Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/635

HELLENIC.] POTTERY 611 lowed by the epithet "diva" or "bella." AH amphora with a very curious inscription has recently been found at Orvieto, in early Attic characters Z3AI03MIA2[OV3aOYA (retrograde) meaning Sv <5/3eu> Kal pe 6lyes, "Two obols, and you have me." a A quite different species of inscriptions occurs on vases of the latest class. Artists and potters names cease to appear with the rapidly- increasing decadence of the art. A black crater in the British Museum has a dedicatory inscription painted in white round the neck AIO2 SfiTHPOS, "Zeus the Saviour." A fine black fluted amphora has the owner s name, APICTAPXO APICTflNOZ, in which the lute C form of 2 occurs. On a small black ascus in the British Museum is scratched rudely nPOLTINE MH KAT0HI2, "Drink, do not set me down." And some plain black measures have their capacity incised on them, e.g., HEMI- KOTVAION, "Half a cotylion," on a cup -shaped vessel from Corcyra. One of the earliest known instances of Greek cursive writing occurs on a covered pyxis divided into four compartments (iu the British Museum). It appears to have been used to contain the ashes of a Roman called Sergius. Under the foot is rudely scratched "My beloved Sergius, farewell." The last word is blundered And on the inside of the lid is a similar incised inscription O C C 1 1 V "It is the second interment." The pyxis is apparently much older than the inscription, a supposition which is confirmed by the note as to its being a later burial. One sort of inscription, used more largely by the Romans than the Greeks, was impressed from incuse stamps, a method chiefly used for large amphorae and other vessels of plain biscuit clay, especially those made in Rhodes and Cnidus. These inscriptions, which date from the time of Alexander the Great down to the 1st century after Christ, usually give the name of an eponymous magis trate or chief priest, and have frequently in addition one of the thirteen months of the Doric calendar. Some of the stamps are circular, copied from current Rhodian coins, and have the legend round a front face of Helios, or the rose-blossom podov, which was the badge of the island. Other stamps are square or lozenge- shaped ; they are usually impressed on the neck or handle of jars.- Having considered the technical methods employed in the manufacture of Greek vases and the various classes of inscriptions which occur upon them, we will now return to the styles of vase-paintings and the subjects which are most frequently represented. SECTION V. HELLENIC. Archaic Class. The manner in which the styles of ornament on early pottery merge almost insensibly one into another makes it difficult to arrange it in distinct classes, and it is not easy to say at what precise stage the term " Hellenic " can be given to the archaic vessels. The presence of Greek inscriptions makes, however, a convenient starting-point. Probably the earliest known Greek ceramic inscription occurs on the Ehodian pinax mentioned above (see fig. 24). The painting on this, though rudely executed in brown and red ochres on a pale yellow slip-covered clay, the same in method as the earlier non-Hellenic paintings, shows a marked artistic advance by the fact that it represents a definite historical scene taken from the Iliad. No incised lines are used except for the feathers of the heraldic eagle on Hector s shield. A large number of other pinaces were found at Camirus, of the same date, but without inscrip tions and with purely decorative paintings, such as geome trical lotus-patterns, and spirited figures of bulls, sheep, and other animals, or sphinxes and gorgons heads. Some large clay coffins, also found at Camirus, and others at Clazomenae, belong to this class of pottery. 3 One of those 1 See Ann. Inst., 1882, p. 58. 2 See Dumont, Inscr. Ceram. de Grece, Paris, 1872 ; and Corp. Inscr. Gr. 3 Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1883. from Camirus is in the British Museum. The top is decorated with painting in red and brown ochre colours. FIG. 24. Early inscribed pinax from Rhodes, with contest of Menelaus and Hector over the body of Euphorbus. At the head is a bull between two lions, and below them two curious helmeted heads of warriors drawn in profile, both unfortunately much injured by restoration. Other parts are decorated with figures of beasts on a ground studded with rosettes and other small designs, in which some antiquaries see varieties of solar symbols ; but, what ever their original meaning may have been, they appear on this pottery to be iised merely as decoration. Other vases of a very early period with figure-subjects and inscrip tions, probably of the 7th and 6th centuries B.C., have been found at Corinth, such as the " Dodwell pyxis," now at Munich, on the lid of which is painted the scene of the Calydonian boar hunted by various heroes in the presence of Agamemnon ; each figure has an inscribed name. At Corinth also curious votive tablets have recently been found, some inscribed, with painted figures either of the god or of the donor ; one of these is shown in fig. 20. It is very early in date. The " Burgon amphora," so called from its finder, now in the British Museum (see fig. 25), is a very interesting specimen of this early class ; it is one of the prize amphora? which, filled with sacred olive oil, were given to the victors at the games held during the Panathenaic festival. It was found at Athens, filled with the ashes of its owner, and is no doubt the work of an Athenian potter. On one side is the usual figure of Athene Promachos in black, except the goddess s flesh, which is white, and the inscription and touches on the dress, which are in crimson. On the reverse side is the winner of the vase driving a biga, apparently in the act of winning the race which gained him the prize. On the neck of the vase is the owl sacred to Athene. The drawing of the figures is very rude, probably dating from the 6th century B.C. The "FranQois crater," found at Chiusi, now in the Etruscan Museum in Florence, is another important ex ample of this early class. It is signed as the work of the potter Ergotimus and the painter Clitias, and is painted with a long series of subjects, all relating to the life and death of Achilles. It has no less than 115 explanatory inscriptions. 4 Of about the same date, 6th century B.C.,

4 Bull. Inst., 1845, pp. 113, 120, and Ann. Inst., 1848, p. 382.