The So-called Nonsense Inscriptions on Ancient Greek Vases: Between Paideia and Paidiá by Sara Chiarini (review)

Sara Chiarini is the author of a small gem of a book on the Hesiodic Shield of Heracles, which moves quickly, easily, and aptly between art historical observations and philological and literary questions.¹ Her new book, however, on those Greek vases with letters that though undamaged make little or no sense, will not qualify for a multum-in-parvo award. At over 500 pages, it is a detailed and thorough survey, discussion, and analysis of what earlier scholars (a surprisingly large number) have made of the many vases inscribed with “nonsense” verses. Chiarini’s own conclusions follow. Thirty-eight of the vases are illustrated, some in color, but in most cases the letters cannot be distinguished; a tighter focus (losing something of the shape of the vase) would have served the reader better. A good loupe can help.

The useful and now standard rubric of nonsense covers a range of unintelligibility, from a group of letters that almost makes sense to squiggles, blots, and smudges that are meant merely to stand for letters. In between there are easily pronounceable syllables (some clearly written by the same hand who has written real Greek on the same vase), as well as consonant clusters that could pass for Georgian or Polish. There are also vases with free-floating letters that do not even pretend to belong to words. Chiarini gives examples of all types and presents a catalogue non-raisonné (225–517, containing 1381 entries!) that includes her transcription of the inscriptions, in many cases an improvement upon earlier transcriptions, such as those by Henry Immerwahr, who, interested in all vase inscriptions, was often limited to the fuzzy images in Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum. (Scholarship demands such accuracy of Chiarini, although in this case one bit of nonsense is replaced by another.)² I do wish, however, that she had been vain enough to assign them Chiarini numbers, which would surely benefit future scholars of this subject. As it is, the arrangement is first alphabetical by location and then by inventory number if available.³ Chiarini reasonably draws the line at nonsense words, not considering nonsensical (or nearly so) syntax, such as καλόν εἰμι τὸ ποτήριον καλ[όν], which she regards as one sentence (but perhaps is better read as two) or Μοι̑σά μοι ἀμφὶ Σκάμανδρον ἐύρροον ἄρχομ᾿ ἀείδειν.

Various explanations have been offered, each one credible in itself and not necessarily at odds with the others, but all fall short of proof: the artist is illiterate; the letters are meant merely to be decorative/aesthetic; writing in and of itself lends prestige to a vase; although nonsensical as Greek, the sounds represented by the sometimes iterative letters attempt to reproduce certain sounds (such as ]ΙΣ ΙΣ ΙΧΣ ΙΧ[ next to a rooster, or ENENENE as baby talk coming out of the mouth of a new-born Athena, with similar clusters nearby). Chiarini begins her attempts at understanding with a review of Greek pedagogy (as examined most fully by Raffaella Cribiore), where assignments to write letters and syllables produce results like those found on many of these vases. But, while the similarities are indeed intriguing, Chiarini’s attempt to link the two is interesting but not convincing, especially as she provides no parallels in other cultures for schoolboy exercises appearing on commercial and artistic products.

Ultimately, though, Chiarini is properly dismissive of any one explanation, allowing that some (e.g., musical notes, onomatopoeia) make sense on certain vases. Her own attempt to take away a positive message is to look at these vases from the point of view of an audience willing if not happy to have the opportunity to puzzle over the various possible meanings. Polysemy rather than nonsense! When in conclusion she says that “these inscriptions could unleash a whole range of imaginative, logical and linguistic skills in a literate reader” (217), the reader that comes to mind is none other than Chiarini herself, who has...