Chapter XI

.), besides forming a class by themselves, are specially remarkable as being almost peculiar to Athens. It is not, however, certain that they were not made also at Eretria, where many fine ones have been found of late years; but otherwise none have been found outside Attica, with the exception of a few importations to Cyprus, Locri in Italy, or Sicily. (4) A group of late R.F. vases of the “fine” style, mostly of small size and sometimes with polychrome decoration. The drawing is free and graceful, but tends to carelessness; the subjects are drawn chiefly from the life of women and children. Some of the smaller specimens were no doubt actually children’s playthings.

Elsewhere in Attica vases have not been numerous. _Eleusis_ has yielded some interesting fragments,[86] including a plaque of about 400 B.C., with an interesting representation of the local deities, found in 1895; at _Marathon_ the grave of the fallen warriors has been recently explored, and was found to contain both B.F. and R.F. vases, but none of particular merit.[87] The find was, however, important, as illustrating Greek methods of burial. The tombs of _Phaleron_ are important, as having yielded a special class of early vases which are known by the name of the site.[88] These Phaleron vases combine in an interesting manner the characteristics of the Geometrical and Rhodian or Oriental styles, being akin to the so-called Proto-Corinthian. The beehive tombs at _Menidi_ and _Spata_ and other tombs at _Haliki_, near Marathon, have yielded Mycenaean pottery of the usual types, and an instructive find of early Geometrical pottery has been made at _Aphidna_.[89] There are vases in the museums of Athens and Berlin of various dates, to which the following provenances are assigned: Alike, Alopeke, Hymettos,[90] Kephissia, Cape Kolias,[91] Pikrodaphni,[92] Peiraeus,[93] Sunium,[94] Thorikos,[95] Trakhones,[96] Vari,[97] Velanideza, and Vourva, the two latter near Marathon.[98] _Megara_[99] has produced little beyond specimens of a class of late bowls with designs in relief, sometimes known as “Megarian bowls,” but more probably of Boeotian origin (see p. 53).

=Corinth=, as a centre of the manufacture of vases, occupied in early times a position in Greece only second to Athens. Down to the first half of the sixth century it actually seems to have held the pre-eminence; but after the rise of Athens it sank altogether into obscurity, and ceased to produce any pottery at all after about 520 B.C. But we know from Strabo[100] that the fame of Corinthian wares still existed in Roman times, for in the days of Julius Caesar the tombs of the new Colonia Julia were ransacked for the vases which were the admiration of the rich nobles of Rome. The expression used by Strabo, ὀστράκινα τορεύματα, seems to imply that these were probably specimens of the later relief-ware which did not become popular in Greece before the fourth century, but then gradually ousted the painted fabrics.

Corinth, like Athens, claimed the invention of pottery and of the wheel; it was also one of the supposed centres of the origin of painting in Greece. We read, moreover, that when Demaratos fled thence to Italy he took with him two artists named Eucheir and Eugrammos, who doubtless helped to develop the art of vase-making in Etruria. The vases found here are nearly all of the early archaic and B.F. periods, from the so-called Proto-Corinthian wares down to ordinary B.F. fabrics. The Mycenaean and Geometrical styles are practically unrepresented, but occasional finds have been made of Attic B.F. and R.F. vases. With these exceptions all were actually made at Corinth, as is shown in many cases by the inscriptions in the local alphabet painted upon the vases.

The earliest discovery, and in some respects one of the most remarkable, was the vase known as the Dodwell pyxis (see p. 315), which was acquired by that traveller in 1805, and is now at Munich. In 1835 a large number of vases were found by peasants at Chiliomodi, the ancient _Tenea_,[101] one of which represented Herakles and the Centaur Nessos; most of these are now at Athens. In 1843 Ross[102] records the discovery of over a thousand at various sites, on the Isthmus and at or near Tenea, and ever since that time tomb-digging has been carried on without intermission. The best collections of Corinthian vases are those at Athens, Berlin, and the British Museum. But the most noteworthy find at Corinth has been that of the series of plaques (πίνακες) or votive tablets discovered at Penteskouphia in 1879, most of which are now at Berlin. They are all of votive character, and come from the rubbish-heap of a temple of Poseidon; most of them are painted with figures of and inscribed with dedications to that deity, and they belong to the late seventh or early sixth century B.C.[103] The British Museum possesses a R.F. “pelike” from _Solygea_, near Corinth, and isolated finds are also recorded from _Sikyon_.[104]

Turning to the adjoining state of Argolis, we find three sites of special importance in early times—Mycenae, Tiryns, and Argos. Of these the two former had ceased to have any importance in historic times, but this is amply compensated for by the wonderful discoveries of the Mycenaean period.[105] At _Mycenae_ large quantities of painted pottery were found in the six shaft-tombs in the Agora, five of which were excavated by Dr. Schliemann; outside the Acropolis, and possibly belonging to a later period, was found the remarkable vase with figures of warriors marching.[106] The finds at _Tiryns_ were chiefly fragmentary, but at _Nauplia_, where considerable quantities were found, there were some fragments with painted designs of chariots like the vases from Cyprus (p. 246).[107] Mycenaean pottery has also been found at _Asine_,[108] and the site of the Heraion at _Argos_, recently excavated by the American School, has yielded an exhaustive series of fragments of pottery, representative of nearly every known fabric from Mycenaean times down to the best Greek period. They have not as yet been published, but may be expected to yield important results. Other occasional finds are reported from Argos, including a curious archaic vase with a representation of Herakles and Kerberos.[109] At _Kleonae_, on the northern frontier of the state, was found a Corinthian vase signed by Timonidas, and there are vases from _Hermione_ in the museum at Athens.[110]

In the rest of the Peloponnese finds of painted vases have been exceedingly rare. The Berlin Museum possesses a B.F. vase found at _Megalopolis_,[111] and isolated finds are also recorded from _Magoula_ in Laconia and _Amyklae_ near Sparta.[112] At _Olympia_ painted vases were very rare, but several different fabrics from the Proto-Corinthian downwards are represented by fragments.[113]

In Central and Northern Greece the only fruitful region has been =Boeotia=, particularly its capital, _Thebes_. This city, like Corinth, has principally yielded early vases. As has been shown elsewhere (pp. 286, 300), Boeotia was the home of more than one indigenous fabric, notably the local variety of Geometrical ware, partly parallel with that of Athens and other sites, partly a degenerate variety with local peculiarities, forming a transition to the Phaleron and Proto-Corinthian fabrics. The last-named have frequently been found at Thebes, notably the Macmillan lekythos in the British Museum. Signed vases of local fabric, with the names of Gamedes, Menaidas, and Theozotos, are in the British Museum and in the Louvre. On the site of the Temple of the Kabeiri, near Thebes, a remarkable series of late B.F. pottery came to light, evidently a local fabric, with dedicatory inscriptions and subjects of a grotesque or caricatured nature.[114] They are quite peculiar to the site, and seem to have had a close connection with its religious rites. Besides many examples of the Geometrical and Corinthian fabrics, there have been found at Thebes several specimens of the so-called Megarian bowls with reliefs, of the second century B.C.; the proportion to other sites is such that Thebes has been thought to be the centre of the fabric. Another local fabric is that produced by _Tanagra_ about the end of the fifth century B.C., consisting of small cups, toilet-boxes, etc., with somewhat naïve outlined designs.[115] The vase-finds here have served as evidence for the dating of the terracotta statuettes, with which no painted fabrics were found, but only ribbed or moulded black-glaze wares, characteristic of the fourth and third centuries B.C.[116] Where painted vases have been found, the accompanying statuettes were all of an archaic or even primitive type.[117]

In excavations at _Orchomenos_ in 1893[118] the French School unearthed large numbers of fragments, Mycenaean, Boeotian Geometrical, Proto-Corinthian, Corinthian, and Attic black-figured; Mycenaean vases have been found at _Lebadea_, and Thespiae, Thisbe, and Akraiphiae are also mentioned as sites where painted vases have been found.[119] Very few sites in Northern Greece have yielded finds of pottery, but the Athens Museum contains R.F. vases from _Lokris_, _Phokis_, and _Lamia_[120] on the Malian Gulf, and finds are also recorded from Anthedon,[121] Atalante,[122] Exarchos, and Galaxidi in Lokris, from Elateia,[123] Abae,[124] and Daulis in Phokis, and from Thessaly. Fragments of painted pottery were seen by early travellers at _Delphi_.[125] At _Daulis_ the pottery was of Mycenaean character,[126] as also that from the beehive-tombs of Volo in Thessaly and its neighbourhood. A recent excavation at _Dimini_ is reported to have yielded very early painted vases of a quite new, probably local ware, with affinities to the Cycladic types of Thera and elsewhere.[127]

Turning now to the Greek islands, we find somewhat more extensive and interesting results. Little indeed has been found in the Ionian Islands of the western coast,[128] even in _Corfu_, which as a rule has been fruitful in works of art. The only vases worth mentioning from that island are those found in the cemetery of Kastrades, in the tomb of Menekrates.[129] The contents of this tomb, which are all of an early and somewhat mixed character, are now in the British Museum; they can be dated from the inscription on the tomb about 600 B.C. Travelling round by the south of the Peloponnese, we come to _Kythera_, which has yielded a cup (now in the British Museum) remarkable for its inscription, ἡμικοτύλιον; it is illustrated below, p. 135. _Salamis_[130] again has produced little, but some interesting pottery of a transitional character from Mycenaean to Geometrical has been found.[131]

=Aegina= appears to have been a pottery centre in early times, and recent discoveries are adding to our knowledge of its fabrics. Among the older finds from this island are a fine early oinochoe in the British Museum (from the Castellani collection), formerly supposed to be from Thera,[132] and several very fine red-figured and white-ground vases, notably the elegant R.F. astragalos or knucklebone-shaped vase in the British Museum, with its figures of dancers; a white Athenian lekythos, with the subject of Charon,[133] and two beautiful vases now in the Munich Museum (208, 209), with polychrome designs on a white ground.[134] In 1892–93 the British Museum acquired a series of Mycenaean, Corinthian, and Attic vases from a find on this island,[135] and other examples of Corinthian and Attic vases are recorded.[136] In 1894 excavations were made on the site of the so-called temple of Aphrodite, and yielded a number of early vases chiefly Mycenaean, Geometrical of the Athenian type, and a large series of Proto-Corinthian wares, some of unusual size.[137] Some of this pottery may possibly be of local fabric. More recently the excavations on the site of the great Doric temple (now shown to be dedicated to the goddess Aphaia) have yielded an extensive series of fragments of different dates.[138] Aegina was always celebrated in antiquity for its artistic achievements, and that it was a centre for pottery is indicated by an anonymous comic writer, who addresses the island as “rocky echo, vendor of pots” (χυτρόπωλις).[139]

=Euboea= possessed two important art-centres in Chalkis and Eretria. It is true that no vases have actually been found at Chalkis, but the existence of early B.F. vases with inscriptions in the local dialect amply testifies to the existence of potteries there (see p. 321). _Eretria_, on the other hand, has been carefully excavated in recent years, and has yielded many antiquities both of the early and of the finest period. Among the former are vases of a type akin to the earlier Attic fabrics, but distinguished by the use of a “pot-hook” decorative ornament, and others more akin to the Attic B.F. vases, but clearly of local make[140]; among the latter are so many fine white-ground lekythi (as well as other forms) that it has been supposed that they must have been specially manufactured here as well as at Athens. The British Museum has lately acquired several white-ground and late R.F. vases of considerable beauty from this site. Many years ago an inscribed Corinthian vase was found at Karystos.[141]

=The Cyclades.=—In these islands we find traces of absolutely the earliest fabrics known in the history of Greek pottery, but later finds of painted vases are comparatively rare. Mycenaean pottery has been found in the islands of Amorgos,[142] Delos and Rheneia, Kythnos, Seriphos, Sikinos, Syros, Thera, and Melos.[143] Other finds recorded are from Paros and Antiparos (early fabrics), Keos, Kimolos,[144] Kythnos,[145] Siphnos, and Syros[146]; a remarkable Ionic vase in the Louvre, found in Etruria, has also been attributed to an island fabric, that of Keos,[147] and another at Würzburg to that of Naxos.[148] The chief finds of “Cycladic” or pre-Mycenaean pottery are those from the volcanic deposits of the island of _Thera_ (see p. 260), which, from the circumstances of their discovery and the geological history of the island, are supposed to date back beyond 2000 B.C. They are painted with vegetable patterns in brown on a white ground, and have chiefly been excavated by the French School during the years 1867–74; a few are in Athens, but the majority are in the Louvre or the Sèvres Museum. In the superincumbent layers Mycenaean and Geometrical pottery came to light,[149] and a fragment of a large Melian amphora with the so-called Asiatic Artemis, now in the Berlin Museum (No. 301), is stated by Ross to have come from this island. The same traveller saw here large πίθοι with painted subjects of early character and similar smaller vases, also some with black figures, in a private collection.[150] More recently (in 1900) excavations made in the Acropolis cemetery by German archaeologists yielded a large quantity of pottery, chiefly Geometrical in character, extending from the eighth to the middle of the sixth century B.C.[151]

The vases found in _Melos_ amount to a considerable number, of different ages and styles.[152] Recent excavations by the British School on the site of Phylakopi brought to light large quantities, not only of Mycenaean, but of pre-Mycenaean remains, including pottery.[153] Mr. Thomas Burgon’s collection included many B.F. and later vases from Melos, now in the British Museum; they are mostly small and unimportant. Ross also saw painted vases in Melos.[154] The island is, however, chiefly celebrated for a class of early vases, few in number, but of exceptional merit, which have mostly been found in the island, and so are known as “Melian” amphorae (see below, p. 301). Recently, however, large numbers of fragments of similar pottery have been found at Rheneia, opposite Delos, and it is possible that Delos was the centre of the fabric, not Melos, as hitherto supposed.[155] They date from the seventh century B.C. Among the finds of later date from Melos, by far the most noteworthy is the Louvre Gigantomachia krater (see