Slobot About Town XLII:
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Slobot goes to the Greek Festival!
Slobot thought he had arrived in Sparta.
He thought he was in ancient Greece.
It certainly looked like Greece.
But something was off.
This writing, for example, was Latin, not Greek.
And this text exhibited traits of both early Latin...
AND Etruscan.
Slobot decided to get to the bottom of this linguistic curiosity.
And so Slobot went to find someone who speaks Greek.
And what better place to find such a person than at the Greek Festival?!
Slobot searched the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church for answers.
The St. Nicholas Orthodox Church was established in 1941.
Slobot was immediately greeted by candles...
and marvelous icons.
Icons like St. George...
St. Nicholas...
and, of course, Mary...
and Jesus.
Outside the church Slobot found a great variety of Mediterranean food...
and traditional Greek dancing...
by dancers of all ages.
It would be one of these dancers that eventually
turned Slobot on to the answer to his linguistic conundrum. |
It turns out that the writing out by the Rock
Water Tavern on Wood Street wasn't Greek at all! |
It was Oscan! The ancient language of Pompeii!
The inscription is a copy of one originally found
at Pompeii. It dedicates a building to one V. Aadirans who funded
the construction of the building for an association of young men devoted
to athletic and military training. |
The building upon which it was originally inscribed was probably a palaestra, the classical version of a gym. Of course, there is a bit of Latin in the text as well, "est ita valeas," or, loosely, "it is so you can be strong." This Latin portion, it should be noted, does not appear in the original inscription found in Pompeii. Slobot would like to thank the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and YOU! |