Chapter XXII

.)

Next in importance for the history of local fabrics are the vases found at _S. Agata dei Goti_, the ancient Saticula, which can also claim a manufacture of its own.[259] They are for the most part bell-shaped kraters, and were chiefly excavated at the end of the eighteenth century. Signed vases by the Paestum masters Assteas and Python (see below) came from this site. The vases of _Abella_ form another class of Campanian ware, but of a degenerate and late type, mostly hydriae of very pale clay. Other sites which have yielded Campanian vases are: Naples (Neapolis), Telese, Teano, Acerra, Sessa, and Nuceria Alfaterna (Nocera).[260]

_Capua_, on the other hand, does not appear to have had any special fabric of its own, although the finds of all periods are as numerous as from any site in Southern Italy except Ruvo and Nola. Among the earlier specimens may be mentioned the inscribed Corinthian krater in the British Museum (B 37) from the Hamilton collection (Plate XXI.). The red-figured vases include cups signed by Euergides, Epiktetos, and Pistoxenos. The vases of the Decadence have, as indicated, no distinctive features of their own. Most of the late red-figured vases of fancy shapes (such as rhyta) in the British Museum are from this site, whence they passed into the hands of Castellani. The black vases with gilded ornamentation, of which the British Museum possesses some fine specimens, are also characteristic of Capua. A large number of the vases obtained by Sir William Temple are from this site, as is also one of the later Panathenaic amphorae.[261]

At _Calvi_ (Cales) Greek painted vases are almost unrepresented,[262] but this site is distinguished as the origin of two late varieties of fictile ware. One is formed by the Calene phialae (p. 502), or bowls of black ware with interior designs in relief, sometimes signed with the names of local potters; the other consists of large vases highly ornamented with terracotta figurines attached in different places, or else modelled in the form of female figures or heads. Strictly speaking, the latter must be classed under the heading of terracottas (see p. 119).

Lastly, we have to speak of _Nola_, which, like Capua, was always a city of considerable importance, and is represented by a large series of vases of all periods.[263] Here again we can detect no signs of a special local fabric, though for a long time the so-called “Nolan” amphorae of the red-figured period were thought to have been made on the spot, so frequently have they been found. The name is still retained as convenient for describing this particular form of amphora (see p. 162), with its exquisite black varnish, graceful outlines, and simple yet effective decoration; but it is, of course, quite conventional. The vases are purely Attic (some are signed by Athenian artists), and it can only be supposed that they found especial favour in the Nolan market. Corinthian and Attic black-figured vases occur in large numbers, and both here and at Capua there seems to have been a tendency to imitate the exported Athenian wares. Thus we find not only vases with black figures on buff ground on which the drawing is obviously free and developed, but also imitations of the “Nolan” amphorae, both classes dating from about the fourth century B.C.

At _Sorrento_ and the neighbouring Vico Equense a few vases of different periods have been found, including a fine R.F. krater signed by Polygnotos, which was discovered in 1893, and is now in the British Museum.[264] Salerno is also mentioned as a site where Greek vases have come to light.

The famous city of _Paestum_ lay actually within the borders of Lucania, but all its relations were with Campania, and it may practically be regarded as a Campanian city. Little has been found here except local fourth- and third-century fabrics, but these are for the most part so remarkable that they have established the existence of a school of vase-painting at Paestum quite distinct from and earlier than the fabrics of the three districts of Southern Italy.[265] Nearly all the vases found here (including three signed by the master Assteas) have the distinguishing characteristics of this class. They are mostly to be seen in the Naples Museum; a fuller account of them is given in

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