of a manufacturer on Greek stamps is the name conventionally referred to as the fabricant (only seen from the fourth century and later, not earlier), but the identity of this person is very much debated (Debidour 1998;García Sanchez 2008;Garlan 1998). Finally, stamps as having "guaranteed a certain capacity" is but one side of a very complex debate, which had barely begun with Grace (1949;see Finkielsztejn 2006see Finkielsztejn , 2012cf.…”

“…Garlan 2000:169-171). Most importantly, only one group of stamps-those of Akanthosindicates the capacity module of the stamped amphora (Garlan 2006). It should be clear simply from these points of correction that the purposes served by amphora stamps varied from place to place, period to period; it is difficult to see here a "coevolution" between "transport containers .…”