Alphabetical exercise
ΑΒΓΥΚΦΚ
ΨΕΖΗΚ
ΕΖ++Κ
| Findspot |
Smyrna, Basilica
(Agora.1)
|
|---|---|
| Language | Greek |
| Writing Style | Graffito/incised |
|
|
| Apparatus Criticus | Apart from the beginning of the alphabet that leads off the first line, it is not evident what the writer intended. The repetition of kappa does not encourage us to think of a scrambled alphabet in one of the known exercise types used in teaching: reversed, last paired with first, skipping fixed intervals. More promising might be the chalinoi, “alphabets in scrambled order which joined together sequences of letters that were difficult to pronounce” (Cribiore, R., Writing, teachers, and students in Graeco-Roman Egypt (1996): 39), although this does not resemble a known example. There are many other surface scratches, and it is not clear if some are random or part of one of the graffiti identified here. |
| Bibliography | Bagnall, R. S. et al., Graffiti from the Basilica in the Agora of Smyrna (2016): 420. |
| Suggested Citation | AGP-SMYTP1001, The Ancient Graffiti Project, <https://ancientgraffiti.org/Graffiti/graffito/AGP-SMYTP1001> [accessed: 03 Apr 2025] |
| Contributions |
Editor: Roger S. Bagnall Principal Contributor: Roger S. Bagnall Last Revision: 2016-10-03 |