funnel;
measure(probably)
- Museum number
- 1922,1019.1
- Description
-
Bronze funnel, probably a standard measure, with an inscription in Greek alphabetic characters describing it as the public property of the city (of Methylion).
- Production date
- 500 BC-50 BC (probably)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 29 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- The inscription ([of the people/demos of Methylion]) implies a close connection with the ancient community of Methylion (Μεθύλιον), probably located around the modern vilage of Myrina (Μύρινα) near Katditsa in Thessally (Hansen and Nielsen 2004, 697). Once attested solely through coins of the C5th-4th BC (see Head 1911, 301-2), more recently have come to light Hellenistic terracotta roof-tiles with a related inscription (ΜΕΘΥΛΙΕΙΩΝ) have been found at the village in more recent times (Hansen and Nielsen 2004, 697). Illicit excavations at a tumulus near the village in 1910 also revealed a hoard of coins and rich burials dating to Hellenistic times.
NB: a previous version of this record dated this item to AD 500-600 (as did its display label in Room 69). Given that the city appeared to have been destroyed in the second century BC, the object probably dates before this date.
Bibliography:
Hansen, M.H. and Nielsen, T.H. (2004), An inventory of archaic and classical poleis (New York: Oxford University Press).
Head, B.V. 1911, Historia numorum. A manual of Greek numismatic. New and enlarged edition (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
- Location
- On display (G69/dc25)
- Acquisition date
- 1922
- Acquisition notes
- The funnel was reported to the Trustees as having been purchased from the London art dealer F.B. Greenstreet, but a letter sent by the latter to the British Museum in September 1922 (GR Original Letters 1921-22, A-J, fol. 525-526) enclosed a letter from Zampoulakis (ζαμπουλακης) asking for the £21 owed to him for the object to be paid through Greenstreet; this suggests that he was the actual vendor (as he was for other items from Greece sold to the BM before and after this date (q.v.)). There is no previous correspondence with Zampoulakis on this matter in the GR letter books, though this might be an accident of preservation as the object would have to have been formally offered to the Trustees before a sale could be agreed.
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 1922,1019.1
