Attic Black-Glazed Stamped Ware and Other Pottery from a Fifth Century Well

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.The vases found in a well excavated just south of the Stoa of Attalos in 1933' give an unusually comprehernsive notion of the simpler wares in use in Athens during the years near the otutbreak of the Peloponnesian War. Because of its variety and usefulness, this group is here presented in full. With it are illustrated a few pieces from other parts of the Agora excavations, especially such as may serve more fully to set forth the blackglazed wares with stamped decoration, particularly characteristic of thle period.An upper date for the contents of the well, the decades 460-440, is provided by the coin-type stamp foun(d on several storage amphorae for Chian wine.2 Of the three redfioured vases in the collection, the krater, 1 (Figs. 1, 4, 18), although painted by an unskilful haln(l, faithfully reflects the style that is better represented by such artists as the Chlristie painter.3 The group of Dionysos witli attendant maellad and satyr is a familiar one; on our krater the god, is chiefly remnarkable for his elaborate dress, which includes ependytes as well as chiton and himation. The running women of our pyxis, 2 (Figs. 1, 4) are likewise stock subjects from the vase-painter's repertory; their style 1 Section Iota, Well in 21/E. This well was dug to a depth of 1T5 m., at which point the sides caved in anid furthber work became impossible.From the fact that a lairge number of pots were foulnd complete, or nearly complete, although in fragmnents, and from the fact that the sherds contained no fragments of water-pitchers, it seems probable that nearly if not all the contents of the well when it served as a dump were recovered, but that the level of its use as a well had not yet been reached when workl had to be abanidoned. Trlhat all the pottery here described was thlrown in at one and the same time, seemns certain; fraginents of the same pots appeared at widely varying levels.I wislh to thlank Mr. Arthlur Parsons, who excavated this area, for discussing these circumstances witli me; and also for his suggestion as to the interpretation of the contenits of the well. It is pleasant to express gratitude to many other memnbers of the Agora staff, but especially to Dr. Homer A. Thompson, to W'Ihose patience and help I am particularly indebted.How inuchl bothl the red-figture and the Attic black have profited by Professor J. D. Beazley's many suiggestions, goes without saying; yet for his generosity and kindness thanks may still be expressed.Since the material is described in catalogue forn, foo...

The Origin of Black‐figure Greek Ceramics Found in Naucratis (Nile Delta)*

“…Of 14 sherds known to have come from Naucratis excavations, 10 had high probabilities of having been made in Athens; that is, they agreed closely with the Attic-A reference group, many of whose members came from the Athenian Agora excavations of Princeton University (Talcott 1935;Thompson 1937;Sparkes and Talcott 1970), including some found in potters' shops. This raises the interesting question of how goods originating in Athens found their way to the emporium of Naucratis in Egypt, considering that Athens was not one of the dozen Greek cities involved there in trade (see 'Conclusions', below).…”

Overseas Connections of Knossos and Crete in the Sixth and Fifth Centuries Bc: Insights From the Unexplored Mansion

“…Figs 12 and 13) 30 . Furthermore, the lower body of the piece from Knossos shows no sign of the gradual contraction that gives late fifth- and fourth-century Corinthian skyphoi an egg-shaped profile (Talcott 1935, 506; 1936, 341; Boulter 1953, 74; Agora XII, 83; Oakley 1988, 169). The vertical lines above the foot are tightly crammed, as opposed to the rather widely spaced rays on skyphoi from the first half of the fifth century; 31 but they are still more neatly drawn than on some late fifth-century pieces 32 .…”

Trade, Traders and the Ancient City

“…33 There is a possible transitional piece that could imply a smoother development, though still rapid, from the C/3 stage to the straight-neck type. The fragment is from a well published by Talcott (1935); the piece itself is discussed in Lawall 1995, 92. The piece, however, could be the work of a producer of the older bulging-neck type changing to the already introduced straight-neck form.…”