Original scientific paper

Glagolitic graffito from Gradac

Vicko Kapitanović

Abstract

The author presents a copy and the transcription of a short Glagolitic insrctiption on an unfinished rough piece of stone 16,5 x 43 x 6 cm, with the inscription field size 9 x 23 cm. Sacristan Ivan Vidović found the stone fragment in the Gradac cemetery, ten kilometres north-east of Drniš. The inscription is a warning to someone not to be merry because of a celebrity but because of the fortune that accompanies him. On the basis of paleographic analysis the inscription shows some graphic similarities with the Vienna Fragment, the Ljubljana Homiliar, the First Vrbnik Breviary, the Hum Graffito, and the Humac Plate. It can be from the second half of the 12th, or the first half of the 13th century when the Glagolitic script was widely used in Croatia. In that time a few local armed conflicts and two military aggressions (Byzantium, Tatars) took place. Even the Hungarian king Bela IV had to flee to the Adriatic Coast, close to the place where the inscription was found. Therefore it was important not only to be swift, but also to have a good luck as the inscription emphasised.

Keywords

Hrčak ID:

14975

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/14975

Publication date:

30.9.1999.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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