A new inscription from Kythera

 


1. Vouno, Ag. Georgios. The view of the village of Aulemon


2. Vouno, Ag. Georgios. The view of the harbour of Diakofti

To the small number of inscriptions from the island of Kythera (located South of the Peloponnese) a new one was added recently. Οn the 31.10.2011 the Kytherian Alekos Kastrisios, a retired seaman officer, and Phoibos Tsaravopoulos, an ecologist, while tracing the old
footpath that leads from the sea-side village of Αὐλέμων (Avlemon) up to the small mountain called Βουνό located in the east side of the island of Kythera and above Αὐλέμων (phot. 1, 2) noticed a small inscribed fragment.


3. Vouno. The location, where the inscription was found


4. The old footpath and the find spot of the inscription

It was lying on the ground on the west side of the mountain close to the monastery of Ἅι-Γιώργης (Ag. Georgios), just beneath the dining hall of the monastery (phot. 3, 4, 5).


5. Skafidi (an ancient quarry by the village of Aulemon). View of Vouno and the monastery of Ag. Georgios

Some years ago a Minoan peak-sanctuary was excavated there 1. Strong indication for the existence of the sanctuary was the discovery close to the monastery of few Minoan bronze figurines by the enthusiastic and tireless pioneer Adonis Kyrou.


6. The new inscription


7. The location of Vouno in relation to Cape Maleas

The inscription is cut on a reddish marble (antico rosso) with small letters (phot. 6); some twelve very fragmentary lines survive. From the letter forms it could be dated to the late 2nd cent. or to the 1st cent. B.C. The text is too fragmentary for one to say with safety what is its content; perhaps it is part of a metrical inscription related to the cult of a deity.

It is important to notice that in the area of the monastery (phot.7) sherds of the classical and Hellenistic period have been found, which could be interpreted as belonging to dedicatory vases and pots. The inscription will be published in the near future.

A. Tsaravopoulos – A. P. Matthaiou

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1 See the recent publication of the late Yannis Sakellarakis, Κύθηρα. Τὸ Μινωϊκὸ ἱερὸ κορυφῆς στὸν Ἅγιο Γεώργιο στὸ Βουνό, Greek Archaelogical Society, Athens 2011.