THE STELE OF PHANODIKOS

Due to the predominance of the Attic dialect already in the Classical times, archaic inscriptions constitute the most important source for the study of the Ionic dialect. An interesting example for the comparison of the Ionic with the Attic dialect is the following inscription from Sigeion (the well-known "stele of Phanodikos"), 6th c. B.C. (SIG I³ 2 = IG I³ 1508).

Text A is composed in the (eastern) Ionic dialect and narrates that Phanodikos from Prokonnesos gives a mixing bowl and a stand for it and a strainer to the Prytaneion of the Sigeians. Text B is composed in the Attic dialect. The Ionic inscription was most probably executed at Prokonnesos, a colony of Miletus. The Attic version of the text must have been added later at Sigeion, which was already under Athenian rule, commissioned by a certain Aisopos and his brothers who are mentioned on the inscription and were possibly Attic settlers. (see images 1 and 2 in the audiovisual material section).

(Jeffery, L.H., The Local Scripts of Archaic Greece, Oxford, New York 1990, pp. 366-367. Many thanks to the Jeffery Archive and the Centre for the Study of Ancient Documents (CSAD), Oxford University for granting me permission to reproduce the inscription).