Hello, I am new here. I am a man from the USA with a small farm. I collect
antique ewers and other Drinking and storage vessels. I get them from yard
sales, antique sales, EBay, and other like places.

Recently I bought a small mouthed vessel, with a drawing on it of a man on a
chariot, another man underneath the chariot, and some Greek writing on the
bottom of the vessel. I spent some time interpreting some of the words, but have
been stumped on others.

One of the words written was "Monomaxia", which I interpreted to be "Duel",
which no doubt looks true. There is also the word "Kai" which I believe to be
"and". But there are 3 other words I can't quite get.

The painting is beautiful. It looks like the battle between Achilles and Hector.
But the words don't seem to match up.

If some one is interested, I will come back on and give you the words, they are
Greek, but I will describe them, and maybe you can help.

Thanks- Rick M

Here are the words, I am going to describe them using the Greek Dictionary.

First word- Monomaxia
Second Word- spelled -alpha, theta,eta,nu,alpha,sigma
Third Word- Kai
Fourth word- spelled-tau,iota,tau,alpha,nu,omicron,upsilon
Fifth word -spelled- phi,iota,nu,tau,iota,alpha,sigma

Thank You to everyone in advance for your help.

Rick Machado

Hi,

The second word is ΑΘΗΝΑΣ, the fourth, ΤΙΤΑΝΟΥ, the fifth, ΦΙΝΤΙΑΣ. Fourth and fifth words are spelled wrong, which means that the vessel is not original. The fourth word should be ΤΙΤΑΝΟΣ (Titanos), and the fifth ΦΙΔΙΑΣ (Fithias).
The phrase is "Duel of Athena with a Titan" (Μονομαχία Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ Τιτάνος). Fidias is the name of the artist.

Thank You George, you're a good man.

The artist you are referring to is Fidias Michelidakas, yes? Born about 1895, died about 1926? Not the Phedias, or Fidias the sculpture from the Greek Ages. Just want to be sure.

This vessel I have, I would like to know more about it, even if it is not original.

There is another phrase on the bottom, which I didn't ask about because it is in English. It simply states "hand painted". But it doesn't say who did the hand painting.

The art is not really painted on, it seems to be etched. You can feel the relief of the etchings on it.

If I am in the wrong forum George, please tell me where to go. I was thinking someone might have a link to someone who maybe able to decipher this little gem.

Again, Thank You Very Much. I am doing some background studies on Athena, and the Titans.

Rick Machado

I have translated the ewer, with the help of a Greek Scholar and Professor, and I want to thank George for his help.

The final translation was " Duel of Athena with a Titan", as George correctly pointed out, however the Professor did not find any misspelling.

The artist was Phinias, not Fidias, or Phedias. It was not original, but a 1960's version of an ancient ewer. Such is life.

Thanks for the use of your forum.

Rick M

For the misspellings; if you wrote down correctly the letters as they appear on the vessel, the misspellings are clear: Fourth word- spelled-tau,iota,tau,alpha,nu,omicron,upsilon: if this is indeed ypsilon and not sigma (Σ) there is a misspelling here. The same in phi,iota,nu,tau,iota,alpha,sigma: Phinias shouldn't have a tau.