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Two Centujries of Hellenistic Pottery

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Two Centujries of Hellenistic Pottery TWO CENTUJRIES OF HELLENISTIC POTTERY PLATE III INTRODUCTION' TIuE object of this study is to clarify and amplify that chapter in the ceramic history of Athens which covers the time betweeni the end of the fourth and the end of the second century B.c. The two intervening, centuries constitute a definite period in the development of Athenian potterv. From the end of the sixth down to the closing years of the fourth century, Athenian potters had concentrated on the decoration of their finer wares in the red-figure style. In the course of those two centuries the style had developed, had realized its fullest possibilities, and, in the natural course of events, had gone to seed. Among the most vigorous of the seedlings, was a style of ceramic (lecoration known as that of "West Slope Ware." It will be well representied in the groups to be discussed below. 'We shall find reason to believe that this new style sprang up in the closing years of the fourth century and flourished during the following two centuries and more. To a time but little later than that of the origin of " West Slope Ware " we mnust assign the beginning of the Atheniian mranufacture of " Mecarian Bowls," 2 These rapidly assumed such popularity as to becomne the typical finer ware amnong the deposits of habitation accu- mulated during those same two centuries. The beginning of the new era in ceramnic history was marked further by an increased rea(diness on the part of the worker in 1 The ciretumstances in which thIe paper was written have made imnpossible extensive study of com- parative material in otlher collections, and even exhaustive bibliographical references. It was felt, however, that the mass of pottery here examinied provides very largely in itself the evidence for its own study. To Ilerren Kiibler, Kraiker and Schwabacher I am indebted for the opportunity of examining the quantity of similar wares accumulated in the cotarse of the Greek and German excavations by the D)ipylon, and Dr. Kourouniotes I untist thank for showing me the Hellenistic pottery and the kei nioi of Eletisis. To Miss Lucy T'alcott and Mr. Arthuir W. Parsonis of the Agora staff I amn under special obligation. Miss Talcott is responsible for the study of the two red-figuLre pelikai (pp. 427 ff.). 'Mr. Parsons superintended the excavation of several pits sunk in the filling of the Stoa of Attalos in seareh of Hellenistic pottery with a serviceable terminus ante qutem, and lhe has discussed with me the results. The drawings and paintings are by Mr. Piet de Jong, the photographs, excepting those for Figure 79 and the note to E 63, by Herr Hermana Wagner. My wife has read and improved the manuscript and has prepared the index. Mr. Eugene Vanderpool supplied ntumerous references and measurenments in my absence from Athens. Mr. F. 0. Wfaag6 has already made some notes, particularly regarding technical details, on the Hellenistic pottery from the excavation of the first season (Hesperia, 1I, 1933, pp. 279 ff.). 2 I retain the terms "VVWestSlope Wale" and " Megarian Bowls " because, altlhotugh not propelly descriptive (we mnight now with equal propriety speak of "4North Slope Ware," and it has yet to be proven that a "'Megarian Bowl " was ever made at Megara), yet they have assunmed a very definite connotation in the minds of those who interest tlhemselves in such tlhings. American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Hesperia ® www.jstor.org 312 HOMER A. THOMPSON clay to copy the forms and the effects of the worker in metal. This readiness was not a new thing, for many of the vase forms of the sixth and fifth centuries, where they can be compared with those of metal vessels, show clearly enough their origin in metal prototypes. But in the third and second centuries the dependence of the ceramic art is still more marked, not merely in the shape, but also in the thinness of the fabric, in the glaze and in the decoration, whether executed in paint or in relief. This phenomenon suggests what is undoubtedly a fact, viz. that metal vessels had become much commoner. Of this fact the explanation is to be found probably in the increased wealth of individual citizens, perhaps also in the diminished values of the precious metals consequent upon the sudden influx of the long-stored treasures of the conquered east. Nor is it improbable that the decline in the artistic merit and technical finish of the contemporary wares in terracotta was in some degree responsible for the growing favor for metal vessels. But here cause and effect are entangled, and it may be equally true that the increasing popularity of metal ware reacted unfavorably on the professional pride and zest and income of the potter. The beginning of our period is indicated by these various phenomena. Its lower liimiit is surgested by the observation that the craftsmen of the Kerameikos, who had for long held the markets of Greece and Italy, and who during the third and second centuries, though gradually losing ground abroad, still held firm the home market, were compelled to witness, toward the end of the latter century, the beg,inning of serious competition from abroad in the field of finer wares, even on the stalls of their own market-place. The method adopted for studying the history of these two centuries is as simple as, it is hoped, effective. From the large number of closed deposits of pottery anid other objects gathered in the excavation of ancient wells and cisterns in the region of the Agora, five groups have been selected which can with certainty be arranged in a relative chronological sequence from a consideration of the relative stagres of development apparent in the specimens of objects of various classes recovered from the individual deposits. The absoluite chronology of the various groups, i.e. the time when they were closed, can be fixed with reasoilable closeness from various bits of internal and external evidence. The simple and perishable nature of the objects makes it improbable that they should have been kept either for use or for ornament any great length of time before reaching the dumps, and our suspicion that each of the groups is closely homogeneous from a chronological point of view is confirmed by the obvious lack of development Iamong the objects of a given class within any one of the groups. The fixed points thus established have been used in tracing the history of a number of the types of pottery represented in the groups. In the following pages a brief description of each place of finding (well, cistern or storage basin) is followed by a consideration of the evidence for its dating and then by a catalogue of the pottery belonging to that group; and, after the five groups have been so treated, the conclusions are given in the form of general discussions of the principal types of pottery. Fault may be foun-d with a method of illustration and description that has resulted in so thorough a scattering TWO CENTURIES OF HELLENISTIC POTTERY 313 of the various speciinens of each type or class of object but it seemed wise to emphasize the unity of the indlividual deposits, for they are each as compact, or more so, than a tomb group. Since the study lhas beeni confinedl closely to the material recoveredl from the five deposits, it must by no means be recrarded as a complete history of Hellenistic pottery. Large and important classes of the ware have been but briefly treated or have been completely passecl over. I need mention only the bowls or saucers with relief emblemata inset in their floors, one of the most distinctive and most attractive products of the third century.' It will be obvious, too, that the chance spacing of the groups has left large chronological gaps in the period, notably in the later third century. Each excavation season adds to the available number of such closed deposits and the continued exploration of the Agora will, it is hoped, accumulate sufficient evidence, not only to close the gaps left by this study, but also to confirm or correct the conclusions already reached. GROUP A THE WELL In the excavation seasons of 1932 and 1933 there came to light the founcdationsof a building of no great size, along the southwestern edge of that which now appears to be the main imarket-square. Already in antiquity it had been ruined and restored at least once. The restoration involved the laying of a new concrete floor, studded with pebbles, over the original floor. The house of this second period was served by a well in its southeastern corner.2 The well-head (Fig. 1) consisted of a squared block of poros (L., 0.805 mn.;W., 0.79 m.; H., 0.295 in.) having an aperture 0.345 m. in diameter, which is just large enough to permit the passage of a man. Leaded into the top of the head are the lower ends of iron suipports, probably of a windlass. Measured from the top of this coping, the depth of the well was 4.45 m. Its s,ides were curbed with six drums of heavy terracotta tiles. Numbers of large water jars, comiplete or nearly so, scattered through the lowest meter and a half of filling, proved that this depth of rubbish had accumulated while the well was still in use. There was, besides the water pitchers, a good deal of household pottery: plates, saucers, bowls, cups, lamps, etc.
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