high grade.^12 But again, are these simply helpful scribes? There is still
considerable ambiguity, but the evidence seems to be growing that many
moresherdswerepreprepared, for whateverreason, to be givenready-made
to the voters. (These ambiguities are perhaps reminiscent of the recent
phenomenon of the mass e-mail protest.)
The varying quality and especially poor quality of many sherds is in
itself revealing, a point Phillips has emphasized. Though scratching on
pottery is not that easy, it is clear that some writers found the process far
harder than others, though the material was the same for all. The pub-
lished ostraka do show dramatic variation in the quality and confidence of
handwriting, spelling, omitted letters, badly formed or back-to-front let-
ters. Of the examples in Phillips’ article, figures 11 and 12, which read
̊ ̧ ̄ˇÖ ̋ (with omega omitted) are such examples, and figure 1
(ÔåØóÆíäæïò Éóƪïæï) has writing that is wavering boustrophedon but
with the sigmas the wrong way round. Mabel Lang’s edition of the Agora
ostraka (1990) gives many more examples in which essential vowels or
consonants are missing.
13
The following are some examples, all from
Ostraka, written with lowercase letters in the modern convention, with-
out the missing letters added in:
Ostrakano. 89 (Lang 1990, fig. 4): ́ïıôƺØÆíÆ hï ìÆæŁïíØïò ́ıôƺØïíÆ with
́ıôƺØïíÆcrossed out and alpha missing in ‘‘marathonios.’’ (See figure 2.1.)Figure 2.1Athenian Agora XXV,Ostraka, no. 89.no.1061 (Lang 1990, fig. 27):×óíŁØðïò `æØçæïíïò(for
×ófÆgíŁØðïò `æØçæïíïò). Note omitted alpha; also single pi and rho.
no.1097 (Lang 1990, fig. 29):ÌÆôØóÅíò hØçïåæÆôïò with four bar sigma the
wrong way round.^14 (See figure 2.2.)- Phillips 1990.
- Lang 1990: omitted letters listed pp. 16 17. Note also Lang 1982 on writing and
spelling. - For an alternative reading of the first word, see Lang’s edition, ad loc.
Writing, Reading, Public and Private ‘‘Literacies’’ 19