Hellenistic Pottery - black glaze

The article presents a xiphos that was discovered in Sozopol, ancient Apollonia Pontica. There are more such weapons from present-day Bulgaria, but this is the only example discovered during archaeological excavations. The xiphos was deliberately bent and discarded in a dump of fragmentary pottery, mostly amphorae. The materials from the dump date from the later 4th and early 3rd c. BC, which corresponds to the chronology of dated parallels, mostly from ancient Macedonia.

Based on recent reference surveys of numerous Iberian sites located over a wide area of Lower
Aragon delimited by the southern tributaries of the River Ebro (the Regallo, Guadalope and
Matarraña rivers), we propose various hypotheses on the regional evolution of the settlements
between the mid-7th century and the third quarter of the 1st century BC. The recovery, consolidation
and excavation work carried out between 2006 and 2011 at the archaeological site of
El Taratrato (Alcañiz) likewise allows us to propose new perspectives with respect to its situation
within the framework of the local and regional population, the urban structure, defensive system,
occupation phases and imported items that may allow us to calculate more explicitly its dates of
occupation and abandonment.

In line with the time and space allowed us, this paper will examine several pieces of research undertaken in Italy in the last two decades. Both those that have been completed and those still ongoing, although different, are held to be exemplary in the research topics and methodological approach applied to specific objectives. In particular: 1 – localisation of the workshops producing black glaze pottery, production contexts, organisation of the production, stamping with makers’ names; 2 – problems, instruments and methods of technological characterisation and typological-chronological classification of the productions, especially of those – the most numerous in the peninsula – destined for local and regional consumption. As a result, their reference models, the reciprocal exchanges and their distribution range can be identified. In relation to the latter, which today appears among the most common pursued with a historical-philological method supported by chemical-physical analyses, this paper focuses on two areas of the peninsula whose geographical position, history and culture, in the 4th-3rd centuries B.C. show complex and diverse connotations. These are the coastal area of the Tyrrhenian between Lazio and Campania and the Padovan area between the Po delta and the Apennines in the area around Bologna.

La collezione archeologica dell'avvocato Conticelli è composta da 29 reperti, tutti fittili, i quali formano un insieme eterogeneo per provenienza e datazione.
Nel presente catalogo si sono voluti raggruppare, a seconda delle classi ceramiche di appartenenza, tutti quei vasi che sono tra loro legati da una simile corrente artistico-artigianale di produzione.

Oggetto di questo lavoro è la ceramica a vernice nera reperita nel corso degli scavi condotti negli anni 1954-1957 nell'area della città romana (località Civita di Sassoferrato, AN), probabile vicus degli umbri Sentinates elevato a municipium nel 90 a.C. (1).

In the Black-gloss ware category, products from Pharus to Athens and some from Dyrrhachium (Group 1) have been identified. Most of the fusiform unguentaria are of Hellenistic date as well.
Most of the amphorae are from the Italian side of the Adriatic, similarly as at Risan. The bulk of the set is composed of vessels of the Lamboglia 2 type produced in many different production centers, prevalent in the first century BC. However, the manufacture of these containers in central Illyria, in Dalmatia, has been reasonably put into doubt. Having just the rims, it is sometimes very difficult to distinguish them from the Dressel 6 type of amphora from the Augustan period. In any case, both types were present in Scodra in the first century BC and first century AD. Another identified type is the Italo-Adriatic. The form Palazzo-Apani 1 / Giancola 2, from the Brindisi area, are dated to the end of the second century and the first half of the first century BC. The Graeco-Italic containers with fabrics from Adriatic Italy are among the earliest vessels; they are dated from the end of the third to the middle of the second century BC. They are well attested in Apollonia. The most interesting amphora was a Punic-Ebusitan type represented by a rim and handle, made in the island of Ebusus (Ibiza). These containers were common in the Western Mediterranean from the fifth to the first century BC. They are found all along the coast in Iberia, south Gaul, Morocco and Algeria, but in Italy they are very scarce. None had been recorded east of southern Italy (Pompeii). The remaining material consists of pottery from the Roman Imperial and late antique periods. Late Roman amphorae from Africa (Keay 61–62) and the Aegean (LRA 1, Ephesus type) are easily identified

La presenza a Sentinum di bolli nominali su ceramica aretina a vernice nera di I sec. a.C. (1), rivelatisi sconosciuti altrove, mi ha fornito lo spunto per tentare un censimento di questo tipo di bolli. Lo spoglio bibliografico, probabilmente non esaustivo, ha portato alla raccolta di una trentina di bolli, un numero all'incirca tre volte superiore a quello dei più noti e comunemente citati (2), sebbene alcuni siano stati inseriti con qualche dubbio, segnalato nei casi specifici.

This study presents four case studies that elaborate on the results of two field survey projects (the Astura and the Nettuno surveys) that were carried within the ambit of the Pontine Region Project. These comprise 1) revisits to previously mapped sites, 2) the study of a local museum collection, 3) intensive on-site surveys and 4) small-scale excavations at a reference site for the Late Roman and Early Medieval period. The results obtained provide detailed insight the settlement dynamics for the study area and increase the potential of the dataset to approach different aspects of the Roman economy (such as trade, town-countryside relations, demography). At the same time, the study contributes to our understanding of biasing factors associated with archaeological survey.

During the final excavation seasons of the archaeological site at Colle Plinio
(San Giustino, Perugia), contexts were discovered containing many fragments of ce-
ramic wasters dating to circa the mid-3rd century BC, which came from a nearby kiln.
These include different forms of black and red glazed pottery, common wares, and also
architectural terracottas, as well as building materials. They demonstrate a particular
type of ceramic production of the Republican period in the Upper Tiber Valley which,
on the basis of technical and typological similarities, can be paralleled with contempo-
rary ceramic deposits in central Italy. The importance of this discovery lies not only in
the fact that it demonstrates the existence of local, specialised, ceramic production of a
high quality, but primarily it furthers our understanding of the Upper Tiber valley in
the general historical context of the 3rd century BC. This period is poorly understood
in this area due to the little information available from written sources andof the archaeological evidence which tends to be sporadic or out of context.

Το παρόν έργο πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίας προστατεύεται κατά τις διατάξεις του ελληνικού νόμου (Ν. 2121/1993 όπως έχει τροποποιηθεί και ισχύει σήμερα) και τις διεθνείς συμβάσεις περί πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίας. Απαγορεύεται απολύτως η άνευ γραπτής άδειας του εκδότη κατά οποιοδήποτε τρόπο ή μέσο αντιγραφή, φωτοανατύπωση και εν γένει αναπαραγωγή, εκμίσθωση ή δανεισμός, μετάφραση, διασκευή, αναμετάδοση στο κοινό σε οποιαδήποτε μορφή (ηλεκτρονική, μηχανική ή άλλη) και η εν γένει εκμετάλλευση του συνόλου ή μέρους του έργου. ΙSSN 1106-5311 © ΥΠΟΥΡΓΕΙΟ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ KAI ΤΟΥΡΙΣΜΟΥ, ΑΡIΣΤΟΤΕΛΕΙΟ ΠΑΝΕΠΙΣΤΗΜΙΟ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗΣ, 2010 Γενική επιμέλεια έκδοσης Πολυξένη Αδάμ -Βελένη Κατερίνα Τζαναβάρη Διορθώσεις κειμένων Πολυξένη Αδάμ -Βελένη Κατερίνα Τζαναβάρη Μιχάλης Ιντζές Παραγωγή w w w.ziti.gr

We publish the black-glazed pottery from the habitat area of the neapolis of Emporion. As it happens in other
regions of the Mediterranean, black-glazed pots are the prevalent Attic imports in Emporion and its hinterland.
Most of them date to the 4th century BC. There is a marked preference for the skyphos, the most popular drinking
vase in the Greek cities, but there are also occurrences of one-handler bowls, which are otherwise absent
in most sites of the Iberian Peninsula. The most remarkable feature of the assemblage is the presence of mends
and repairs in a good number of vases, what is suggestive of a limited access to this type of material as well as of
the appreciation enjoyed by these humble black-glaze productions among the inhabitants of Emporion.

Se presenta aquí el conjunto de los vasos áticos de barniz negro procedentes de la excavación
del área del hábitat de la Neápolis de Ampurias. La mayor parte de las importaciones áticas de la zona de Ampurias
y su hinterland son vasos de barniz negro, lo que es común a otras áreas mediterráneas. La mayor parte de
estos materiales fechados en el siglo IV a.C. son escifos, el vaso de bebida más frecuente en zonas de hábitat
en las ciudades griegas, pero también llama la atención la presencia de cuencos de un solo asa, ausentes en la
mayoría de los yacimientos de la Península Ibérica. Lo más destacable del conjunto son las lañas y reparaciones
de muchas de las piezas que nos indican que el acceso a estos productos no debió ser fácil y que el valor
concedido a las modestas producciones áticas de barniz negro era mayor de lo que sospechábamos, ya que
probablemente no podían ser reemplazados fácilmente por objetos nuevos.

Hero cult, bouleuterion, black glazed pottery, cooking ware. Keywords Kahramanlık kültü, bouleuterion, siyah firnisli kaplar, pişirme kapları. ÖZET Aigai bouleuterionu kazılarında yapının orkestrasında gerçekleştirilen bir sondajda anakayaya oyularak yapılmış bir bothros bulunmuştur. Yapının dolgusunun altında kalan ve bouleuteriondan daha erken bir tarihe ait olduğu anlaşılan bothrosta çok sayıda seramik ele geçmiştir. Bothros kullanım gördükten hemen sonra, üzeri toprak ile kapatılarak bir daha kullanılmamıştır. Daha sonrasında üzerine inşa edilen bouleuterion ise bothrosun tahribat görmeksizin korunmasına dolaylı da olsa katkı sağlamıştır. Kapalı bir kontekst özelliği gösteren bothros, farklı seramik türlerini içermektedir. Aigai'deki bothros homojen yapısı ile söz konusu seramiklerin kronolojisine ilişkin önemli katkılar sağlamaktadır.

Автореферат към дисертация, разглеждаща специфична керамична група с украса в стил „West slope“, разпространена през елинистическата епоха в източното Средиземноморие. Анализирани са находки, открити на територията на съвременна България. Направен е типологически анализ на съдовете, стилов анализ на декорацията и анализ на разпространението на керамичната категория в България.

The Ph.D. thesis examines a specific ceramic group decorated in the so-called "West slope" style, which was common throughout the Hellenistic age in the Eastern Mediterranean. All available finds coming from the territory of modern Bulgaria are precisely considered. The main text is organized in three sections, containing a typological analysis of the vessels, stylistic analysis of the decoration as well as the distribution of this ceramic category in Bulgarian lands.

Recent investigations at Patara reveal that the city played a crucial role as a communication node during the formation of the Hellenistic era. As one of the most important cities of ancient Lycia, Patara established by a harbor in the basin of the Xanthos river valley which was an essential trade hub for several inland communities, including Xanthos, Letoon, Pinara, and Sidyma. Since 2013, excavations have brought to light the foundations of a garrison bastion and numerous houses at the Tepecik settlement of Patara. The five excavated areas revealed architectural and ceramic remains that illuminate the development of the city and the surrounding region. Among these are two rooms, two semi-open kitchen areas, and a pantry. All five areas were destroyed by fire simultaneously and contained in situ contexts. Among the finds are pyramidal loom weights, lead and terracotta figurines, a large number of metal objects, as well as pottery. The ceramic repertoire includes black-slipped kantharoi, skyphoi, echinus bowls, olpai, rolledrim plates, mortaria, jugs, chytrai, and transport amphorae. Besides some Attic imports, the ceramics can be divided into two main groups: regional and locally produced fine wares, including some from Rhodes. The analysis of the contexts indicates that the destruction of the buildings occurred between 336 – 310 B.C. Thus, the ceramics from the Tepecik settlement presented here offer a scientifically sound basis for the ceramic chronology and typology of the late 4th c. B.C. Xanthos Valley, which to date has been hardly investigated in a scientific manner.

The paper shows the results of archeological intervention carried out in 2006 in the suburban southern area of the ancient town of Praeneste (mod. Palestrina). The excavations led to discovery a late republican viaduct and votive materials connected with a more ancient sanctuary. A preliminary study allows to fix the chronological terms of the sacred area between the 4th and the early Ist cent. b.C.. Some architectural terracottas prove the existence of sacred buildings.The large number of artifacts connected with craftsmanship (tools, terracottas moulds, production waste etc) allows to think that the sacred area was attended by craftsmen, workers and, possibly, slaves. Different hypotesis in order to identify the deities worshipped in the sanctuary are proposed

After the foundation of Thessaloniki in 317 BC, the city soon developed into a major port of the North Aegean Sea. The majority of the published burial context here comes from the cemetery of the city. Regarding the pottery, the archaeological evidence proves that the import from the Athenian Kerameikos is constantly continued. At the same time, the operation of local ceramic production which produces both atticising and plain wares coincides chronically with the foundation of the city.

This article examines a group of about one hundred Attic Black-Glaze vases, mainly drinking vessels, dating to the late 4th and 3rd century BC. They all bear an  inscription, generally the name of a deity in the genitive, as well as West Slope decoration. After examining their shapes and decoration, I analyse the inscriptions themselves in order to try to understand the significance and use of these drinking cups.

Vessels of the Hellenistic period constitute about half of all finds of Black Glazed pottery from Panticapaeum in the eastern Crimea -more than 450 pieces in total. These finds, gathered in the course of many years of exploration (from 1945 to 1992) in the central part of the settlement, are kept in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. Only part of them was described and published while the bulk of the collection remains unpublished 1 . Most of the finds date back to the period from the last quarter of the 4th to the middle of the 3rd century BC. There are, however, some items from the second half of the 3rd to the first half of the 2nd century. Most of the represented shapes are fragmentary.

This study centres on the analysis of a group of black glaze vase fragments with overpainted and/or incised decoration produced during the first half of the 2nd century B.C. in the workshop at Jesi-Aesis. This workshop was set-up in about the mid 3rd century B.C. in order to provide for the needs of the colonists who, following the Roman conquest of the ager Gallicus (284/3 B.C.), were settling in the territory. Within the local black glaze ware production, which from the earliest phases presented Etruscan-Latial characteristics, the group of fragments examined here appears as an extraneous presence, bringer of a Hellenistic tradition. It introduced innovative elements, such as some vessel forms and, above all, a particular decorative technique. These new elements, together with the episodic nature of its production, apparently limited to few years or a little longer, suggested the undertaking of an in depth analysis of this ceramic group, with the aim of gaining a more precise understanding of its characteristics and identifying its most likely models of reference. The majority of the fragments under examination were found in two “sealed” contexts close to each other: the fill of a demolished kiln that was not rebuilt (F2/US6) and that of a small cavity (E94/US56). Both contexts were in a sector of the workshop that was active between the late 3rd and about the mid 2nd centuries B.C.
  The decorated fragments belong to just over 60 vases that were discarded, because of firing defects or other accidents, and then put to one side and finally recycled. Almost all the fragments relate to just one form, the bowl without a real foot Morel 2150, borrowed in the West from the Hellenistic East from the late 3rd century B.C. onwards. It seems to have been produced with a range of profiles and proportions with two main types: “type 1”, deep bowl with incised lines half way up the inner wall; “type 2a-b”, shallower bowl, with smooth walls, with or without a groove below the rim on the interior.
  The decoration is positioned on the upper part of the inner wall, but on some fragments, it also extends to the lower part. The main decorative motif (bordered by painted lines and dots) is incised, often with the addition of painted details (leaves, fruit, dots) made using diluted clay coloured white and light red with pink and orange tones.
  The repertory of motifs is quite varied but the ivy tendril, which is the commonest on overpainted Hellenistic ceramics, both in the “Gnathian” style and the “West Slope” style, is predominant. Diversely, other vegetal motifs, particularly the ear of wheat, and other geometric patterns seem to be typical of the “West Slope” ceramics. Moreover, the particular rendering of the vegetal tendril and the constant use of incised technique are typical of the latter style.
The thinness of the walls, the bowl profile and, above all, the typical grooves present on the type 1 bowls have made it possible to identify the most likely typological model on which they were based; bowls, sometimes with summarily rendered decoration, produced in southern Apulia and at Herakleia in Lucania between the late 3rd and the 2nd centuries B.C. The type 2a-b bowls can be generically referred to examples from these regions and others on the eastern coast of the Ionian Sea, types that do not present the toreutic taste that distinguishes type 1. To conclude, the bowls produced in the workshop at Jesi-Aesis appear to re-propose various morphological and decorative models that refer to diverse craft-working traditions, both in the “Gnathian” area and the “West Slope” area.
Therefore, it seems unlikely that such an innovation was due to the initiative of local potters who worked following a traditional repertoire. Rather, it is more likely that the new elements were the work of potters who came from elsewhere, bringing with them the particular knowledge and technical experience that was indispensible for the creation of this type of pottery. It is impossible to judge the ability of the immigrant artisans and the quality of the artefacts they produced from the material documenting this event. However, the typological variety, range of decorative motifs used, and the different way of making the vases suggest not only a certain diversity among the immigrant artisans, but also a difference in professional level both between the latter and between the local assistants and apprentices.
The event documented in the pottery workshop at Aesis belongs to a historical phase (late 3rd-first half of the 2nd century B.C.) that was particularly complex and traumatic for many regions in the Adriatic-Ionian basin. Firstly, the end of the Second Punic War, and then the fall of the Macedonian kingdom, had heavy political, economic, and social repercussions for the populations of south-eastern Italy and north-western Greece. These military events led to a diaspora among which there must have been artisans. They were a privileged category of refugees, as their personal patrimony consisted of particular technical knowledge. It may be presumed that one of their chosen destinations was the northern part of Adriatic Italy, where the consolidation and increase in the colonial presence of Rome offered stability, new opportunities and prospects for the development of one’s own activity.
The episodic nature of this ceramic production, which continued for no more than a few years and was apparently without a market beyond the local one, is of particular interest. This suggests its success was modest. However, we must consider that the population of possible buyers was almost exclusively constituted by old and new central Italian colonists, who, by culture and economic activities leaned towards traditional consumption, and therefore were not very inclined towards using “exotic” vases. Further, considering that it was only from the second half of the 2nd century B.C. onwards that the territory of what is now the Marches region began to accept the various manifestations of Hellenistic culture, thanks to Roman mediation, it could be suggested that not only did our immigrant potters arrive “out of place” but also “out of time” for imposing pottery of Hellenistic taste on a cultural and social context that was not ready to accept and appreciate such a novelty.