|
Vase Finds from Athens [on the western slope of the Acropolis], part 1.
Article originally published in 1901in the journal Communications of the German Imperial Archaeological Institute, Athenian Section, vol. 26 (Ath.Mitt. XXVI), pp. 50-102.
In
the following, the small finds made during the excavations on the
western slope of the Acropolis, excluding the stone monuments, are to
be compiled [1]. They come from the rubble of ancient houses and the
numerous wells that lie in the valley between the Pnyx and the
Acropolis, and consist largely of fragments of the so-called Megarian
cups and another type of vessel, which is important for the history of
pottery in the III century deserves special attention. Several vessels
of this type have been reassembled from the fragments; because of their
historical importance, they must be discussed in more detail. Before
that, the following should be mentioned from the other finds of various
kinds.
1.
Mycenaean bowl (fig.1) with a spout, two handles on either side and a ring
base, decorated with a frieze of geometrically stylized filiary
blossoms. It was found in a deeper layer below the level of the
excavations. Height 5.5 cm; diameter 12.5 cm.
Fig.1: Mycenaean bowl with spout.
The spout has broken off, but can
certainly be supplemented. Judging by clay and varnish, it is not an
Attic product, but a (Mycenaean) import. The shape is new; to compare
are the one-handled bowls from Cyprus: Excavations in Cyprus p. 36 N° 1024, p. 74 N° 28.
2.
Interior from a bowl (pl.2b), later period of the beautiful style, very fine
drawing with white details; diameter 9 cm; National Museum Inv. 11713 . In front of a (p.51) naked youth with long curls, wearing a
laurel wreath in his hair, a lyre in his left hand and a twig in his
right hand, stands a girl in a Doric chiton with a diadem in her hair,
holding a holding a white garland.
Plate 2b: Bowl with painting of young man and girl.
3. Fish Plate (pl.2a), younger Period
of Fine Style; diameter 14.5cm; edge broken; the first
specimen of this form found in Attica. An egg stick runs around the
circle in the middle, a wavy band on the bent edge, between them on the
ring are four fish, two opposite each other. In terms of its style, the
plate is older than the Crimean specimens of the same shape, which are
not decorated with fish but always with the depiction of Europa being
carried across the sea to Zeus by the bull [2]. Stephani has already
given the correct explanation of the striking shape: as the specimens
from the Crimea prove, which have an opening in the middle of the indented round, the plate served as a base for serving fish. The water
flowing down from the sloping surfaces could collect in the deep circle
and run off through the opening. This is the best way to explain the
decoration with sea creatures [3]. The fish plates, which are very
common in southern Italy, all have no hole for drainage, unlike the Attic
plate, and their decoration always consists of fish and sea creatures;
Mythological representations never occur as in the later Attic
specimens.
Plate 2a: Fish plate with hole in center..
The chronological relationship between the various
plates can best be illustrated by the shape of the foot. The plate from
the west slope turns out to be the oldest example, because of its
simple, still unjointed base. In the specimens from the Crimea, the
subdivision of the footplate begins, but it is still very small. (p.52)
On the other hand, a fish plate fragment in the Berlin Museum [4],
which comes from Tanagra, comes closest to the southern Italian plate
form. Both are based on the same pattern of foot profiling, which is
only developed more elegantly in southern Italy. Plates of a more
recent form and somewhat later served the potters in southern Italy as
models [5].
4. Sherd of a red-figure vessel of free style (fig.2).
A woman sits on a swan flying with outstretched wings, holding the
animal's neck with her left hand and holding a staff in her right hand.
Since its upper end is missing, the otherwise obvious interpretation of
Aphrodite cannot be proved.
Fig.2: Red-figure sherd with painting of woman and swan.
See Kalkmann Yearbook of the Inst. 1886, 231 ff. ; Böhm Yearbook 1889, 214 f.; S. Reinach Antiquites du Bosphore cinnerien p. 131; Munro JHS 1891 PI. XIII.
5.
Impression from a mold, poorly fired clay; the lower page preserved,
the other three pages incomplete. The back is kneaded and rounded with
the fingers. Aphrodite sits on a throne, half-turned, in a Doric
chiton, her cloak wrapped around her lower body. The head is missing.
The right hand is raised and probably grasped the veil, the left rests
on an ithyphallic herm, in front of which a dove is sitting below. On
the left side (p.53) remains of a second figure seem to be present,
perhaps a small Eros standing next to Aphrodite. The relief seems to
have formed a circle, so it is probably an impression of the mold for a
mirror with relief decoration. It probably belongs to the end of the
fifth century.
6. Relief lekythos, H. 10 cm, reverse side
varnished in black. The obverse is formed by a naked girl hovering next
to a bull, holding the bull's horn with her left hand and probably
holding the veil with her broken right hand (p.54); below plastic
waves. Traces of white paint are present. The motif is very popular for
relief vessels, cf. Stackeiberg Graves of the Hellenes Plate 50,1.
Compte rendu 1866 plate II 33.
7. Relief lekythos, H. 10 cm,
reverse side varnished in black; without traces of paint, early IV
century. The mouth is missing, the handle is still preserved at the
back. Naked youth, chlamys buttoned around his shoulders, gallops to
the right on his steed and turns to the front so that his torso appears
in frontal view.
Fig.4 : Relief of a youth on a horse.
The youth's right arm and left lower leg have been
broken off, the horse's head, which was drawn up, the front legs and
most of the hind legs have broken off. From the direction of the mouth
of the lekythos it appears that the horse reared up. If one also takes
into account the strong turning of the rider forwards, the conclusion
that Bellerophon was depicted fighting the Chimaira is obvious. The
artist would then have omitted the wings of the Pegasus because of the
technical difficulties. The depiction of the hero leaping over the
Chimaira on horseback has been common in this form since the end of the
fifth century and can be traced back to an invention of great art [6].
8.
Bowl with black figures, IV century BC; height 11 cm (p.54). Above is a
narrow bar band, below is a net pattern, in between a frieze
depicting a fight between youths (pygmies?) and cranes. The youths are
armed with clubs - one also carries a sword in its scabbard - and hold
the chlamys on the left arm for protection. The clay is Attic, but the
shape, as far as I can see, is only known from Boeotian pottery.
Fig.5 : 4th c. BC bowl with figures of youths and cranes
9.
Lid of a box IV century BC (fig.6A); diameter. 13cm. In the middle a
star made of volutes, surrounded by a bar band, on the edge a wavy
band. Attic clay with traces of a dark red coating.
10. Two small vessels (p.56) with upstanding
handles. IV century BC, one decorated with zigzag (fig.6C), the other
with wavy band (fig.6B.) Grey-brown fired Attic clay.
Fig.6A: 4th c. BC pottery lid with star motif, B, C: small 4th c. jars with handles.
11. Handle
of a lamp with glossy gray varnish (fig.7A). A large vine leaf lies on
the handle, which is connected to the handle by a bracket at the top.
The formation of the handle and the addition of the bracket show that
this form was invented in metal; it is also known to us from bronze
lamps. In the Museum of Corneto there is a bronze handle of the same
shape, with a plastic Silens mask attached to the vine leaf (Phot.
Moscioni 9039); a glazed terracotta lamp from the Hellenistic period
with the same handle is mentioned by Dragendorff in the description of
the Nowikow collection (Arch. Anzeiger 1897, 7).
Fig.7A: Lamp handle with vine leaf. B: Jug handle with satyr's head.
12.
Handle of a jug of dark gray clay with matt black varnish (fig.7B); at
the base satyr's head with snub nose and ruffled hair [7]. Under the
handle on the right in the wall of the vessel there is a small round
hole that you can easily close with the back of your finger when you
hold the handle. If the hole does not come from an ancient repair, the
whole vessel was a puzzle vessel, similar to the one described by Heron
in Pneumatics I 22, and which is intended to allow two different liquids to run out separately from the same tap.
Footnotes:
1.
The drawings for a large part of the illustrations were made by the
painter Gillieron. All fragmented pieces have been supplemented to the
extent that the reconstruction could be given with certainty.
2. The following are published 1. Compte rendu 1866
plate IV, found in the big Blisnitza; ibid in the text p. 81 numerous
fragments of two other plates are mentioned. 2. C. R. 1876 plate V
4--15 p. 164 ff. Fragments of at least 11 fish plates, found in 1872 on
the Taman peninsula (cf. C. R. 1880 p. 107 note 1). 3. C. R. 1880 p.
106, found in 1879 in the grave debris of the Elteghen estate on the
Taman peninsula.
3. Cf. Stephani Compte rendu 1876, 164-170.
4.
Inventory 3284 ; around the circle in the middle a bar band between two
wavy bands, on the edge a laurel branch, in between a stripe with fish
and sea creatures.
5. Older red-figure fish plates than the
one described above are not known to me; on the other hand, among the
sherds found on the western slope, there are also fragments of later
plates with poor black varnish, burned red in the center and around the
rim, which are attributed to the end of the III or II century.
6. Cf. Engelmann Annali 1874, 17 ff. Stephani Compte rendu 1881, 11 f..
7.
The dark gray clay and the matt black varnish connect the vessel
with a group of vases which has been securely dated from the find of a
small hydria (Compte rendu 1880, 21) in a grave from the middle of the 3rd century.
[Continue to part 2]
[Return to table of contents]
|
|
