Chapter XII

.).[156]

Turning now to the eastern group of Aegean Islands, known as the _Sporades_, we begin with _Lesbos_, where many fragments of B.F. and R.F. vases were found by Mr. Newton during his Vice-Consulate. From epigraphical evidence it seems probable that many of the early B.F. fragments found at Naukratis (see below) should be attributed to a Lesbian fabric, but this has not so far been established. Vases have also been found in Tenedos and Chios.[157]

Next we come to _Samos_, an island always renowned in antiquity for its fictile ware. The Homeric hymn to the potters is addressed to Samians. It was, however, in Roman times that its renown was especially great, and its connection with a certain class of red glazed wares has caused the name of “Samian Ware” to be applied indiscriminately but falsely to all Roman pottery of that kind.[158] Finds of pottery have, however, been few and far between. The British Museum possesses a lekythos of the B.F. period in the form of a sandalled foot (Plate XLVI.), which Mr. Finlay obtained here. More recently Dr. Böhlau excavated some early cemeteries, and found a considerable quantity of pottery of the “Ionic” type, which enabled him to establish a Samian origin for certain wares of the sixth century.[159] _Kalymnos_ was explored by Mr. Newton in 1856, but has yielded little beyond plain glazed ware,[160] and the same may be said of Kos, although the latter was famed in antiquity for its amphorae and culinary vessels. The small islands of _Telos_,[161] _Nisyros_, _Chiliodromia_,[162] and _Karpathos_ have been explored at different times by Ross, Theodore Bent, and others, and have yielded vases of a late R.F. period, corresponding to the later Athenian fabrics, several of which are in the British Museum. Messrs. Bent and Paton have also found pottery of the Mycenaean period in Kalymnos and Karpathos[163]; and similar remains are reported from _Kos_.[164]

But all other discoveries in the islands are far exceeded both in extent and importance by those of =Rhodes=.[165] They are principally due to the labours of Messrs. Salzmann and Biliotti, who diligently explored the island during the ’sixties, and the results as far as pottery is concerned, extend from Mycenaean times down to the destruction of Kameiros in 404 B.C. The earliest finds were on the site of _Ialysos_, and these are exclusively of “Mycenaean” type. The tombs containing Mycenaean vases were cut in the rock in quadrangular form, with vaulted δρόμος and steps. This site was explored by the above-named gentlemen about the years 1867–70, and the results of the excavation, by the liberality of Prof. Ruskin, found their way into the British Museum. Their archaeological value was not recognised for some years; but when the discoveries of Mycenae became known, it was at once seen that the Ialysos pottery must fall into line with them.

_Kameiros_ is first heard of as a Dorian colony of the eleventh century, and its history extends down to 408 B.C. It was fully and systematically excavated between 1859 and 1864. Far more abundant and comprehensive than the Ialysos results, the Kameiros finds illustrate the history of Greek pottery from the Geometrical period[166] down to the time of its decline, and include many fine specimens of the B.F. and R.F. periods, as well as numerous examples of the Rhodian, Corinthian, and other early classes, from the eighth to the sixth century B.C. The most interesting discovery was perhaps that of the _pinax_, with the fight over the body of Euphorbos, which is described elsewhere (p. 335). Among the finer specimens of the later period is the polychrome _pelike_ with Peleus wooing Thetis. The majority of these finds are now in the British Museum, together with porcelain, bronze, and other objects illustrating the early pottery; part also went to the Louvre and to Berlin. The latest vases are of the free and careless type of late R.F. Athenian fabrics, and since they are known to be not later than the fifth century they supply valuable evidence for the dating of R.F. vases.

=Crete= in all probability will, before many years are over, supply a great mass of material for the history of early Greek pottery. Until recent years it has received little attention from travellers or explorers, and few vases of any period have come therefrom into our Museums.[167] But Crete has always been looked to by archaeologists for the solution of the Mycenaean problem, and the systematic excavations now at length set on foot are even richer in their yield of Mycenaean and primitive pottery than those of Rhodes, Melos, and Cyprus. Mr. J. L. Myres found at _Kamarais_ in 1894 a series of fragments of painted pottery with designs in opaque colours on a black ground, which he regarded as pre-Mycenaean.[168] This theory was subsequently borne out by the discoveries of Messrs. Arthur Evans and D. G. Hogarth at _Knossos_ and elsewhere, which have been very rich in pottery of a similar kind, and also in vases with remarkably naturalistic patterns in relief.[169] Other finds have been made in the Dictaean Cave,[170] at Zakro[171] and Palaeokastro,[172] at Phaestos,[173] Praesos, Erganos and Kourtes, and Kavousi.[174]

Before we turn our attention to the continent of Asia we must hark back to the European mainland, working round by the northern coasts of the Aegaean and Euxine Seas. Macedonia and Thrace have yielded scarcely anything,[175] but when we come to the northern shore of the Black Sea we find at _Kertch_, in the Crimea (the ancient Panticapaeum), a remarkable centre of Greek artistic production. The finds here are practically limited to one period, covering little more than a hundred years, and mainly illustrate the art of the fourth century B.C. There are, however, many magnificent vases, which in style, if not in shape or composition of subjects, must belong to an earlier time—namely, that of the fine red-figured period.[176] The excavations have mostly been undertaken by the Russian Government, in whose museum at the Hermitage the collections are now to be seen, but much was done unsystematically by Englishmen and others at the time of the Crimean War. It cannot be said that more than about one-quarter of the total find of 400 vases have any merit; they are chiefly small, with red figures, and of the later fine period; some are polychrome and ornamented with gilding.[177] The most remarkable by far is the vase signed by the Athenian Xenophantos (p. 447); but that with the contest of Athena and Poseidon (Plate L.) is also an exceptionally fine specimen; and others have interesting subjects relating to the Eleusinian mysteries. At _Phanagoria_ an early B.F. vase of Ionic style came to light.[178] Vases have also been found at Olbia on the neighbouring mainland, at Kief, at Temir Gora in Circassia, and on the modern sites of Blisnitza, Iouz Oba, Melek Chesme and Pavlovski-Kourgane in the Crimea.[179]

II. ASIA MINOR

_The Troad_ first claims our attention. Here on the site of the second city of Troy, at Hissarlik, Dr. Schliemann found the earliest pottery at present known from Greek soil (see