History of Ancient Pottery 20

History of Ancient Pottery 20

The question which next arises is that of the extent to which vases

were used for religious and votive purposes. Here, however, with one

exception noted below, we derive little aid from a study of the painted

vases themselves, in spite of the frequency of mythological subjects.

But inasmuch as many instances are known of offerings of metal vases in

the temples of the gods, it can hardly be doubted that painted vases

served the same purpose for those who could only afford the humbler

material. It was at one time supposed that the large vases painted for

a front view only, of which we have just spoken, were destined for this

purpose; but as they are mostly found in tombs, this can hardly be the

case.

 

Of late years, however, much light has been thrown upon this question

by means of scientific excavations. On many temple-sites which have

been systematically explored, such as the Acropolis of Athens or

Naukratis in the Egyptian Delta, enormous numbers of fragments of

painted vases have been found which are clearly the remains of votive

offerings. It was a well-known Greek custom to clear out the temples

from time to time and form rubbish-heaps of the disused vases and

statuettes, sometimes by digging pits for them; and thus these broken

fragments, rejected from their apparent uselessness, have from these

very circumstances been preserved to the present day to cast a flood of

light on many points of archaeology. At Naukratis many of the fragments

bear incised inscriptions in the form of dedications to Apollo (Fig.

16.) or Aphrodite, according to the site on which they were found. At

Penteskouphia near Corinth a large series of early painted tablets,

with representations of Poseidon and inscribed dedications, were found

in 1879 (p. 316), and illustrate the practice of making offerings in

this form, mentioned by Aeschylos.[464] Tablets painted with figures

and hung on trees or walls are not infrequently depicted on red-figured

vases, the subject generally implying their votive character.[465] Fig.

17. represents a youth carrying a tablet of this kind.

 

[Illustration: FIG. 16. RIM OF VASE FROM NAUKRATIS WITH DEDICATION TO

APOLLO (BRIT. MUS.).]

 

[Illustration:

 

From Benndorf, _Gr. u. Sic. Vasenb._

FIG. 17. YOUTH WITH VOTIVE TABLET.

]

 

There is no doubt that vases (though not, perhaps, painted ones) must

have played a considerable part in the religious ceremonies of the

Greeks. In the Athenian festival of the Anthesteria, the second day was

devoted to the holding of ἀγῶνες χύτρινοι, or “pot-contests,” vessels

full of corn being dedicated to Hermes Chthonios.[466] At the festival

of the Gardens of Adonis flower-pots of earthenware containing flowers

were cast into the sea, as a type of the premature death of

Adonis.[467] These flower-pots were also placed on the tops of houses,

and in this same festival, which was chiefly celebrated by hetairae,

little terracotta figures (κοράλλια) were introduced.[468] The use of

flower-pots placed in windows to form artificial gardens is mentioned

by Martial and Pliny[469]; and they were also employed to protect

tender plants, as hinted by Theophrastos,[470] who speaks of the

necessity of propagating southernwood by slips in pots.

 

It is, perhaps, hardly necessary to speak of the constant use of the

jug and bowl (_phiale_) in sacrifices and libation scenes, as seen on

innumerable vases of the R.F. and later periods (see pp. 178, 191).

Fig. 18 shows the use of vases on the occasion of a sacrifice to

Dionysos. There is also a type of vase which, according to a recent

writer,[471] was used for burning incense. It is a form which hitherto

had been conventionally named the κώθων, on account of its recurved lip

(see below, p. 187); but it is pointed out that it had three feet (the

form being clearly derived from the tripod), and therefore stood, and

was not carried about; also that it varies much in size, and is found

at an early date, and chiefly in women’s graves.[472] There is also

evidence that it was meant to stand fire or hold coals. From these

details the conclusion is deduced that it represents the earlier form

of incense-burner (down to about 500 B.C.), those of later date being

of a different form, as often seen on R.F. vases.[473]

 

[Illustration:

 

From _Furtwaengler and Reichhold_.

FIG. 18. VASES USED IN SACRIFICE (FROM VASE AT NAPLES).

]

 

The most important use, however, for which vases were employed, and

that to which their preservation is mainly due, was for purposes

connected with funeral ceremonies. These were of a varied nature,

including the use of vases at the burial, the placing of them on the

tomb to hold offerings, and the depositing of them in the tomb, either

to hold the ashes of the dead or as “tomb-furniture,” in accordance

with the religious beliefs of the Greeks on the life after death. The

principal methods in which they have been found deposited in the tombs

have already been described in Chapter II.

 

Vases were employed in the burial rites in various ways, as we learn

from the subjects depicted upon them. In the celebrated vase

representing the death and funeral of Archemoros,[474] two persons are

seen carrying tables laden with vases to the tomb, while an oinochoë is

placed under the bier on which the corpse is laid. It is also probable

that they were often burnt on the funeral pile with the corpse, and if

this is the case it may account for the discoloured condition of many

fine vases in which the red glaze has turned to an ashen grey under the

action of fire.[475] In any case vases were often broken before being

placed in the tomb, the idea being that they must participate in the

death of the person to whom they were consecrated. There is a special

class of B.F. amphorae found at Athens, which are commonly known as

“prothesis-amphorae,” the subjects relating exclusively to the πρόθεσις

or laying-out, and other funeral rites. They were, therefore, probably

placed round the bier during this ceremony.

 

Vases were also used for holding milk, oil, unguents, and other liquids

which were poured upon the corpse, or for the lustral water placed at

the entrance of the tomb. It was the regular practice of the Athenians

to place vases on the outside of the tombs, the commonest forms being

that of the lekythos, or a larger vase known as the λουτροφόρος,

mentioned by Demosthenes.[476] These were, however, generally of stone,

and are sometimes sculptured in relief, or bear inscriptions like the

Attic stelae[477] and modern tombstones.

 

The custom of placing lekythi on tombs is also alluded to once or twice

by Aristophanes in the _Ecclesiazusae_—_e.g._ line 538:

 

οὐδ’ ἐπιθεῖσα λήκυθον,

 

and again, line 1032:

 

καὶ ταινίωσαι καὶ παράθου τὰς ληκύθους.[478]

 

[Illustration: FIG. 19. FUNERAL LEKYTHOS, WITH VASES INSIDE TOMB (BRIT.

MUS.).]

 

The manner of employing vases as adjuncts to the tomb is nowhere better

illustrated than on the Athenian white lekythi, which are almost all

painted with funeral subjects, and, from the hasty way in which many

are executed, show that they were often made to order at short notice

(see above, p. 132). In particular, one example in the British Museum

(D 56 = Fig. 19) shows the interior of a conical tomb or tumulus,

within which vases of various shapes are seen. In other examples they

are ranged along the steps of a stele, or are represented as being

brought to the tomb in baskets by mourning women.[479] The larger vases

of Southern Italy, which similarly show by their subjects that they

were only made for funeral purposes, bear a close relation to the white

lekythi, and also to the Attic funeral stelae with reliefs. The

treatment of the subject varies in the different fabrics, but two main

types prevail. In the one, of Lucanian origin, the tomb takes the form

of a stele or column, round which vases are ranged on steps[480]; in

the other, on the large Apulian kraters and amphorae, the tomb is in

the shape of a ἡρῷον or small temple, within which is seen the figure

of the deceased, while on either side approach women bearing offerings

(Fig. 106); but vases do not play an important part in these latter

scenes.

 

[Illustration: FIG. 20. VASES PLACED ON TOMB (LUCANIAN HYDRIA IN BRIT.

MUS.).]

 

Thirdly, we have to deal with the use of painted vases in the tomb

itself. As regards their use as cinerary urns, to contain the ashes of

the dead, it appears to have been somewhat restricted.

 

In the Mycenaean period we know that inhumation, not cremation, was the

practice, contrary to that of the heroic or Homeric age, in which an

entirely different state of things is represented. But when we do read

in Homer or the tragic poets, of the methods of dealing with the ashes

of the dead, there is no mention of any but metal urns. Thus the ashes

of Patroklos were collected in a χρυσέη φιάλη[481] (the word is

probably used loosely), while those of Achilles were stored in a golden

amphora.[482] Again, Sophokles, in the fictitious account of Orestes’

death given in his _Electra_, uses the __EXPRESSION__ (l. 758)[483]:

 

ἐν βραχεῖ

χαλκῷ μέγιστον σῶμα δειλαίας σποδοῦ,

 

showing that metal vases were generally employed for this purpose.

 

No instances occurred among the early tombs in the Dipylon cemetery at

Athens or elsewhere in Greece before the sixth century, nor was the

practice usually favoured by the Etruscans, who employed painted vases

in their tombs exclusively as furniture. In Mycenaean times in Crete

coffers (λάρνακες) of terracotta, painted like the vases, were used as

_ossuaria_[484]; and similarly in Etruria at all periods the remains of

the deceased were placed in rectangular chests or sarcophagi of

terracotta or stone. But in the earliest tombs of Etruria and Central

Italy urns and hut-shaped receptacles for the ashes were invariably

employed (see Chapter XVIII.).

 

It is, however, probable that in course of time there was a partial

adoption of the practice in Greece. As early as the middle of the sixth

century there is an instance in the well-known Burgon Panathenaic

amphora, now in the British Museum,[485] found by Mr. Burgon in 1813;

it contained remains of burnt bones and several small plain vases. This

would seem to indicate that the Panathenaic amphorae in particular were

considered appropriate for this purpose, namely, that the cherished

prize won by the living should be used for the most sacred purpose in

connection with the dead.

 

Among the red-figured vases of the fifth century which have been found

to contain ashes, may be mentioned the famous Vivenzio vase at

Naples,[486] which was found carefully deposited within another vase at

Nola, and a vase of the shape known as λέβης, now in the British

Museum, found near the Peiraeus.[487] There is also a covered vase in

the British Museum,[488] which was employed for a similar purpose. It

is not, strictly speaking, a painted vase, being covered with a white

slip and coloured like the terracottas, while the heads of monsters

project from its sides; the shape is that known as λεκάνη (“tureen”),

and it dates from the fourth century. It contained human bones, among

which were found a small terracotta figure of a Siren and other

objects; the jaw-bone, which was preserved, had still fixed in it the

_obolos_, or small silver coin which was placed there as Charon’s fare

for ferrying the soul over the Styx. Of later date is a vase found at

Alexandria, in the catacombs, similarly decorated, and also filled with

bones; it was presented to the British Museum in 1830 by Sir E.

Codrington.

 

The class of large terracotta vases found in tombs at Canosa, Cumae,

Capua and Calvi (Cales), of which fine specimens may be seen in the

Terracotta Room of the British Museum (see above, p. 119), seems to

have been made for sepulchral purposes, as in many cases they are not

adapted for practical use. On the other hand, they may have been

ornaments for houses. They are decorated with figures in high relief,

or attached to different parts of the vase, and many of them,

especially those in the form of female heads, are strictly speaking not

vases at all, having no proper bottom.

 

The majority of painted vases found in the tombs must be regarded

purely as tomb-furniture, placed there with the idea that the deceased

would require in his future life all that had been associated with his

former existence. Sometimes they were placed round the corpse, with

food or liquids in them for the use of the “ghost,” and instances are

known of eggs and other objects having been preserved in this

manner.[489] Toy-vases are found buried with children in tombs at

Athens and elsewhere, and toilet-boxes or unguent-vases in women’s

graves. Nevertheless, it is probably not wide of the mark to say that

in the sixth and fifth centuries the custom had lost much of its

original meaning; the habit of placing painted vases in tombs survived,

but the original idea of the practice had become obscured, and the

religious significance was restricted to certain classes of vases, the

prothesis-amphorae, white lekythi, and others, which were not used

during life but only made specially for this purpose.

 

Great value seems to have been set upon the painted vases by their

possessors. When broken, they were repaired by the pieces being

skilfully fitted and drilled, with a rivet of lead or bronze neatly

attached to the sides. Several mended vases exist in the European

collections.[490] Occasionally they were repaired by inserting pieces

of other vases. Thus a vase with two handles, found at Vulci, of the

shape called στάμνος, is repaired with a part of a kylix representing

quite a different subject, and thus presents a discordant effect.[491]

A R.F. vase in the Louvre has actually been mended with part of a B.F.

vase.[492] A B.F. kylix in the British Museum (B 398) has a piece

inserted with the name of Priapos; similarly the two handles of the

R.F. kylix E 4, with the signature of Thypheithides, do not belong to

the vase; but these may both be modern restorations. The large casks of

coarse and unglazed ware (πίθοι) were also repaired with leaden cramps.

“The casks of the ill-clad Cynic,” says the Roman satirist, “do not

burn; should you break one of them, another house will be made by

to-morrow, or the same will continue to serve when repaired with

lead.”[493] Aristophanes puts into the mouth of his old litigant turned

_roué_ a popular story of Sybaris which alludes to the use of bronze

rivets. A woman of that city broke an earthen pot, which was

represented as screaming out, and calling for witnesses to prove how

badly it had been treated. “By Persephone!” exclaims the dame, “were

you to leave off bawling for witnesses, and make haste to buy a copper

clamp (ἐπίδεσμον) to rivet yourself with, you would show more

sense.”[494]

 

* * * * *

 

After noting the chief uses of Greek vases it is necessary to give some

account of the different shapes, and to identify the recorded names as

far as possible with the various kinds actually found.

 

The subject is, however, one of great difficulty, and it is impossible

to attain to scientific accuracy, owing to the differences of time

between the authors by whom they are mentioned, the difficulty of

explaining types by verbal descriptions, and the ambiguity often caused

by the ancient practice of describing a vase of one shape by the name

of another.

 

A study of any collection of Greek vases will make it apparent that

there is a great variety in the forms of the different periods. This is

especially marked in the earliest ages of Greece, in which the variety

is almost endless, and the adoption and development of certain

recognised forms practically unknown. It must therefore be evident that

the statements of ancient writers must always be used with caution, and

that a shape described by an early writer must not be taken as

representing the same in a later period, even if the same word be used,

or _vice versa_. For instance, the δέπας ἀμφικύπελλον of Homer, which

finds a curious parallel in the gold cup with the doves discovered by

Schliemann at Mycenae, is, whatever view we may take of the Homeric

civilisation, only an example of a passing fashion. Or again, many of

the drinking-cups described by Athenaeus in his eleventh book are

doubtless only instances of new experiments in pottery or metal-work

characteristic of the Hellenistic age, with its tendency to strive

after novelties. Many of his names are little more than nicknames for

familiar shapes, which enjoyed a temporary popularity.

 

Some information may be derived from the vases themselves by means of

inscriptions, specimens of which are given in Chapter XVII. Thus on the

François vase the three-handled pitcher used by Polyxena is inscribed

[ΥΔΡΙΑ], or “water-pot,” and enables us to apply the name hydria with

certainty to a three-handled vase, of which many black- and red-figured

specimens exist.[495] Then we have the _lekythos_ of Tataie, and the

_kylikes_ of Philto and Kephisophon,[496] which testify by inscriptions

to the name by which they were known. The names incised in _graffito_

on the feet of vases[497] are a more doubtful source of evidence,

inasmuch as they may refer either to mixed batches of vases or to the

names of measures of capacity.

 

Examples of cursory mention of names in the ancient writers, such as

Aristophanes, are innumerable, but seldom explicit, and the scholia on

these writers are hardly more useful, inasmuch as the grammarians

probably knew little more about obsolete shapes than we do ourselves,

and their commentaries have little critical weight. The _loci classici_

on the subject are the book of Athenaeus already referred to,[498] in

which he gives a list of over one hundred names, with more or less full

explanation and commentary, most of the forms being apparently

varieties of drinking-cups, and the _Onomasticon_ of Pollux.[499]

Notices of vases are also to be found in the lexicographers, such as

Hesychius and Suidas, and the _Etymologicum Magnum_.

 

In the early days of modern archaeology the first to propose an

identification of the shapes of vases was Panofka,[500] whose fanciful

and uncritical lucubrations were shortly afterwards combated by

Letronne[501] and Gerhard,[502] the latter of whom introduced a more

scientific method of criticism and classification, though his results

cannot be considered as final. Other writers were Müller,[503]

Thiersch,[504] Ussing,[505] Krause,[506] and Jahn,[507] of whom Ussing

followed practically on Gerhard’s lines but with more success; Krause,

though exhaustive, is on the whole uncritical; and Jahn has treated the

subject with his wonted conciseness and sobriety. Of late years little

attention has been paid to it, principally, no doubt, for the reason

that so many conventional names have been generally accepted for the

ordinary shapes by archaeologists, who have recognised the fact that it

will never be possible to treat the subject with scientific

accuracy.[508]

 

The classification of the shapes of vases has usually been undertaken

on the lines of distinguishing their main uses, such as (1) those in

which food or liquids were preserved; (2) those in which liquids were

mixed or cooked; (3) those by means of which liquids were poured out or

food distributed; (4) drinking-cups; (5) other vases for the use of the

table or toilet. Thus we have the pithos and amphora for storing wine,

the krater for mixing it, the psykter for cooling it, the kyathos for

ladling it out, and the oinochoë or prochoos for pouring it out; the

hydria was used for fetching water from the well. Of smaller vases, the

names for drinking-cups are innumerable, but the phiale, for instance,

was employed chiefly for pouring libations; while dishes and plates are

represented by the lekane, tryblion, pinax, and so on. The pyxis was

used by women at their toilet, and the lekythos, alabastron, and askos

for holding oil and unguents. There is an interesting passage in

Athenaeus (iv. 142 D)[509] which gives a list of the vases required for

use at a banquet: “And on the tripod was placed a bronze wine-cooler

(ψυκτήρ) and a κάδος (bucket) and a silver σκαφίον holding two kotylae

(one pint), and a ladle (κύαθος); and the wine-jug (ἐπίχυσις) was of

bronze, but nobody was offered drink unless he asked for it; and one

ladleful was given out before the meal.”

 

* * * * *

 

For the purposes of this work it is hoped that the usual method of

classification indicated above will be found sufficient, supplemented

by the descriptions of Athenaeus and other writers, where any details

can be obtained; but it is obvious that a really critical treatment of

the subject should be chronological, with endeavours to trace the first

appearance and development of each type. In the present state of our

knowledge, however, it would seem impossible to do so with success.

 

We begin our description of the vases of the Greeks with an account of

the large vases of rough manufacture calculated to hold great

quantities of wine, water, or food. The chief vase of this class is the