The Dipylon inscription is a short text written on an ancient Greek pottery vessel dated to c. 740 BC. It is famous for being the oldest, or one of the oldest, known samples of the use of the Greek alphabet. The text is scratched on an oenochoe, which was found in 1871 and is named after the location where it was found, the ancient Dipylon Cemetery, near the Dipylon Gate on the area of Kerameikos in Athens.