Chapter XVII.), where the words used seem to have no relation to the

vase itself. Thus in liquid measure the amphora (ἀμφορεύς) or κάδος, also known as μετρητής, was equivalent to about 7½ gallons, and was divided into 12 χόες, the χοῦς into 12 κοτύλαι, which, as we have seen, answer to our ½-pints. The ὀξύβαφο was one-fourth of a κοτύλη, the κύαθος one-sixth.[458] All these words were in common use to express various forms of vases, as will be seen later on. Further, the word κεράμιον, which, like the Latin _testa_, is used generally for pottery, has a more restricted sense of a cask or vessel used for transporting wine, and is even used as a term of measure, presumably equivalent to the amphora.[459]

Earthenware was also used generally for the purpose of storing liquids or various kinds of food, for the preparation of food and liquids, and for the uses of the table or toilet. The painted ware, however, was not employed for the commoner purposes, nor to contain large quantities of liquids, for which it would have been far too expensive. But we know that it was largely used at banquets and drinking-bouts, and on other occasions, from the evidence of the vases themselves. Thus, in the well-known vase with the Harpies robbing the blind Phineus of his food (p. 357), a kotyle painted with black figures is seen in the king’s hands; and in a scene representing the reception of Paris by Helen,[460] the former is offered wine drawn from a large four-handled vase on which figures are painted.[461] Vases with subjects represented on them are also seen placed on columns forming the background of scenes, as if forming part of the furniture of a hall or chamber. But as a general rule the vases represented in banquet scenes and elsewhere are left plain or only decorated with patterns.

To the use of vases in connection with athletic games we have already alluded in discussing Pindar’s mention of the Panathenaic amphorae; it is, of course, likely that other forms of vases were also given as prizes or presented to young men on special occasions, such as entering the ranks of the ἔφηβοι or being married, but we have no evidence of such customs.

Vases were also used as toys, as is proved by the discovery of many little vases, chiefly jugs, in the tombs of children at Athens, on which are depicted children playing at various games.[462] They are too small to have served any other purpose, and as similarly shaped jugs appear among the toys used by the children in these scenes, it is reasonable to suppose that they were playthings. No doubt some of the more unusual shapes were made with the same end, such as vases in the shape of animals or fruit, or the aski (p. 200), which contained little balls and were used as rattles.

We have already hinted at the purely decorative use of vases as domestic ornaments, in which capacity they were often placed on columns; there is, however, no hint of this in ancient authors. But that it was customary in Greece and Italy, at all events in the later period (_i.e._ after the Persian Wars), seems to be indicated by the practice which obtains with the larger vases of executing only one side with care, while the other exhibits an unimportant and badly painted design (generally three boys or men wrapped in mantles). It is natural to suppose that the carelessly executed side was not supposed to be seen, owing to the fact that the vase was intended to be placed against a wall. Some of the large round dishes of Apulian fabric seem to have been intended for hanging up against a wall, on the same principle.[463]

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.

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]

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]

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.

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 =Pithos= or cask (Lat. _dolium_), a vase of gigantic size, found both in Italy and Greece.[510] They are shaped like enormous barrels, with bulging bodies and wide mouths, and answer to the modern hogshead or pipe. When full, the casks were closed with a circular stone, or with a cover of clay. They were used to hold honey, wine, and figs, and were usually kept half-buried in the earth.[511] They were sufficiently capacious to hold a man, and the famous “tub” of Diogenes was of this form. On a lamp in the British Museum and other monuments[512] he is represented appearing from one, presumably on the occasion of his interview with Alexander. In the vase-paintings Eurystheus takes refuge in a pithos from Herakles when he brings the Erymanthian boar,[513] and the same shape of vase is represented as holding the wine of the Centaurs and the water drawn by the Danaids.[514] The “box” of Pandora was in reality a large jar of this kind, as we learn from Hesiod.[515] It required great skill to make these vases, whence a Greek proverb characterised an ambitious but inexperienced man as “one who began with a cask” (ἐν πίθῳ τὴν κεραμείαν μανθάνειν).[516] They were not made on the wheel but by a peculiar process, which is described as plastering the clay round a framework of wood, called κάνναβος[517]; it appears to have been made of vertical boards ranged in a circle, like a tub.

The British Museum possesses two or three πίθοι of exceptional size, ornamented with bands of geometrical patterns in relief, which were obtained from Mr. (now Sir A.) Biliotti’s excavations at Ialysos in Rhodes, and belong to the Mycenaean period. In 1900 Mr. Arthur Evans, among the remains of the Minoan palace at Knossos in Crete, came upon a courtyard round which stood a number of similar πίθοι, with decorations of a Mycenaean character (see Fig. 21).[518] These may be considered to belong to the middle of the second millennium B.C., and it is therefore evident that the πίθος may claim an antiquity second to none among forms of Greek vases.

Among examples of later date may be mentioned the large series recently found in Thera by German explorers, some plain, others with painted geometrical decoration; they are partly of native make, partly importations from Crete, and date from the seventh century B.C.[519] Dr. Dörpfeld found examples of πίθοι in the remains of the earlier cities at Hissarlik, from the second to the seventh layers. These were used for keeping all sorts of liquids and solids, and also apparently formed part of the cooking apparatus.[520] Others were found in the excavations of Mr. J. Brunton on the site of Dardanus in the Troad; they were of pale red clay, with a stone cover. In excavating between Balaclava and Sevastopol Colonel Munroe discovered no less than sixteen, about 4 ft. 4 in. in height, within a circular building, apparently a storehouse; they were also of pale red ware. One had incised upon its lip [ΔΔΠΠ ΠΙΙΙ], apparently indicating its price. Similar πίθοι have been found in Athens, some having fractures joined by leaden rivets. Large πίθοι with archaic reliefs have been found in Crete, Rhodes, Sicily, and Etruria (at Cervetri); they are imitated from metal vases, with designs of Oriental character.[521]

Perhaps of all the ancient vases the best known is the =Amphora= (ἀμφορεύς or ἀμφιφορεύς), which was used for a variety of domestic and commercial purposes. So numerous are the vases of this form, found all over the Greek world, that they merit a lengthy description. They were principally used for wine, but also for corn, honey, oil, and other substances,[522] and to the use of the word as a measure of capacity we have already alluded. It should be borne in mind that the conventional use of the word _amphora_ in speaking of the painted Greek vases implies a quite different form from the plain wine-amphorae, which were neither painted nor varnished; the type of vase is the same, but the painted examples are smaller and stouter, with a proper foot. For the present we confine our description to the unadorned amphora of commerce.

Besides the two handles from which the word derives its name,[523] the wine-amphora (Fig. 22.) is distinguished by its long egg-shaped body, narrow cylindrical neck, and pointed base; this form is often known as _diota_ (the Latin equivalent). The base is sometimes supplied with a ring to stand on, but is more usually pointed, in order to be easily fixed in the earth in cellars. The mouth was sealed by means of a conical cover terminating in a boss.

Remains of these amphorae have been discovered not only in Greece itself, but also wherever the Greek commerce and settlements extended, as in Alexandria, Kertch (Panticapaeum), Corfu, Rhodes, Sicily, and Asia Minor. They appear to have been used at a very early period, plain specimens of red ware being found not only in the early Greek tombs, like that of Menekrates in Corfu (p. 54), but even in tombs of the Bronze Age period, as in Cyprus. The typical long shape, however, did not come into fashion until about 300 B.C., when the island of Rhodes was a great trading centre, carrying on an active commerce all over the Mediterranean. Amphorae of this form are represented on the coins of Chios and Thasos with reference to their trade in wine, and on the Athenian silver tetradrachms which belong to the period subsequent to about 220 B.C.; they are shown on the reverse, lying horizontally, with an owl above. In this case the reference may be either to the large Attic trade in oil or to the use of the amphora for voting at the election of magistrates (see p. 167).

The most interesting feature of the wine-amphorae is the device or impression stamped on the handles either in a circular medallion or an oblong depression. This was done by means of a stone or bronze stamp, while the clay was still moist. They are found in all parts of the ancient world, but the greater number can be traced to a few places of origin, of which the most important are: Rhodes, Knidos, Thasos, Paros, and Olbia in Southern Russia. As regards the stamps, the usage differs at each centre; but apart from them the handles can be distinguished by their shapes and material, as will be seen in the subsequent description.

The Rhodian amphorae, of which large numbers have been found at Alexandria as well as in the island itself, were of a very pure and tenacious clay, with a fracture as sharp as that of delf. The colour is pale, deepening to a salmon hue. The numerous separate handles which have also been found have all belonged to the same form of amphora, with long square-shouldered handles, as on the Athenian and Chian coins. An entire vase, but without a stamp,[524] which was brought from Rhodes, was 40 in. in height, and the height of the handles alone was 10 in., the upper part attached to the top of the mouth being 3 in. long. This is a typical instance for the shape. The seal when found is impressed on the upper part of the handle, the size of the label being generally about 1½ in. or 1¾ in. long, by ⅝ in. wide, except when they are oval or circular. At Alexandria eight distinct varieties of handles were found, broken from amphorae of different countries, but only one inscribed; the base also assumed various forms.

In the Rhodian amphorae two stamps are in use, a principal and an accessory one (Fig. 23._a_).[525] The former has a device of the head of Helios, the Sun-God, or the emblematic rose, both of which types occur on the coins; it is accompanied by an inscription, in the form ἐπὶ τοῦ δεῖνος, sometimes explicitly described as ἱερέως, _i.e._ in the year of the eponymous priest of the Sun. This is followed by the name of a Rhodian month. The accessory stamp contains the name of a person, usually in the genitive. The months belong to the Doric calendar, and are as follows: Thesmophorios, Theudaisios, Pedageitnyos, Diosthyos, Badromios, Sminthios, Artamitios, Agrianios, Hyakinthios, Panamos, Dalios, Karneios, and the second Panamos, an intercalary month.[526] The object of the stamps is involved in obscurity, but they were probably intended to certify that the amphora (which was also a measure) held the proper quantity. It is clear that they could not have been intended to attest the age of the wine, as the vessel might be used for any sort, and the stamps bear the name of every month in the year.

Other handles of Rhodian amphorae, stamped with an oblong cartouche or label, may be divided into two classes: (1) Those inscribed with the name of a magistrate and an emblem. The latter resembled the “adjuncts” found on the coins of some Greek cities, but it is uncertain whether they were selected on any fixed principle, or merely adopted from caprice. They may perhaps allude to the deity whom the magistrate particularly honoured as the patron god of his tribe or village. The same symbol was, however, often used by many individuals, and on the whole the number known is not large. (2) Those bearing the name of a magistrate, accompanied by that of a month of the Doric calendar, but without any emblem (Fig. 23._b_).

Many handles of amphorae from Knidos have been found on different sites. Their clay is coarser than the Rhodian, its colour darker and duller, and the amphorae differ also somewhat in form, nor are they of so early a date, being mostly as late as the Roman Empire. The stamps on the Cnidian amphorae, like those of Rhodes, are inscribed with the name of the eponymous magistrate, and also with that of the wine-grower or exporter of the produce, which is always marked as Cnidian. The stamps show a great variety in the matter of emblems. Remains of Cnidian amphorae have been found in Sicily, at Athens, Alexandria, and Olbia. The palaeography of the inscriptions covers a period of two centuries, from Augustus to Marcus Aurelius, or even later.

Numerous examples have been found of handles of amphorae, in which the celebrated wine of Thasos was exported to places such as Thasos and Olbia. The stamps are nearly square, with a device in the middle, the inscription [ΘΑΣΙΩΝ], and the name of an official. The names are usually in the nominative, but in one instance at least the genitive is used. The symbols include an amphora, kneeling archer, cornucopia, dolphin, etc. (Fig. 24).[527] The known stamps of Paros are few in number; they are simply inscribed [ΠΑΡΙΩΝ], which in one instance is written retrograde.[528]

Handles inscribed with the name of an aedile (ἀστυνόμος) and of another person, probably a magistrate, have been found on various sites in the Crimea and Southern Russia, principally at Olbia. At Panticapaeum (Kertch) two amphorae were found with stamps across the neck, thus:

EUARCHO EPI KALLIA ARISTON EOPAMONOS

the upper name being that of the magistrate.[529] These vases appear to have been made on the spot.

Stoddart also mentions amphora-handles as having come from Corinth,[530] with names which can be traced to the time of the Roman dominion. Falkner found at Pompeii an amphora with a Greek inscription of three lines painted in red and black, with the name of Menodotos and the letters KOR. OPT., which _may_ mean “the best Corcyraean brand.”[531] A bibliography of the subject is appended below.[532]

Among painted vases the amphora holds a high place, especially in the black-figure period, during which it was most prominent. It is distinguished from the plain type, as already pointed out, by the proportions of the body, as well as by the graceful curve of the handles and the flat circular foot. The variations in its form at different places and periods are so marked that they have led to the adoption of qualifying adjectives for each kind. Although these names cannot now be accepted in a strict sense, they are sometimes useful as conventional expressions. We proceed to describe these in detail.

(1) The origin of the Greek amphora is clearly to be sought in the pithos of primitive times, as may be seen in the vases of the Melian and Proto-Attic classes, and in the early vases with reliefs from Boeotia, Crete, Thera, and elsewhere. It is not found in the Mycenaean style, the large vases of which come under the heading of the krater (see below); and its appearance in Greece dates from the developed stage of the Geometrical period. The earliest specimens among the painted vases are virtually small pithoi, characterised by a long cylindrical neck, and large elaborate handles obviously imitating metal (see p. 495). Of this type are several of the Boeotian Geometrical and Proto-Attic vases discussed in 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.

(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.

(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.

(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.

(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.

(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]

(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.

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.

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_.

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 Chapter XXI.). A wicker-covered λαγυνος was known as a πυτίνη.[557]

Another form of the same class is the κάδοs, with its diminutive καδίσκος, which is represented by the Latin _situla_, or bucket, the latter word being the one usually employed by archaeologists. It is a form easily to be recognised in Greek art, but is more usually found in metal-work, _e.g._ in Etruscan and Italian bronzes, than in pottery.[558] The painted situlae, of which a few late examples from Italian tombs exist, are obviously direct imitations of the metal buckets, and in some cases actually have movable bronze handles attached. The situla appears to have been used not only for keeping wine in the cellar, but for serving it up at banquets[559]; the word is also used by Aristophanes for a voting-urn and a well-bucket.[560] In Latin the uses were probably distinguished, _cadus_ denoting a wine-jar, _situla_ a water-bucket. Athenaeus obviously goes astray in regarding it as a drinking-cup.

A vase which was used almost exclusively for carrying water was the =Hydria=, as is implied by its name (ὑδρία, from ὕδωρ). Its most essential characteristic is the possession of three handles, a large one at the back for carrying when empty, and two small horizontal handles at the sides for carrying when full. The shape of the body varies at different periods; in the B.F. period the shoulder is flat and marked off by a sharp angle from the body (Fig. 34); but about the beginning of the fifth century this is replaced by a form with more rounded outline and smaller handle at the back, generally known for the sake of distinction as a _kalpis_ (Fig. 35). In the earlier variety (of which some R.F. examples are known) there are always two subjects, one forming a frieze on the shoulder, the other treated more in the manner of a metope on the body; they are invariably enclosed in frames or panels, as on the “black-bodied” amphorae. Sometimes a third subject in the form of a frieze of animals is added below. In the earlier stages of the B.F. period this form is seldom found, except in a class known as the “Caeretan hydriae,” distinguished (as far as concerns their shape) by their round, plump body, as also by the florid character of their ornament and curious treatment of subjects (p. 353). These vases were closely copied by the Etruscans. The _kalpis_ form sometimes occurs with black figures, but only in small late specimens, chiefly found in Rhodes. In the vases of Southern Italy the _kalpis_ is fairly popular, but the body is more cylindrical and the foot higher.

Any doubt that might have existed as to the identification of the ὑδρία is solved by the appearance of the word inscribed over the pitcher which Polyxena dropped in her flight from Achilles, on the François vase. In a scene very common on B.F. hydriae, which represents women drawing water at a fountain, this form of vase is invariably depicted. The word seldom occurs in Greek literature, but Kallimachos speaks of καλπίδες placed on the roof of the Parthenon (?) at Athens, not, he says, by way of ornament, but as prizes of wrestlers.[561] Hence the idea was conceived by Panofka that Panathenaic prize-vases were of this form.

Pollux (x. 74) thinks that the hydria was also a wine-vase, and suggests its identity with the πλημοχόη, a vase with broad base used in the Mysteries; but Athenaeus[562] implies that this was used for pouring, and it must therefore have been some kind of jug. The κάλπις is actually identified with the ὑδρία by Aristophanes, as may be seen by a comparison of two lines in the _Lysistrata_.[563] From a passage in Isocrates[564] it would appear that the hydria was used as a voting-urn or ballot-box, but the κάδος was more generally used for this purpose. That the amphora was also so used we know from Athenian coins.

The next class to be considered is that of vases employed for mixing wine and water for drinking, for which the generic name is that of κρατήρ (from κεράννυμι, “I mix”). Before discussing this form, however, allusion must be made to a vessel which is variously described as a _hydria_ or a _krater_, and is therefore a link between the two varieties; it was at any rate pre-eminently a water-jar, and was known as a κρωσσός (connected with Fr. _cruche_ = Eng. “crock”). We have no indications of its form except that it had two handles[565]; Pollux (viii. 66) ranks it with the ὑδρία and κάλπις as a water-vessel.[566] It was also used for holding ashes,[567] and Plutarch enumerates it among the vessels in the bath of Darius.[568] Of the same character was perhaps the ἀρδάνιον or ἀρδάλιον, described as a water-pot.[569] Athenaeus also mentions a πρόαρον, or wooden vessel of the krater type, as used in Attica.[570]

The =Krater= is distinguished from the amphora by its larger body, wider mouth, and smaller handles. It was often placed on a stand, called ὑποκρατήριον, or ὑποκρατηρίδιον,[571] which was either of pottery or metal such as bronze. This either took the form of a hollow cylindrical base, painted with subjects, or of an elaborately moulded stem with egg-and-tongue and other patterns.[572] It is constantly mentioned in Homer, but the kraters standing in the halls of the great palaces, as in that of Odysseus, were made of gold or silver. It is on the average the largest of all Greek vases (except the pithos), some of the later Apulian specimens (of which F 278 in the B.M. is one) reaching a height of about four feet; the ordinary examples have a capacity of three or four gallons. The names Argolic, Lesbian, Laconian, Corinthian, and Thericleian are applied to it by various ancient authors.[573]

In the different fabrics of Greek pottery it takes several distinct forms, to which convenient descriptive names have been given by Italian dealers, and some attempt has been made to identify names given by classical authors as forms of the krater, but without any success. The Italian names, however, which will be mentioned in due course, are somewhat cumbersome for English use.

Among Mycenaean vases there is a variety almost confined to Cyprus, to which the name of krater may fairly be given.[574] Its chief characteristics are a wide spheroidal body, hardly contracted at the neck (which in some varieties is non-existent), flat vertical side-handles, and a high stem. We hardly meet with this form again until the end of the Corinthian style, when it suddenly leaps into popularity.[575] The form in which it appears recalls, though it can hardly be imitated from, the Mycenaean krater, but the stem disappears, and the body is in section about two-thirds of a circle.[576] It is clearly a local invention, and on the evidence of finds at Syracuse, its first appearance may be traced to the first half of the seventh century. Its distinguishing feature, however, is in the handles, each of which is composed of two short vertical bars, sometimes meeting in an arch, supporting a flat square piece formed by a projection from the flat broad rim, which is generally decorated. From the columnar appearance of these handles, the type has received the name of _vaso a colonnette_, which at all events is a more accurate description than the name κελέβη which, first proposed by Gerhard, has been generally employed by archaeologists, on what grounds it is not clear. This word, as described by Athenaeus, is clearly intended to imply a _drinking-cup_ of some kind[577]; he quotes from Anakreon (_frag._ 63, Bergk), who speaks of drinking its contents at one draught (ἄμυστιν). On the other hand he quotes the authority of Pamphilos for identifying it with the θερμοπότις, or “water-heater,” a kind of kettle. The probability is that it was a general and loosely-employed word.

The column-handled krater is also found in the Naukratis wares of the sixth century, as well as in the imitations of Corinthian fabrics in which the Campana collection of the Louvre is so rich; the clay, style, and inscriptions of the latter clearly show their Corinthian origin, apart from the form. This krater is often decorated with friezes of figures (as in the famous Amphiaraos krater, p. 319). In the few existing Attic examples with black figures the subjects are in framed panels. This form, after dying out before the end of the sixth century, is revived towards the middle of the fifth in the later R.F. fabrics, but in a much altered form, which gives greater prominence to the columnar character of the handles. The neck is higher and narrower, and the handles consequently lengthened, the square tops being much diminished, and the body also takes a narrower and straighter form. In the fabrics of Southern Italy this development is even more strongly marked, and the elongated neck is adorned with an ivy-wreath in a panel; this type enjoyed some popularity both in Apulia and Lucania. The system of panel-decoration is employed throughout in all these cases.

The only other form of krater found in the B.F. period—and that but rarely—is that known as _volute-handled_ (_a rotelle_), from the large handles reaching above the lip and curved round in a scroll (Fig. 37). It has an egg-shaped body and large neck. The best and earliest example is the François vase (p. 370), from which it may be clearly seen that the form is derived from the columnar-handled krater. The British Museum also possesses a fine example signed by Nikosthenes, with a design in a frieze on the neck (B 364). The same shape and method of decoration appear in some fine examples of the severe R.F. style (cf. B.M. E 468, 469). During the R.F. period, two entirely new forms of krater suddenly appear, known respectively as the _vaso a calice_ and the _vaso a campana_, or “calyx-krater” and “bell-krater”; the former is first used by Euphronios.[578] These names give a very accurate description of the forms, the one being like the opening calyx of a flower, the other like an inverted bell (Figs. 38, 39). In each the lip projects above the body, the neck having entirely disappeared, while the handles of the calyx-krater drop to the lower part of the vase, and those of the bell-krater are attached horizontally to the sides. Both types of handle are evidently adapted to carrying full vessels, like the side-handles of the hydria. The name of ὀξύβαφον was given by Gerhard[579] to the bell-krater, again without any real authority, and probably owing to an error, from finding the name scratched underneath one example. Comparison, however, with similar inscriptions (see