36. OF 496: Dialectal Diversity in Macedon at the End of the Fourth Century BC Emilio Crespo Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Fundación Pastor de Estudios Clásicos OF 496 brings together a number of brief texts engraved on gold lamellae that have an Orphic content. Eight of them come from the geographical area of the ancient kingdom of Macedon and of its neighbouring areas: a-b and f from Pella, g from Paeonia, h from Methone, k from Aigai (modern Ver- gina), l from Heracleia (modern Agios Athanasios) and n from Amphipolis. To these we could probably add the lamella edited in SEG 52: 607, found in a Macedonian tomb erected in the region of Mygdonia (perhaps also in the ancient city of Heracleia). Leaving aside k and SEG 52: 607, both of the Hel- lenistic period, and l (see SEG 52: 626), which is of unknown date and ofers a fragmentary text that is diicult to interpret, I will focus on the six gold lamellae dated to the end of the fourth century BC (a, b, f, g, h and n). hese gold lamellae have been edited and thoroughly studied. Particu- lar attention has been paid to their use in burials, to the Orphic beliefs they attest and to the interpretation of their content. 1 he present contribution addresses the question of the dialects in which these gold lamellae are written and aims at emphasizing the relevance of such documents for gaining an insight into the linguistic situation of the ancient Macedonian kingdom. It goes without saying that I do not intend to give a solution to the highly debated question of the characterization of the ancient Macedonian dialect, a subject that would require a larger space than I have at my disposal and a close examination of all the available evidence. Recent bibliography on the Macedonian dialect is abundant and has in common with the bibliography that deals with Orphism the fact that both ields of research have experienced great advances and yielded new results in the last two decades thanks to new indings and publications. 2 1 See Bernabé – Jiménez San Cristóbal (2001: 211 f. and 279 f.); Jiménez San Cris- tóbal (2007); Bernabé – Jiménez San Cristóbal (2008). 2 See Masson (1996); Brixhe – Panayotou (1994); Brixhe (1999); Panayotou (2007); Hatzopoulos (2006, 2007). AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR