Any Greek Speakers Available?

Ask Ari shut ... Sunday and epiphany tomorrow. But lady where we decamped for coffee says ...
Ancient Greek
Two words
Stem is the verb to fasten

sorry ... just realised I’d written this but omitted to press post! Blame it on a cold!

will keep asking.
 
Ask Ari shut ... Sunday and epiphany tomorrow. But lady where we decamped for coffee says ...
Ancient Greek
Two words
Stem is the verb to fasten

sorry ... just realised I’d written this but omitted to press post! Blame it on a cold!

will keep asking.

Thanks, Katherine.
I'll pause for another week before going back to the current shop owner.
I hope that your cold goes real soon.

Colin :):):)
 
Ask Ari ...
Ancient Greek
Means make stable, and he did a gesture of pressing his fists together.
So along the lines of joining/fastening to make stable.
K
 
Looking again at the original pic, the threshold step is well worn and of some age, maybe researching the history and use of the building will give a better clue to the mosaic’s meaning, what’s the address .......?
 
Looking again at the original pic, the threshold step is well worn and of some age, maybe researching the history and use of the building will give a better clue to the mosaic’s meaning, what’s the address .......?

I'm not quite sure how you'll use this, Dave!

Le Wine Store
28 Station Road
Harpenden
Hertfordshire
AL5 4SE

It's 117m from Harpenden station, 3233 km from Athens and buses 45, 307, 357 (.... and more) stop just 43m from the mosaic.
If you fancy a chat with the owner, the phone number is 01582 761404.
Please do let me know if you need further information.
If you make progress, please post your research method as well as the outcome.
I have a feeling that you're going to impress us!

Colin :):):)
 
I'm not quite sure how you'll use this, Dave!

Le Wine Store
28 Station Road
Harpenden
Hertfordshire
AL5 4SE

It's 117m from Harpenden station, 3233 km from Athens and buses 45, 307, 357 (.... and more) stop just 43m from the mosaic.
If you fancy a chat with the owner, the phone number is 01582 761404.
Please do let me know if you need further information.
If you make progress, please post your research method as well as the outcome.
I have a feeling that you're going to impress us!

Colin :):):)

I don’t know about impressing anyone but I can fill in a few gaps about the building. It was one of six building plots sold at auction around 1893 and having looked on streetview, the front elevation is clearly late Victorian/Edwardian in style and detail. It is situated in the Harpenden Conservation Area and this row of shops are listed as being of local historic/architectural interest. I haven’t been able to track down a commercial directory for this area on line, but local libraries may well hold a reference copy of Kelly’s or similar directory for the early 1900’s. By 1930, 28 Station Road was a pharmacy run by Mr and Mrs Stevenson. My guess is that it was first built as a pharmacy given the mortar and pestil motif, although without seeing an earlier commercial directory I can’t be sure. I’ll have another scout around later.
 
I don’t know about impressing anyone but I can fill in a few gaps about the building. It was one of six building plots sold at auction around 1893 and having looked on streetview, the front elevation is clearly late Victorian/Edwardian in style and detail. It is situated in the Harpenden Conservation Area and this row of shops are listed as being of local historic/architectural interest. I haven’t been able to track down a commercial directory for this area on line, but local libraries may well hold a reference copy of Kelly’s or similar directory for the early 1900’s. By 1930, 28 Station Road was a pharmacy run by Mr and Mrs Stevenson. My guess is that it was first built as a pharmacy given the mortar and pestil motif, although without seeing an earlier commercial directory I can’t be sure. I’ll have another scout around later.

You've impressed already, Dave!

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 
Managed to find a 1914 Kelly’s Directory online. James Ross Stevenson is listed as a chemist based at 28 Station Road, so I think it’s fair to assume that 28 Station Road was a chemists/ pharmacy from its construction in the early 1900’s until at least the 1930’s. So the mosaic would have been installed as part of the original shop front especially as ornate tiles and tesserae were very fashionable in this period. Just a hunch, but I think the central symbol in the mosaic just reflects the fact that chemists at that time actually made up a lot of potions and medicine on the premises. If they are male/female symbols then maybe that just reflects the pharmacy was available to all. As to the use of what we think are Greek letters, then that’s possibly just Mr Stevenson using artistic licence to reflect the origins of apothecaries. Of course, those letters may just be a jumble with no meaning, it is only an advert for a pharmacy and I doubt anyone expected there to be too many Greek scholars in Harpenden to pick up on it!!
 
Wot he said
 
Managed to find a 1914 Kelly’s Directory online. James Ross Stevenson is listed as a chemist based at 28 Station Road, so I think it’s fair to assume that 28 Station Road was a chemists/ pharmacy from its construction in the early 1900’s until at least the 1930’s. So the mosaic would have been installed as part of the original shop front especially as ornate tiles and tesserae were very fashionable in this period. Just a hunch, but I think the central symbol in the mosaic just reflects the fact that chemists at that time actually made up a lot of potions and medicine on the premises. If they are male/female symbols then maybe that just reflects the pharmacy was available to all. As to the use of what we think are Greek letters, then that’s possibly just Mr Stevenson using artistic licence to reflect the origins of apothecaries. Of course, those letters may just be a jumble with no meaning, it is only an advert for a pharmacy and I doubt anyone expected there to be too many Greek scholars in Harpenden to pick up on it!!

That's great work, Dave.
I had rather assumed that at some time in it's past the shop had been a pharmacy, but it's good to have confirmation. That saves me dropping in to the local library today!
I'm not so sure about your suggestion that the letters may be a jumble with no meaning. A pharmacist would have had a good education, most likely at university. I rather fancy that there's more work to do there. By total coincidence, I once had a classical Greek scholar working for me (in a telecommunications environment, believe it or not!) but contact with him has long since gone. I may make contact with a university department and try to shed light on the problem.
Unless the community comes up with something in the meantime...........

Colin :):):)
 
Couldn‘t find anything about number 28, but did find a fascinating local history site.

This is a fascinating area, Bill. The local history includes neolithic artefacts, ditches circling a 110 acre settlement built by the Catuvellauni tribe who fought against the Romans, the site of the Martyrdom of St Alban by the Romans (the first English Christian Martyr), plenty of Roman remains, the start of the English Civil War ...... and so on ....... and so on ......... right up to being the place where Stephen Hawking was educated before going to Cambridge.

Colin :):):)
 
While I hadn’t commented I have been following this thread, nice to see something a bit different 👍
 
Could the script translate to 'Wipe Your Feet' ?

Colin 🙂🙂🙂
 

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