Hellenistic Pottery: Athenian and Imported Wheelmade Table Ware and Related Material (Athenian Agora 29)

880 Pages·1997·94.36 MB·English

by  Susan I. Rotroff

THE ATHENIANA GORA
RESULTS OF EXCAVATIONS
CONDUCTED BY
THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS
VOLUMEX XIX
HELLENISTIPCO TTERY
ATHENIAN AND IMPORTED
WHEELMADE TABILE WARE
AND RELATED MATERIAL
PART 1: TEXT
BY
SUSAN I. ROTROFF
THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
1997
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rotroff, Susan I., 1947-
Hellenistic pottery: Athenian and imported wheelmade table ware and related
material / by Susan I. Rotroff
p. cm. - (AthenianA gora ; v. 29)
Includes bibliographicalr eferences and index.
Contents: pt. 1. Text- pt. 2. Illustrations
ISBN 0-87661-229-X (alk.p aper)
1. Pottery, Hellenistic-Expertising-Greece-Athens. 2. Pottery, Hellenistic-
Catalogs. 3. Agora (Athens, Greece) I. Title. II. Series.
NK3840.R68 1997 96-47458
738'.0938-dc21 CIP
0
American School of Classical Studies at Athens 1997
TYPOGRAPHY BY THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES PUBLICATIONS OFFICE
6-8 CHARLTON STREET, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
PLATES BY HULL PRINTING, MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY PRINCETON ACADEMIC PRESS, LAWRENCEVILLE, NEW JERSEY
FOR BOB

PREFACE
T HE HELLENISTIC POTTERY of the Agora has been the organizing principle of my life for
the past twenty years, and its study has been an education for me. I would like to thank
Homer A. Thompson and T. Leslie ShearJr. for entrusting such important material to me for
publication; they did this when I was at a very early stage in my career, and it was an act of
faith and a vote of confidence for which I am very grateful. I owe thanks as well to the many
Greek colleagues in the Archaeological Service who have supported my work and particularlyt o
Maro Tsoni-Kyrkou,w ho held direct responsibilityf or the Agora during many of the years when
this work was in progress. Successive secretarieso f the Agora Excavations,L ucy Krystallis,H elen
Townsend, Margot Camp, andJanJordan, arranged for access to the pottery, fielded requests
for photography, and provided good conversation at the quiet teas of mid-winter. Steven Koob,
Alice Paterakis, and Olympia Theophanopoulou of the conservation staff cleaned, repaired,
and reconstructed many of the pots. The guards of the excavation helped willingly with the
time-consuming process of retrieval and storage.
The illustrations of an archaeological publication are as important as the text, and I have
had an army of helpers in the preparation of the photographs and drawings published in this
volume. Many of the photographs come from the Agora archive: the photographers known
to me are Alison Frantz, Eugene VanderpoolJr., Robert K. Vincent Jr., and Craig and Marie
Mauzy; the printing is the work of Kyriaki Moustaki. I am particularly indebted to Craig for
rephotographing hundreds of pieces with remarkablyg ood cheer and for always managing to
produce the crucial photograph in the nick of time (as well as for fixing the bathroom, rewiring
broken lamps, repairing my water heater, and doing any number of mundane tasks that made
my work infinitely easier). The plan of the Agora was drawn by Richard Anderson, who has
a remarkable tolerance for research into the excavation trivia of yesteryear. The rest of the
drawingsw ere made by a variety of artistsa nd draftspeoplew ho have worked at the Agora during
the last sixty years. Many of them I have never met, but I owe thanks to them all. Some are
identified only by initials in the Agora records, and trackingd own their identities has constituted
a small research project in itself. The first, and master of them all, was Piet de Jong, who in
1932 or 1933 did drawings of several Hellenistic pots for Homer Thompson's 1934 article, as
well as several fine watercolors. Other artistsi nclude Rhoda Herz (1952), Marian Welker( 1948,
1955 or 1956), M. R.Jones (1958), Iro Athanassiadou (1959, 1963), Nina Travlou (1960-1962),
Aliki Halepa Bikaki (1961), C. Polycarpou (1962), Helen Besi (1972-1973), Chris Pfaff(1979),
Helen Townsend (1980), Elizabeth Safran (1983), Lynn A. Grant (1980-1982), Tina Najbjerg
(1989-1991), Elizabeth Langridge (1990-1991), and Sylvie Dumont (1992). Much of the inking
and some of the drawing is the work of the author.
Because the illustrationsw ere drawn by many hands over many years, they are not uniform in
style or conventions. Although the majorityw ere drawn with the cross section on the right, whole
series of illustrationsw ere done in reverse, with the cross section on the left. Often these have
been reinked or mechanically reversed, but when such a drawing includes surface decoration I
Viii PREFACE
have had to settle for the reversed profile. There have also been instances where the original
inking was so superior that it seemed a shame to suppressi t in favor of uniformity.
Many colleagues provided insights and information that helped me with the work. At the
head of the list is Virginia Grace, the source of most of my information on transport amphoras
and their stamps. She was always extraordinarilyg enerous with her time, expertise, and advice,
not to mention her hospitality. I learned much from her at the Agora, and her famous Sunday
lunches provided many opportunities for more general discussion (the idea of Appendix III
originated at one of those lunches). Also of crucial importance is the contribution of John
Kroll, who identified the coins and provided dates well in advance of the publication of his
Agorav olume. Fred Kleiner and Alan Walker, during their time as Agora numismatists, also
assisted me with numismatic matters. Others who have lent their help, knowledge, and support
are Virginia Anderson-Stojanovic, Michel Bats, Judith Binder, Nicholas Cahill, John Camp,
Stella Drougou, Charles Edwards, Richard Green,John Hayes, Caroline Houser, David Jordan,
Carolyn Koehler, Kathleen Slane, Rhys Townsend, Malcolm Wallace, and Frederick Winter.
Access to pottery from other collections has been facilitatedb y CrawfordG reenewaltJr. (Sardis),
James McCredie (Samothrace),K laus Nohlen (Pergamon),W olf Rudolph (Halies), Klaus Tuchelt
and Ulrike Wintermeyer( Didyma),H ermann Vetters( Ephesos),C harles K. Williams II (Corinth),
and Hector Williams (Mytilene). I would like in particular to thank Ursula Knigge, Director of
the Kerameikos Excavations, for the opportunity to examine the unpublished material from
Building Z and to refer to that material in this publication. And very special gratitude is reserved
for Roger Edwards, who read the manuscript with exceptional care and offered corrections,
additions, and suggestions that have very much improved the finished product; may every writer
and scholar have as honest, wise, and generous a counselor.
The logistics of publishing a book of this size and complexity are daunting, and those who
struggled with them deserve a hearty vote of thanks. I am grateful to members of the publication
staff ofthe American School, past and present, who have contributed their knowledge and talents
to the project: Kerri Cox, Sarah George Figueira, Carol Ford,M arian McAllister,N ancy Moore,
Susan Potavin, and especially my editor, Kathleen Krattenmaker,w ith whom I enjoyed playing
e-mail ping-pong as we raced to meet deadlines.
Financial support for my research has come from many sources. A major grant from the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded several summers of work
in Athens and provided the luxury of a research assistant. Awards from the City University
of New York also supported summer research, and grants from the Archaeological Institute of
America and the American Council of Learned Societies funded a year of work in Athens. A
fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftungg ave me a year in Germany, with access
to excellent library facilities; I am particularlyg rateful to my sponsor, Ulrich Hausmann, and
to Bettina von Freytag-Loringhoff,w ho, as advisers, colleagues, and friends, made that year a
remarkablyp leasant and productiveo ne. The supportt hat has made the most difference,t hough,
and has allowed me to finish this book much more quicklyt han I had hoped, is that of theJohn D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. I cannot imagine why Ken Hope and his colleagues
did such a strange and wonderful thing as to award me a MacArthur Prize; it is a miracle for
which I can never express my thanks adequately.
Certain people deserve special mention for having provided companionship and support that
go beyond casual friendship. I thank Lynn Grant for always seeing the funny side of Hellenistic
pots; Jan and David Jordan for travel adventures and long evenings of wine and conversation;
PREFACE ix
Evelyn Smithson, whom I miss very much, for her unique view of the world and the Agora;
Maggie Rothman for (among other things) our ladies' lunches; and Nancy Moore for listening,
over and over again, to my compulsive worries about almost every aspect of the project. The
prize for patience, however, goes to my husband, Bob Lamberton. He has been willing to fall in
with my travel plans, spending much more time than was agreeable to him, or advisable, with
me in Greece, I fear to the detriment of his own career. The dedication of this volume to him
is inadequate thanks for the gift of his presence in my life.
SUSANI . ROTROFF
St. Louis, Missouri
December 1996

CONTENTS
PREFACE.. ............................................................................ vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................. xv
BIBLIOGRAPHAYN DA BBREVIATION...S.. ................................................ xvii
PART I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................... 1
3
1. INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW ..................................................
2. FIXED POINTS AND OTHER IMPORTANT CONTEXTS ................................ 18
3. THE DECORATIONO FA TTICHr LFTTN ISTICP OTTERY .............................. 37
PARTI I. ATTICP OTTERYS: HAPES TUDES ................................................ 81
5. DRINKINGC UPS ......................................... ....................83
CLASSICAKLA NTHAROASN DR ELATEDSH APES. ................................ 83
CLASSICAKLA NTHARO.S.. ............................................... 83
CUP-KAN HAROS ........................................................ 85
KANTHAROSS:P ECIALH ANDLES.. ....................................... 89
CALYX-CUP ............................................................. 91
BOWL -KANTHAROS ...................................................... 92
OTHER CLASSICALD RINKING-CUPS HAPES ..................................... 94
SKYPHOS.. ............................................................. 94
BOLSTER-CU.P... ....................................................... 96
BOLSAL. ........................................ 97
HET.TNISTIC KANTHARO.S.. ...................................... 97
STRAIGHWT ALL ......................................... 97
A NGULAR ............................................................. 100
BAGGY ............................................................... 103
M OLDED RIM ......................................................... 105
HEMISPHERICAL CUP AND RELATED SHAPES .................................. 107
CUP WITH MOLDMADE FEET ............................................ 107
NET-PATTERNC UP ..................................................... 108
BLACK-GLAZED HEMISPHERICAL CUP ..................................... 109
PARABOLIC CUP (M ASTOS) .............................................. 109
OTHER BLACK-GLAZED CUPS ............................................ 110
CUP WITH INTERIORD ECORATION. ...................................... 110
TWO -HANDLEDC UP ....................................................... 117
IMITATIONP ALESTINIANC UP ............................................ 117
IMITATION KNIDIAN CUP ................................................ 119
xii TABLE OF CONTENTS
6. OTHERV F.SSL.TF.O RW INE SERVICE ..................................... 120
STORAGVE F-SSEL,.S... ........................................ 120
W EST SLOPEA MPHORA. ................................................ 120
VESSELSF OR POURINGA ND DIPPNG ......................................... 124
WEST SLOPE OINOCHOE ..................................... 124
CHOUS( OINOCHOES,H APE 3) .................................. 125
LAGYNOS.. ............................ ........................... 127
PITCHERw iTH THIN NECK .............................. 128
O LPE ................................................................. 128
BICONICALJUG ................................................... 129
SMALLJUGW ITHW IDE MOUTH ............................. 130
BAGGYA SKOS ................................. 131
SMALLJUGW ITH GLAZEDI NTERIOR ............................. 131
ROUND-MOUTHJUG. ............................................. 132
ROUND-MOUTHJU GLET ............................. 132
D IPPER ............................................................... 133
SHELLD IPPER ......................................................... 134
SITuLA ............................................. 134
SERVINGV ESSELS. ......................................................... 135
K RATER ................................................. 135
LEBES ..... ................................... 140
OTHER MOLDMADE VESSELS FOR WINE SERVICE .............................. 140
7. VESSELS FOR FOOD SERVICE .................................... 142
PLATE AND SAUCER ........................................................ 142
PLATE: THICKENEDE DGE .............................................. 142
PLATE: ROLLEDR IM ................................................... 142
FISH-PLATE. ........................................................... 146
SAUCER: PROJECTINGR IM .................................... 149
PLATE: RILLED RIM .................................................... 151
PLATE: CONCAVER IM .................................................. 152
SMALLD ECORATEDP LATE .................................... 152
LARGEW EST SLOPEP LATE ............................................. 153
PLATE: OFFSET RIM .................................................... 154
PLATE: UPTURNED RIM ................................................. 154
COMPARTMENTP LATE .................................................. 155
O NE-HANDLER. ........................................................... 155
BOWL, SMALL BOWL, AND SALTCELLAR ...................................... 156
BOWL: OUTTURNED RIM ............................................... 156
BOWL: VERTICAL UPPER WALL ......................................... 160
ECHINUSB OW L ........................................................ 161
BEVELEDB OWL ........................................................ 164
FOOTEDH EMISPHERICABLO WL ......................................... 164
SMALL BOWL: PROJECTING RIM ......................................... 165
SMALL BOWL: BROADB ASE ............................................. 165
SALTCELLAR.. ......................................................... 165
DEEPB OWL:P ROJECTINRGI M .............................. 167
DEEPW ESTS LOPEB OWL:P ROJECTINRGI M .............................. 168
DEEPB OWL:P LAINR IM ................................................ 168