The vessel testifies to the richness of southern italian culture in the Roman times. Before the arrival of the Romans, the southern area of Italy was populated with large settlements of Greeks and Greek culture was deeply rooted in the area, so much so that the Romans came to call these Greek-settled areas as ‘Magna Graecia’ – Great Greece. The white letters depicted on the vessel’s read P. I. E and urges the beholder to drink. It could be a reference to a shortened inscription that was popular on Roman cups: PIE ZESES. This inscription originated from a Greek phrase ΠΙΕ ΖΗCHC, from πίνειv (pinein – to drink) and ζην (zin – to live). The whole phrase would thus mean, ‘drink, may you live!’. The inscription on the vessel is written with the roman alphabet, but the meanings refers to an typically greek expression, reflecting the gradual romanisation in the southern italian.
