Chapter VII

.,[533] and the Boeotian vases with reliefs.[534] Among the Proto-Attic vases found at Vourva a development occurs, in which the neck is greatly elongated, and the body becomes exceedingly slim, while the handles are simplified into plain flat bands united to the neck by bars of clay (see Fig. 89, p. 299). This form is found still further developed in the prothesis-amphorae of the B.F. period[535]; but these are comparatively rare, and the more normal evolution of the amphora with cylindrical neck is to be traced in the varieties (2) and (6) described below.

[Illustration: FIG. 25. “TYRRHENIAN” AMPHORA.]

(2) The early amphorae preceding the ordinary B.F. Athenian types were divided by Gerhard into two classes, “Egyptian” and “Tyrrhenian.”[536] He describes the former as a vase with tolerably pronounced curve of body, entirely covered with horizontal bands of figures; the latter as of similar form, but with decoration confined to a panel on either side. As regards shape, therefore, the two are actually one, and may be regarded as such for our present purpose; but it is curious to note that the particular class called “Egyptian” by Gerhard has since his time been generally known as “Tyrrhenian,” while his “Tyrrhenian” class has now received, from the peculiar mannerisms of the paintings, the name of “affected” vases.[537] At all events the word is convenient to adhere to for the description of this particular shape (Fig. 25), with its long, egg-shaped body, the vertical section of which is almost an ellipse, a shape common to all early B.F. fabrics—Athenian, Rhodian, Ionic, and Corinthian—but best illustrated by the “Corintho-Attic” class described by Thiersch.[538] It is seldom found in purely Attic examples, and disappears after the middle of the sixth century.

[Illustration: FIG. 26. PANATHENAIC AMPHORA.]

(3) Gerhard’s next class is that of the Panathenaic amphorae, which have a long body shaped something like a top, and tapering sharply downwards; the mouth, handles, and neck are small, as is also the foot (Fig. 26). It is so called as being the characteristic form of the earlier (sixth-century) Panathenaic prize-vases, but is also occasionally found in the ordinary fabrics. This type, together with the two following examples, not mentioned explicitly by Gerhard or the other early writers, form the class of “black-bodied” amphorae, as they may conveniently be termed, in order to distinguish those with panel-decoration from those in which the body is entirely covered with red glaze (see below).

(4) The second variety of “black-bodied” amphora (Fig. 27.) is closely akin to the Panathenaic, but the body is better proportioned. It is characterised by the wide mouth in the form of a thick ring, the cylindrical handles, and the concave curve of the shoulder. From the style of the paintings it is probable that this variety must be placed early in the black-figure period.

[Illustration: FIG. 27. PANEL-AMPHORA.]

(5) This type, on the other hand, is later in the period, being developed out of the last, from which it is marked off only by the form of the handles, which are broad and flanged, and often decorated with patterns. These vases are mostly of large size, and are transitional, some R.F. varieties being known. The paintings on them are in the style of Exekias, Andokides, and Euthymides (see for an example Plates XXXI., XXXII.).

(6) The shape of the “red-bodied” amphora (Fig. 28) is peculiar to the black-figure period.[539] Its characteristic features are the straight, cylindrical neck, with its chain of lotos-and-honeysuckle, the width of the shoulder, and the ribbed handles, formed from moulds in two or three parallel pieces. Artistically it is far superior to the black-bodied, and includes some of the finest specimens of B.F. painting (as in the vases of Exekias), while the decorative element reaches the perfection of beauty and symmetry.

[Illustration: FIG. 28. RED-BODIED AMPHORA.]

(7) The red-bodied amphora seems to have been the prototype of what is the most characteristic form of the red-figure period—the so-called “Nolan” amphora (Fig. 29).[540] These have been largely, but not exclusively, found at Nola, whither they seem to have been imported in large numbers from Greece. The whole vase is covered with black, and the decoration confined to one or two figures each side, while the elegant and beautiful outline, the lustre of the varnish, and the restraint of the designs combine to render these perhaps the most beautiful products of Athenian ceramic art. The handles are sometimes four-sided, more often ribbed, and sometimes formed of two twisted strands, produced by rolling up the soft paste; the general outline is that of the last class, but the proportions are far more slender and graceful.

[Illustration: FIG. 29. “NOLAN” AMPHORA.]

(8) The Apulian amphora (Fig. 30) illustrates the form which, though generally adopted in Apulia, may have had its origin at Athens, as it is adopted for the fourth-century Panathenaic amphorae.[541] It is distinguished by its great size and egg-shaped body; the mouth is thick and high, spreading out like an inverted cone, and the neck is not cylindrical, but merges into the shoulder. A variety of the Apulian amphora, hardly common enough to form a separate class, was formerly known as the “candelabrum-amphora,” from its resemblance to an incense-burner (an object wrongly interpreted formerly as a _candelabrum_, or lamp-stand). Its peculiarities are the cylindrical body, tall neck, and elaborate handles in the form of double scrolls.[542]

[Illustration: FIG. 30. APULIAN AMPHORA.]

(9) The Campanian amphora is derived directly from the “Nolan,” and is in fact a local adaptation, but it was chiefly manufactured at Cumae.[543] It generally has twisted handles, and is painted in polychrome; the proportions are somewhat more elongated than those of the “Nolan” class.

(10) A rare variety of the amphora is sometimes found in the red-figure period, with large spheroidal body and pointed base, intended to be placed in a separate stand. The conventional name of _diota_ is sometimes given to this form, from its imitation of the pointed base of the wine-amphora.[544]

(11) The last variety of the amphora which calls for consideration is the wide-bellied type, usually called (on very slight authority) a _pelike_, πελίkη (Fig. 31).[545] The name was invented by Gerhard, and has been generally adopted since, but is only to be regarded as a conventional term. This form, which swells out towards the base, and has no stem or neck, is very rarely found before the fifth century,[546] but is common in the R.F. period, and in the Apulian style, in which its proportions are usually more slender.

[Illustration: FIG. 31. SO-CALLED “PELIKE.”]

The amphora when complete usually had a cover of clay, either coated with a plain black varnish or decorated with bands and patterns; it was lifted by means of a central knob. An amphora in the Berlin Museum (_Cat._ 1860) has a double cover, the inner one being of alabaster.

Of the other names which seem to denote vases adapted for containing and storing wine or other commodities, the most important is the =Stamnos= (στάμνος), used for holding wine and oil. It is mentioned by Pollux[547] in his list of wine-jars, and he quotes a line from Aristophanes about “a stamnos of Chian wine arriving.” The diminutives σταμνίον and σταμνάριον are also found, and Aristophanes speaks of a “small Thasian stamnos of wine.”[548] The amphora is defined in the _Etymologicum Magnum_ as “a two-eared σταμνίον.” It has been generally identified with a form well known in the R.F. period, but only found in that style: a spherical jar with short thick neck and small side-handles, of which some very beautiful specimens exist (Fig. 32). The word is still in use in modern Greek.

[Illustration: FIG. 32. STAMNOS.]

The βῖκος is described by Hesychios as a στάμνος with ears, and by Eustathius as a vessel holding wine[549]; it was also used for figs and salted food.[550] It is probably only another name for the στάμνοςστάμνος, but it seems to be inaccurately described by Athenaeus[551] as “a saucer-shaped drinking-cup” (φιαλῶδες ποτήριον). It was apparently identical with the ὕρχη,[552] a word used by Aristophanes,[553] but more commonly by Roman writers in its Latin form _orca_.

[Illustration: FIG. 33. SO-CALLED “LEKANE.”]

The names of Apulian stamnos or λεκάνη have at different times been given to a late form of painted vase found in Southern Italy, with high or low stem, upright handles, and cover, which latter often takes an elaborate form, being surmounted by one or more small vases, also with handles (Fig. 33.). The word λεκάνη,[554] however, seems to indicate a large bowl rather than a covered jar, and no satisfactory name has as yet been found. A similar but flatter form of vase, like a covered bowl or dish, has been named λεκάνη, λεπαστή, or covered pyxis, but no name is satisfactory.

The λαγυνος or λαγυνίς seems to have been a narrow-necked jar of considerable size. Athenaeus[555] says the word represented a Greek measure, equivalent to twelve Attic κοτύλαι, or six pints, and that it was in use at Patrae. The word is used by Plutarch for the jar in which the stork offered entertainment to the fox[556]; it frequently appears in the Latin form _lagena_ (see