VB·4

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	atios
Reading in original script:
Object:	VB·4 Ornavasso (bottle)
Position:	shoulder, outside
Orientation:	0°
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
Letter height:	0.4 cm0.157 in <br />
Number of letters:	5
Number of words:	1
Number of lines:	1
Workmanship:	scratched after firing
Condition:	complete, damaged
Archaeological culture:	La Tène D [from object]
Date of inscription:	first half of 1st c. BC [from object]
Type:	unknown
Language:	Celtic
Meaning:	'Atios'
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 308 Solinas 1995: 132 Morandi 2004: 49
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 553 no. 49

Images

Inscription VB·4 from Morandi 1999

Inscription VB·4 from Solinas 1995

Flask VB·4 Ornavasso with inscription VB·4

Inscription VB·4

Commentary

First published in Bianchetti 1895: 67 (no. 4), 154. Examined for LexLep on 20^th April 2024.

Images in Piana Agostinetti 1972: tav. XXXI.8 (drawing), Morandi 1999: 173 (drawing) and Morandi 2004: 548, fig. 11.45 (drawing).

Inscribed in very small letters on the shoulder of the flask, between neck and the white band (length 1.5 cm). Despite the smallness, the letters are well legible with the exception of final sigma, in whose place a rough oval is left. The letter may have had three or four bars and either orientation (Bianchetti: , Morandi 2004: ); we suggest a retrograde four-bar variant as in VB·1 and VB·16.

The sequence atios is a personal name in the nominative, either that of the deceased or of a previous owner of the vessel.

See also Kretschmer 1905: 98, no. 4, Rhŷs 1913: 60, no. 4, Pisani 1964: 284, no. 120, Piana Agostinetti 1972: 272, n. 8, Morandi 1999: 172 f., no. 18, Morandi 1999b: 314 f., no. 5.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Bianchetti 1895	Enrico Bianchetti, I sepolcreti di Ornavasso [= Atti della Società di Archeologia e Belle Arti della provincia di Torino 6], Torino: Paravia 1895.