Atleti e tombe a tegole ricurve nella chora metapontina di IV secolo a.C.

An inscribed Laconian tile was found, in a not specified context, at Lama di Palio, a place bordering the chora of Metaponto to the North. The text, which dates back to the second half of the 4th century BC, seems honoring an athlete from Tarentum. The fact that the inscription was carved on before cooking the tile, denotes a connection between the object and the man of the inscription. Was the tile created for the athlete’s tomb? The examination of the Laconian tiles tombs in the countryside of Metaponto makes this hypothesis difficult, although not impossible. From another prospective, some inscribed tiles from Magna Graecia provide issues, which support different assumptions on the original function of such a tile.