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Clay ostrakon: E.GA.4690.1943

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Current Location: Gallery 19

Titles

Clay ostrakon

Entities

Categories

Description

An ostrakon is a reused fragment of pottery or stone and can contain notes, sketches, receipts or letters. The example here is a letter in Saidic Coptic from the priest Markos to a holy father, begging him to send incense through a certainn Kyriakos, as arranged. Body sherd, with 14 lines of Coptic on one side and 3 lines inside, in black ink

Measurements and weight

Depth: 0.9 cm
Height: 17.1 cm
Width: 15.6 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1943) by Gayer-Anderson, R. G. (Major)

Dating

Coptic
Circa 401 - 600

Materials used in production

Clay

Techniques used in production

Thrown : Reused

Identification numbers

Accession number: E.GA.4690.1943
Primary reference Number: 59137
Oldadmincategory: P

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Friday 18 July 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Antiquities

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Clay ostrakon" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/59137 Accessed: 2025-12-07 14:39:05

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/59137 |title=Clay ostrakon |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-07 14:39:05|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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