Anchor Stock with Greek Inscription

Fragment of an anchor stock, trapezoidal in shape with a rounded upper end, preserving approximately half of the original object. On its main face it bears a dedicatory inscription in Greek, incised in Achaean characters and arranged in two lines, reading:
“[An offering] to Zeus Meilichios. Phayllos dedicated it.”

In 1934, along the coast of Capo Cimiti, a few kilometers south of Capo Colonna, half of an anchor stock was discovered. Originally part of a ship’s mooring equipment, the object was later offered as a votive dedication to Zeus Meilichios. The inscribed text names Phayllos, the dedicator, who belonged to an aristocratic family of Kroton. He was a renowned athlete, a three-time victor at the Pythian Games of Delphi, and is also remembered for his role in a significant episode of Greek history: according to tradition, in 480 BC he financed the only ship that sailed from Magna Graecia to take part in the Battle of Salamis, one of the most celebrated events of the Persian Wars.