Inscription on greave from Montagna di Marzo

A pair of bronze greaves – dated to the beginning of the 5th century BC – is preserved at the Antikensammlungen in Munich. On one of them it is possible to read the graffiti epigraph – Denda – that is most probably the anthroponym of their owner. The comparison with a pair of greaves found in a necropolis in the Sikel centre of Montagna di Marzo (Enna), that is generally identified with the ancient city of Herbessus, suggests that the original location of the greaves preserved in Munich can be identified with the same archaeological context. The anthroponym attested by the inscription has been interpreted both as Greek and as Sikel.