A recent new story tells of the discovery of a 4000-year old
Macedonian jar lid with the name "'Bsepha', which later became 'Vesta'".
http://www.fravahr.org/spip.php?breve737 has the best photo. Lots of
other sites on the Web report the same story, but none I've seen offer
more detail -- they differ mainly in the degree of nastiness of the
chauvinist comments they've elicited.
4000 years seems about a 1000 years too early for the alphabet in
Europe, but let that pass.
Could anyone comment on "Bsepha" and why it might be equated to
"Vesta"? Does it make any sense to bring in a Roman Goddess when the
Greek Hestia is I believe the etymological equivalent (although of
course even farther from Bsepha)? For that matter, aside from being
found in Macedonia, is there any reason not to take as Greek?
Dan