Chapter XXII
.), and refers to the μαστοί dedicated at Oropos and Paphos.[1533] All are of red clay, with a thin metallic black glaze giving a quasi-metallic appearance; the hemispherical form is only departed from in one or two instances.[1534]
The other name, Homeric, has been applied to them by Professor Robert with reference to the well-known passage of Suetonius, which describes Nero as using bowls (_scyphi_) called Homeric because they were chased with subjects from Homer’s poems.[1535] Our clay examples would then be reproductions of the chased metal vases, used by those who could not afford originals, and corresponding in some degree to modern plaster casts. It is true that only five of the examples we possess have subjects from Homer; but most of the others may be so called as belonging to the Epic cycle. They thus differ from most relief-vases of the period, in that the designs are not purely decorative or repetitions of simple motives, but are, so to speak, “illustrations of the classics.”
Professor Robert distinguishes two classes: (1) those with figures made from separate stamps, attached to the vase after it was made, and often repeated; (2) vases made wholly, figures and all, in a mould, like the Arretine wares.[1536] In the latter case they were doubtless made from the same moulds as the metal vases, and of this we have an undoubted example, not indeed among the “Megarian” bowls, but in analogous specimens from Italy. It has already been noted (p. 134) that in the British Museum there are two examples of a silver bowl with _repoussé_ designs, representing round the interior four deities in chariots, which form part of a silver treasure found at Èze in the south of France; and that in the same collection there is also a clay bowl (_Cat._ G 118 = Plate XLVIII., fig. 5) which exactly reproduces the silver vase in shape, size, and decoration.
Among the subjects we have the rape of Persephone[1537]; the sacrifice of Iphigeneia; Achilles and Priam[1538]; the flight to the ships (from the _Iliad_), the sack of Troy and the sacrifice of Polyxena; the destruction of the suitors (from the _Odyssey_). From the Theban legend we have the stories of Oedipus’s childhood and the Seven against Thebes[1539]; other vases give the labours of Herakles or his rape of Auge (Plate XLVIII., fig. 2)[1540]; and a jug made by Dionysios has the interesting subject of Autolykos and Sisyphos.[1541] The British Museum possesses a very interesting bowl with scenes taken directly from the _Phoenissae_ of Euripides,[1542] and other comparisons with that author may be made in the case of the bowls with Iphigeneia and Polyxena. Sometimes the scenes are inscribed with verses from the poems or plays illustrated, or with a prose description of the scene,[1543] or merely with the names of the figures. The letters in all cases are raised. It is clear that all these bowls belong to the same period and fabric, and many small details point to the third century as their date. We may bear in mind that this was the time of the great revival of Homeric study at Alexandria.
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PLATE XLVIII
[Illustration: GREEK VASES OF HELLENISTIC PERIOD: BLACK WARE WITH RELIEFS (BRITISH MUSEUM).]
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In Italy the introduction of relief wares became general as painting was abandoned, but did so gradually, not suddenly. In the third century both existed side by side. The principle of a purely mechanical process in pottery, which now first appears in the manufacture from a mould, was not, strictly speaking, a new one in Italy, nor yet in Greece. It is first seen in the early Etruscan and Rhodian vases (see p. 496) with stamped and rolled-out designs repeated in long friezes. And we shall see later how for several centuries moulded vases, in the form of _bucchero_ ware, formed the national pottery of Etruria. There was always in Etruscan, as also in Greek pottery,[1544] a tendency towards the imitation of metal, and this tendency about the fourth century seems to have spread over the rest of Italy, even to the Iapygian Peninsula. Thus it is that the vases of Gnatia (p. 488) are largely metallic in form and treatment, with their ribbed bodies and other details. To the same cause is mainly due the series of Capua and Cumae vases which has already been discussed, with its brilliant varnish and gilding. Signor Gamurrini actually gave to the Italian black glaze wares the name of “Etrusco-Campanian.”[1545] After the disappearance of _bucchero_ ware similar vases came to be made at Cervetri, Chiusi, Corneto, and Bolsena, the principal art centres of Etruria. At Bolsena in particular they have been found in considerable numbers; and as this city (_Volsinium novum_) was only founded in 264 B.C., a _terminus post quem_ for their date is afforded.
A group of vases found chiefly at the last-named place[1546] does not appear to have been covered with black varnish, but with a metallic preparation of gold or silver, which has now mostly disappeared, and they are left with the plain glazed clay. Some of these are not without merit. In the general arrangement of the designs, usually in friezes round the shoulder, there is obviously a reminiscence of _bucchero_ ware. The metallic preparation with which they were covered may have been something of the kind which Athenaeus[1547] describes in speaking of certain drinking-cups made at Naukratis, which “were dipped [in some preparation] so as to appear silver.”
In Italy the manufacture of vases of black ware with reliefs appears to have centred at Cales in Campania during the third century.[1548] The principal type is that of a bowl, not of the hemispherical form, but shallow, with the designs in the interior, either in the form of a frieze or of a central medallion. These are usually called Calene phialae, but it is not certain whether the majority were really made at Cales. At all events, it is, like “Megarian bowl,” a convenient name for the class. The British Museum bowl G 118, with the frieze of chariots (see above), is a good example of the frieze type of design. The subject, which is treated in a very spirited manner, is the apotheosis of Herakles, who is conducted by Athena, Ares, and Artemis to Olympos, accompanied by Victories. There is also a good specimen in Berlin (_Cat._ 3882) with Odysseus and the Sirens. Another with decorative patterns only, bears the signature of the potter, L. Canoleios of Cales, in Latin letters.[1549] Examples are also given in Plate XLVIII., figs. 3, 5, 6.
Of the type with central medallions comparatively few complete examples exist, but the British Museum possesses a series of fragments on which the medallions have been preserved.[1550] The subjects are usually those characteristic of the Alexandrine period: Aphrodite, Adonis, and Erotes; Herakles and Hylas, and others familiar from Theocritus; or Trojan scenes, such as Thetis with the arms of Achilles or Paris attacked by Deiphobos. A unique instance is that of Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf (G 125). Two names of potters occur—K. Atilius and G. Gabinius. The date of these phialae is probably that of the Second Punic War (about 230–200 B.C.). The designs, being taken from moulds[1551] and inserted separately, are frequently repeated. The fashion—obviously another instance of imitation of metal[1552]—of adorning bowls with central designs also takes other forms at this period. Simple heads of deities or Satyrs are found, and there are also instances of facsimiles of Syracusan coins. Two bowls in the British Museum (G 121–22) have in the centre copies of a decadrachm with the head of Persephone (Plate XLVIII., fig. 4: cf. p. 210).[1553]
Analogous to these in character and technique are the series of small lamp-feeders or _gutti_, a variation of the _askos_ form, which are found chiefly in Southern Italy, but also in North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean.[1554] In the latter case they are usually distinguished by having an arched handle over the back instead of the usual ring-handle at the side, and the body is flatter. The Italian type has a deep ribbed body, with a flat circular space on the top containing a design in relief, made separately and inserted in the vase (Plate XLVIII., fig. 1). The range of subjects is wide, but the majority are mythological: heads or masks of a Dionysiac character or of Medusa form a large proportion of the whole.
Larger vases of black ware with reliefs inserted or attached are sometimes found, but are not common. The British Museum possesses two good specimens—a krater (G 29) with panels inserted bearing mythological designs,[1555] and a large covered jar (G 28) with the inscription BASSVS in Roman letters, presumably the potter’s name. The subjects, in two friezes, represent Erotes and festoons of vine-leaves, and Poseidon and Victory, five times repeated.
* * * * *
The series of vases which we have been discussing are clearly paving the way for the new development of pottery which prevailed throughout the Roman period—that of the ware formerly known as Samian, but now usually spoken of as Arretine or (a more comprehensive term) _Terra sigillata_. This will of course be more appropriately dealt with in a subsequent chapter under the heading of Roman Pottery. In the course of the second century the Roman dominion spread over most of the Greek lands, and Greek art as an independent entity almost ceased to exist. It is, however, not a little remarkable at what a late date some forms of distinctively Greek pottery lingered on in Hellenic regions, such as Attica, Egypt, and Southern Russia. The subject has hitherto received but little attention, and the materials have hardly been collected with sufficient completeness to admit of adequate discussion and classification.[1556]
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Footnote 1409:
See Hesych. _s.v._ πινάκιον; Athenag. _Leg. pro Christo_, 17, p. 293; also p. 316.
Footnote 1410:
See Loeschcke in _Ath. Mitth._ 1879, p. 289 ff. The revision of chronology since his article was written has only served to give additional support to his view, bringing the white vases nearer in date to the painted stelae.
Footnote 1411:
_Brut._ xviii. 70: see also Plut. _de defect. orac._ 47, 436 C; Pliny, _H.N._ xxxv. 50.
Footnote 1412:
See _B.M. Cat. of Vases_, ii. B 613 ff.
Footnote 1413:
Winter in _Arch. Zeit._ 1885, p. 195 ff.
Footnote 1414:
_Ibid._ p. 187 ff.: cf. also Hartwig in _Jahrbuch_, 1899, p. 160.
Footnote 1415:
_Arch. Zeit._ 1885, pl. 12. Cf. B.M. D 22, 32; Dumont-Pottier, i. pl. 11; Rayet and Collignon, pl. 10, 1. The severe type of face should be compared with Attic coins of the fifth century.
Footnote 1416:
Cf. _Arch. Zeit._ 1881, p. 35.
Footnote 1417:
Cf. B.M. D 65 and Fig. 19, p. 143.
Footnote 1418:
_E.g._ B.M. D 21, 33.
Footnote 1419:
As on the Anesidora cup in the British Museum (D 4) and the Euphronios cup in Berlin (2282).
Footnote 1420:
_Mon. dell’ Inst._ x. 37 _a_; _Annali_, 1877, p. 287.
Footnote 1421:
_Cat._ 208, 332, 336; published in Jahn, _Entführ. d. Europa_, pl. 7; Furtwaengler and Reichhold, pl. 49 (Fig. 121); and Overbeck, _Kunstmythol. Atlas_, pl. 9, No. 19.
Footnote 1422:
Rayet and Collignon, p. 223: see _Anzeiger_, 1891, p. 69, where it is attributed to Sotades.
Footnote 1423:
_E.g._ B.M. D 11 = Plate XLIII. fig. 1; _Mon. Grecs_, 1878, pl. 2 (in Louvre).
Footnote 1424:
Also attributed by Furtwaengler to Sotades (_Anzeiger_, _loc. cit._).
Footnote 1425:
Formerly in the collection of M. van Branteghem: see his Sale Cat. Nos. 159–66, and Plate XL.
Footnote 1426:
A complete list of white-ground cups is given by Hartwig, _Meistersch._ p. 499. Among signed examples are the Euphronios cup in Berlin (2282); those by Sotades and Hegesiboulos (p. 445), and also _Mon. dell’ Inst._ x. 37_a_ (—νις ἔποιησεν).
Footnote 1427:
_White Athenian Vases_, p. 5.
Footnote 1428:
See generally Pottier, _Les Lécythes Blancs_.
Footnote 1429:
In the B.M. collection, D 52 is from Locri, D 28, 47, 63, 87 from Gela.
Footnote 1430:
_E.g._ B.M. D 33, 54–7, 62; Athens 1625 ff.
Footnote 1431:
See Dumont-Pottier, ii. pp. 50, 53.
Footnote 1432:
Notably Athens 688 = Reinach, i. p. 164 (_Mon. dell’ Inst._ viii. pl. 4).
Footnote 1433:
For references to this subject on the lekythi see