Wine cup used by Pericles found in grave north of Athens
Experts are "99 per cent" sure that the cup was used by the Athenian statesman, as one of the other names listed, Ariphron, is that of Pericles' elder brother.
"The name Ariphron is extremely rare," Angelos Matthaiou, secretary of the Greek Epigraphic Society, told the newspaper.
"Having it listed above that of Pericles makes us 99 per cent sure that these are the two brothers," he said.
Finding the cup of Pericles is cool, but finding his actual tomb would be even cooler. Thanks to
Pausanias and other ancient observers, the location and identity of many of the tombs of ancient prominent Athenians is known.
if they could get his dna from the cup that would be awesome.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that this is "Pericle's cup". Pericles was a noble politician, therefore his personal cup would normally be made of metal or skillfully decorated clay. This is most probably an ordinary cup that Pericles and some of his friends carved their names on as a reminder a good time they had during a feast that one of them had hosted. The fact that it was found in somebody's grave, signifies the value that such an artifact had, "signed" by the leader of the world's greatest city at that time.
ReplyDelete'Ariphron'
ReplyDeleteI looked up the name and it says "very wise".
Is that right? I thought that 'ari' meant 'the best', 'noble', 'aristocratic', of Aryan caste/ race. It appears with the same meaning in Indian, Iranian and various IE languages. Ari also seems to imply 'wise'. It is a people variously described by its characteristics.
It appears in various personal names, 'Aristotle', 'Aristophanes' etc.
Could any Greek speaker clarify 'Ariphron'? Thanks.
Yes, BTW, congratulations on ten years of Dienekes on the web. In this new world where information explodes out there and evaporates so quickly, the steady, intelligent focus you've brought to this subject matter is quite an accomplishment. Even Pericles the law giver would have been impressed.
ReplyDeleteAriphron=a man with "aristi phronisis", that means a very prudent man..not exactly wise but sensible
ReplyDelete