Probably Greek, though it’s hard to tell, and you’re right they don’t say it. I’m not too familiar with the history of the region, but I believe that area shared a similar material culture as nearby Hellenistic states, and was eventually ruled by Rome, so Greek would make sense. Might be common-enough knowledge to locals that they didn’t even think to mention it, but anyone who knows for sure please correct me.
The thing that bothers me most about that piece though is the photos (not the publication’s fault). The archaeologists broke most of the basic rules of archaeological photography. If I was their supervisor I would have insisted they straighten their sections, re-clean, and re-take all those photos. Those are terrible shots of an amazing find.
lvxferre@mander.xyz 1 month ago
Another site claims that “reports identify the second language of the inscription as Greek”.
Kind of a let-down to be honest. Latin or Greek plus another language (preferably a poorly attested one) would be way better.
Gork@sopuli.xyz 1 month ago
Indeed. Latin and Greek bilingualism must have been super common, I was hoping it to be something a bit more exotic given its location.
lvxferre@mander.xyz 1 month ago
It was, specially in two situations: wealthy = educated elites, and in the “border” between the Latin and Greek areas of influence. Image
This tomb fits both criteria. Strikçan is ~100km to the east, a bit to the north of Dyrrachium (modern Durrës), so it’s right in the border. And there was stuff like textiles woven with gold, that Gellianos guy was probably swimming in money.