Islanders in Athens and the P R E H I S T O Ry O F M E T I C S
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HESPERIA 7I (2002) TH E CU LTU RA L PagesI4g-Igg BIOGRAPHY OF A CYC LA D I C G E Ot/\ ET R I C AM P H O RA ISLANDERSIN ATHENS AND THE P RE H I ST O RY OF M ET I CS ABSTRACT This articlepresents the life historyof a large,repaired Early Iron Age am- phoraimported to Athens,fragments of whichwere discovered in 1939 in andaround the Hephaisteion.The contextof the vesselsuggests that it was usedin a tomb.Decorated in an aarchaizing"style reminiscent of Protogeo- metric,the amphoracan be datedto the LateGeometric period. It findsits closestparallels on Syros,an islandhitherto little knownfor its post-Early Cycladicantiquities. How the amphoramade its wayto Athensis addressed, anddifferent types of evidencepoint to theexistence of residentaliens (metics) in a periodbefore the reformsof Solonand Kleisthenes. Amongthe surprisesthat lay beneath the buildingthat has cometo be knownas the Hephaisteion(Fig. 1), fewwere more curious than a huge amphora,Agora P 14819(Fig. 2), assembledduring the 1939excavation season.lVincent Desborough saw the fragmentsat the time,and some 1. The circumstancesleading to the problemsof distinguishingthe fabrics compriseda briefintroduction, a de- appearanceof this article,published a of variousCycladic islands. After her scriptionof the pot,and a sectionon decadeafter the deathof EvelynSmith- untimelydeath in 1992,I cameacross "Excavationand Context." The manu- son,require a wordof explanation.This an unfinishedmanuscript hidden in script,little more than an introductory studygrew out of a conversationbe- one of the manyboxes of hernotes. draft,was among the lastprojects Evelyn tweenEvelyn and myself in the spring Entitled"O AM@OPETE TOf ANA- workedon beforeher death. Enough of 1988,at whichtime the amphora, ^ I^A" Anaxilas'samphora-the survivedin the manuscriptand notes to AgoraP 14819,became the focusof paperwas ln. two sectlons,. amountlng . indicatethe basicstructure of a paper. discussion.Over the nextfew years, to someeleven pages of double-spaced In the presentarticle, much of the Evelynspent quite a bit of timethinking text.In the samefolder were many . ntrocuctlon . anc secton. on excavatlon. aboutP 14819.In hertypical fashion, handwrittennotes, primarily on the andcontext, as well as the basicdescrip- she dissectedthe originaltrench note- phenomenonof an archaizingstyle in tion of the vase,is Evelyn's,with my booksof the Agoraand scoured every laterGeometric, and several photo- addendaand corrigenda, often in those possiblecontext lot in orderto recon- copiesof photographsof potsfrom sectionsmarked by Evelynas requiring structthe contextof the vessel.More- Athensas illustrations.There were, in irther workor elaboration.The Cy- over,she acquaintedherself with the addition,many handwritten notes on cladiccomplexities of the vasefollow EarlyIron Age Cycladesand, despite Naxosand on Cycladicpottery in someof Evelyn'snotes; so too the hermodest assertion that she was only general,as well as the transcriptionof discussionof the pot as a burialurn an "Atticman" (see Papadopoulos 1994a, the inerary inscriptionof Anaxilasof for an infant,and some musings on p. 564),she delvedinto the quagmireof Naxos AthenianKerameikos, inv. I. howit mayhave made its wayto Athens. scientificanalysis and particularly the 388 (seebelow). The manuscriptitself This said,the manuscriptwas very much American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Hesperia ® www.jstor.org -- |X-* l i | -L _ *- - *- *E 1= I 8 _ 1 FS j a Flgurefront, 1. y The1936. Hephalsteion,Courtesy Agoraeast I50 JOHN K. PAPADOPOULOS AND EVELYN L. SMITHSON yearslater suggested, by implication at least, that the pot was an import of EastGreek or islandorigin, and Subprotogeometric in date.2 As an"iso- latedfind" of uncertaindate and without close parallel, it attractedlittle furtherattention, and its ungainlysize, delicateequilibrium, and heavy plasteringrelegated it eventuallyto thevirtual oblivion of theback, south storeroomofthe Stoaof Attalos,wired to thetop shelffor safety's sake. A chanceconversation between the authorsin the springof 1988 recalled the vesselto mindand, following a precariousviewing, it was brought downfrom its loftyposition. Althoughone of the largestEarly Iron Age vesselsfrom the areaof thelater Athenian Agora, P 14819received little attention. A problematic context(see below) meant that it couldbe datedonly on thebasis of style and,because it wasnot clearlyrecognized as LateGeometric, it wasnot includedin Agora VIII. While the pot andits contextdo havesome bear- ing on the useof the areabefore there was ever an agoranearby, particu- larlywith regard to the historyof earlyburials on KolonosAgoraios, the vesselis laterthan any intact grave on the plateauor its westernslopes. Moreover,in theframework of acceleratedscholarly activity and new dis- coveriesin islandand East Greek Geometric over the pastfew decades, AgoraP 14819is a "problempiece" that should be morewidely known to scholars.For these reasons, it seemeddesirable to presentit at this time andin this form,not leastin the hopeof findinga moresecure prove- nienceand date for it. The pieceappears to be Cycladic ratherthan East Greek in ori- gin,perhaps from the islandof Syros,and its date8th centuryB.C., prob- unfinished.I, therefore,have to assume 2. Desborough1952, p. 34:"Curi- is no context."He goeson to compare responsibilityfor anyshortcomings of ouslyenough, fragments of a similar the vesselto an unpublishedamphora the finalresult and, indeed, responsibil- amphora[like those from 8th-century fromMelos that has semicircles on the ity forthe decisionto publishthis paper contextson Thera]of coarsered clay, shoulderand circles on the belly(Des- in its currentform. Evelyn was a per- verymicaceous, appear among the un- borough1952, p. 34, n. 2), with a fectionist,and I hopethe resultdoes not publishedmaterial of the AgoraExca- furthermention on p. 36. falltoo farbelow her high standards. vations(P 14819);unfortunately, there CULTURAL BIOGRAPHY OF A GEOMETRIC AMPHORA I5I b ablyno earlierthan the thirdquarter, according to the conventionalchro- Figure2. a) Late Geometricbelly- nology.3As such,the vessel may serve as a pointof departurefor any dis- handledamphora, Athenian Agora cussionof importedpottery to EarlyIron Age Athens.4It alsoprovides a P 14819;b) detailof handle,as pre- clearerfocus on the phenomenonof anEarly Iron Age "archaizing" style, served.Courtesy Agora Excavations thatis, one alluding to theProtogeometric, but produced in theLate Geo- metricperiod. In turningto the particularhistory of this largepot its culturalbiographyS alternative scenarios are discussed, including the movementof commoditiesand people. Beyond this, the vessel provides a potentialglimpse of the prehistoryof a socialphenomenon that was to definehistoric Athens. Various threads of evidenceconverge to suggest the possibilityof residentaliens metoikoias theycame to be knownin historicAthens not onlyin the periodbefore Kleisthenes, but arguably generationsbefore the reforms of Solon,in anera before recorded history.6 3. At the timeof herdeath Evelyn 4. It is fairlyclear that ceramic geometricand Geometric imports; Cold- inclinedtoward the viewthat the importsto EarlyIron Age Athens, streamand Catling 1996, pp.393-409; amphorawas Naxian on the basisof especiallyduring Protogeometric, but alsoColdstream 1990). comparandaavailable at the time;thus alsoduring Early and Middle Geomet- 5. Thereis a growingliterature on the originaltitle of herpaper, "Anax- ric,were exceedingly rare-comparable this subject,much of whichwas either ilas'sAmphora," was appropriate for an to the importof the proverbial"owls to unknownto Smithson,or appearedafter amphorabelieved to comefrom Naxos, Athens."This situationcontrasts with herdeath. Especially important are the the homelandof the latermetic Anax- thatat anynumber of Aegeansites, variouspapers in Appadurai1986, esp. ilas.Now thatthe Naxianprovenience suchas Leflcandiand Knossos, to Kopytoff1986, p.86; cf. Davis1997; seemsless likely, the old title slightly mentiononly two. There, pottery Gosdenand MarshaX 1999, esp.pp. 169- missesthe mark.Although I have imports,although not abundantin 178. changedthe title,the basicthrust of comparisonto the localmaterial, were 6. Foroverviews of metoikoiin Athens, the originaltitle is as immediateand neverthelesscommon occurrences (see see Clerc1893; Gauthier1972, esp.ch. 3; directas when Evelyn penned it. esp.Lefkandi I, pp.347-354, for Proto- Whitehead1977; 1984. I52 JOHN K. PAPADOPOULOS AND EVELYN L. SMITHSON Figure3. Interiorof the cellaof the Hephaisteionfrom the east, showing late burialsunder the floor. CourtesyAgora Excavations EXCAVATION AND CONTEXT Afterspending two yearsclearing the restof KolonosAgoraios to bed- rock,7the Agoraexcavators returned to the so-calledTheseion in Febru- aryof 1939,this time to removethe earthfilling and Christian burials fromwithin that building (Fig. 3) in orderto studyits foundations,con- structionfilling, and any remains that might have survived of an earlier sanctuaryon the site.Work began within the cellaon 20 February,under the supervisionof DorothyBurr Thompson, with the collaborationof HomerA. Thompson.8On the veryfirst day "Protogeometric" material wasobserved in thedisturbed levels immediately beneath the tile flooring of the modern"museum" (Fig. 4).9 Two dayslater more "Protogeomet- ric!"was recorded,including "considerable pieces of a Protogeometric amphora.''l°All of these"Protogeometric" fragments were from