2014/01/01 by Adrienne Mayor, John Colarusso, David Saunders · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · Chemistry · #Classical Antiquity Studies #Ancient Near East History #Linguistics and language evolution #Nonsense #Art #Ancient history #History #Literature #Chemistry
paper · doi:10.2972/hesperia.83.3.0447
openalex publication_date 2014/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
More than 2,000 “nonsense” inscriptions (meaningless strings of Greek letters) appear on ancient Greek vases. We ask whether some nonsense inscriptions and nonGreek words associated with figures of Scythians and Amazons represent meaningful sounds (phonemes) in foreign languages spoken in “Scythia” (Black Sea-Caucasus region). We analyze the linguistic patterns of nonsense inscriptions and non-Greek words on thirteen vases featuring Scythians and Amazons by otherwise literate vase painters (550-450 BC). Our results reveal that for the first time in more than two millennia, some puzzling inscriptions next to Scythians and Amazons can be deciphered as appropriate names and words in ancient forms of Iranian, Abkhazian, Circassian, Ubykh, and Georgian. These examples appear to be the earliest attestations of Caucasian and other “barbarian” tongues. This new linguistic approach to so-called nonsense inscriptions sheds light on Greco-Scythian relations, literacy, bilingualism, iconography, and ethnicity; it also raises questions for further study. © Adrienne Mayor. [email protected]; John Colarusso. [email protected]; David Saunders. [email protected]