The inscriptions displayed in the Archaeological Museum of Messenia (Kalamata)

Click here to view it in Greek.


Phot. 1. (Inv. No 6327) IG V1, 1316. Archaic inscription from Ancient Thalamai mentioning Zeus Kavatas. Photo before conservation.
Phot. 2. (Inv. No 6327) IG V1, 1316. Photo of the same inscription after conservation work done by Ms Tebelopoulou of the 38th Ephorate of Antiquities.

In 2006 A. Makres and M. Diakoumakou were granted permission from the Ministry of Culture to study and publish all the inscriptions kept in the Archaeological Museum of Messenia in Kalamata. This objective, which is still in progress, was supported with enthusiasm by the 38th Ephorate of Pre-historic and Classical Antiquities and its Director at the time, Dr. Xeni Arapogianni. Our work includes also the creation of a catalogue of the inscriptions, a copy of which will be submitted to the Ephorate.


Phot. 3. (Inv. no Λ444). Ephebic List from Vounaria (SEG 57.365)

During 2007-2008 we collaborated with the Director and the archaeologists of the 38th Ephorate for the selection and the compiling of the short entries of the inscriptions that were to be displayed in the new museum exhibition. In 2009 the new Archaeological Museum was inaugurated. We thought that it would be useful to make available on the website of the Greek Epigraphic Society a check list of the inscriptions displayed in the museum’s exhibition. The check list includes the inv. no of each inscription, its basic bibliographical reference(s), mention of its nature and find spot as well as a photograph. The check list will appear shortly on the website of the Greek Epigraphic Society under the heading Research Projects/ Cataloguing Greek Inscriptions. The Museum’s exhibition has a total of 36 inscriptions and a cast of the Sacred Law of Andania (IG V1, 1390).

Of these, 16 are included in the IG V1, the others were published for the first time after the publication (in 1913) of the IG V1 mostly by the Swedish archaeologist N. Valmin and archaeologists of the local Ephorate of Antiquities. Three sample photographs of inscriptions from the museum’s exhibition are presented here showing the archaic inscription from Ancient Thalamai mentioning Zeus Kavatas1 before and after restoration/ preservation (phot. 1-2) and the ephebic catalogue from Vounaria (phot.3).2 The publication of a check list of the inscriptions kept in the Apotheke of the Museum will soon be presented.

Andronike Makres – Maria Diakoumakou
Greek Epigraphic Society

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1 IG V1, 1316; See also Μ. Διακουμάκου, Νέα ἀνάγνωση τῆς IG V1, 1316: Ἱερὸς νόμος ἀπὸ τὶς Θαλάμες Μεσσηνίας (forthcoming). 2 See A. Makres, in Mitchell, L. and Rubinstein, L. (eds), Greek History and Epigraphy, Essays in honour of P.J. Rhodes, Wales (2009), p. 185-200 (=SEG 57. 365), the editio princeps of the ephebic list which does not include a photograph of the monument.