Epigraphy endoftheeighthcentury.Theconsequenceswhichcanbedrawnfromthese
fewlinesaremomentous.Firstly,thisisamongtheearliestattestedusesof
the Greek alphabet. Secondly,while it has never been denied, even in the
classical period itself, that the Greek alphabet is a borrowing,with varied
adaptations,fromthetwenty-two-letterPhoenician-Hebrewalphabet,the
consistentright-to-leftwritinghereseemstoindicateaparticularcloseness
tothePhoeniciansource.Thatitselfmightnotbecorrect(thoughevidence
hasbeenpresentedforaPhoenicianpresenceonIschia),forithasbeenar-
guedthattheearliestexamplesofGreekwritingwhichwehave(fromthe
eighthcentury)reflectthePhoenicianscriptnotofthatperiodbutofsome
threecenturiesearlier.^33 Thetheory,basedonletterformsandotherstrictly
palaeographicalconsiderations,naturallyhastocontendwiththefact(which
could,ofcourse,bealteredbynewdiscoveriesatanymoment)thatthereare
noexamplesofGreekalphabeticwritingbeforetheeighthcentury.Butin
anycase,ifwelooktotheimmediatecontextinIschia,thedouble-negative
formofargumentisstillrelevant.ItcannotbearguedthatalltheGreekcolo-
nistsonIschiawereilliterate,becauseatleastoneofthemwasliterate.What
ismore,thegraffitoisinverseandappearstocontainaliteraryallusion,if
nottotheIliadatanyratetothecontentofastoryincorporatedintheIliad.
Moreover,sinceitisanundoubtedfactthataversionoradaptationofthe
Phoenician alphabet passed also to the Etruscans (who continued towrite
right-to-left),thegraffitoatleastillustratesapossiblechannelthroughwhich
thesefundamentallyimportantculturaltransmissionsmayhavepassed.
.The‘‘BlackStone’’(lapis niger)fromtheForuminRome.Thisfamous
stonecontainsaninscription,writtenvertically,inlinesrunningalternately
upanddown,whichisalmostentirelyunintelligible,butcertainlyinLatin.
Thelatestarchaeologicaldiscussionofthecomitium(thearchaicmeetingplace
ofthepeople)areaoftheForumwherethestonewasfound(andremains
insitu)suggeststhattheconstructiondatestothesixthcentury..Whatis
more,thepresenceofafragmentofAthenianblack-figurepotterydatable
toc. – and containing a representation of Hephaestus strongly sug-
geststhatthemonumentshouldbeidentifiedwiththeVolcanalorshrineof
Vulcan(Hephaestus)whichisknowntohavebeensituatedinthisarea.^34
Sincetheidentificationcannotbecertain,theargumentisoneofcoherence,
andcannotbeconclusive.Ifitiscorrect,itnaturallyimpliesthattheidenti-
ficationoftheGreekHephaestusandVulcanwasconsciouslymadenotlater
. J.Naveh,‘‘TheGreekAlphabet:NewEvidence,’’Biblical Archaeologist():.
. SeeF.Coarelli,‘‘IlComiziodalleoriginiallafinedellaRepubblica,’’Parola del Pas-
sato (): ; note the survey byT. J. Cornell, ‘‘Rome and LatiumVetus, –,’’
Archaeological Reports for –(),ff.,onpp.–.